In order to hire in a more targeted manner, some employers ask their best employees to become recruiters. This type of approach encourages employees to contribute to enriching the team in place and increases their involvement within the company.
Recruitment strategies are changing. Although job offers published in the classified ad sections of newspapers are already a thing of the past, more traditional methods still dominate: the company analyzes the needs of its managers, the human resources department writes up a job offer, and the position is posted internally and externally, on job offer sites.
Networking is also important. The LinkedIn social platform is a good example. Managers may think about enquiring of their contacts to find the next gem that the business will need.
“Some companies will also do business with external recruiters and headhunters. But this practice can be frowned upon by companies,” warns Antoine Devinat, CRHA and founder of Leadership DNA. Stealing the best talents, even from a competitor, can be considered a questionable practice.
An increasingly common practice is to use employees as a recruiter for a day. “Some companies have recognition programs to offer a bonus to any employee who recommends a candidate that is then hired within the company,” says Antoine Devinat.
An effective method
Studies have shown that applicants who have been recommended by people already in the organization have higher performance levels that the average of other employees.
“It’s entirely normal,” explains Antoine Devinat. “When our employees become our recruiters, the chances of this new employee fitting well into our organization are higher, by affinity.”
This method can also allow for economies of scale. A program for recruitment by recommendation will cost less than doing business with professional recruiters.
How is it done?
According to Antoine Devinat, it is first important to encourage our employees to be attentive to the company’s human resources needs. Then it is necessary to involve them.
In some organizations, employees may even sit on recruitment committees. In this way, they can participate in assessing applications received.
“I have already seen potential candidates do seven, eight, even nine interviews with different employees within the company, not to mention the boss, and the boss’s boss!”, says Antoine Devinat. This type of multiple interview ensures that the selected candidate fits in with everyone.
But what are the risks or disadvantages of this method of recruitment?
“Even when using this approach, managers should not forget that they have hierarchical authority to be respected. It is good that the manager has a final say on analysis of the candidate’s profile,” notes the CRHA.
He adds, “Using our employees as recruitment sources can also lead to equity problems. You could end up with staff consisting 100% of Whites, for example, because of an affinity bias. In doing so, we’re missing our targets.”