Today’s challenging talent market is making it crucial for staffing agencies to fill roles quickly. And they’re turning to technology to help.
Talent technology analysis platform AMS Verified recently found that 72% of talent acquisition professionals were looking for tech to help reduce time to hire, making it the most common search on the platform. Not far behind, 66% had a goal of increasing the quality of hire.
Here’s how a solid referral program, especially when automated, can help you get the best candidates in record time.
Speed up the hiring process with referrals
It’s no surprise that staffing professionals want to improve the quality of their candidates. Good candidates are not only a better fit for the job and the culture — they also tend to stay longer. But chances are that your ideal candidate isn’t going to come from a job board.
It’s much easier to get high quality leads from a referral program because referrals are driven by relationships. The person submitting the referral wants to help their friend find a job and help the company find an employee, so they’ll naturally select people from their network who seem like the best fit. And, if they get a reward when their referral is hired, these ambassadors are even more likely to recommend ideal candidates. We’ve even seen staffing agencies eliminate other sourcing methods from their budget because their referral program consistently delivers top quality candidates.
And a quality candidate is someone you can hire faster — referrals help reduce hire times significantly. While candidates from job boards and career sites can take anywhere from 39 to 55 days to hire, referred candidates average a hire time of 29 days.
Think about it — much of the hiring process is spent posting and advertising jobs, wading through resumes, and screening candidates. But you can skip a lot of that with a referred candidate. You might even be able to send them straight to an interview. For example, Staffing Referrals has an auto-qualification process to screen referred candidates, so they only land on a recruiter’s desk if they meet the minimum requirements you’ve set.
Referrals are also more likely to accept a job offer. So you won’t have to worry about candidate ghosting delaying your hiring process.
Scale faster with automated referral management
If you already have an incentivized referral program, but aren’t seeing improved candidate quality and time to fill, it may be time to invest in tech that can help scale your program and ease the workload for your recruiters.
With automated referral management, you can tap into your candidates’ digital networks and generate more qualified candidates, easily reaching passive talent. And referral tracking will ensure that no leads get left behind and bonuses don’t go unpaid. So you can let your team focus on building meaningful relationships with candidates, instead of getting bogged down with administrative work.
Want your talent pool to be your competitive advantage? Set up a demo and learn how Staffing Referrals can take your agency’s referral program to new heights.