How to Properly Use Your Employees as Recruiters

Your employees can be your most powerful recruiters, speaking on behalf of your company to potential new hires. However, asking your current team members to take on this role should be approached delicately. When your current staff feels forced to do this, you may find that the results aren’t exactly as positive as you would hope they’d be. Below are ways you can leverage your employees and turn them into the most powerful advocates for your business:

Only ask them for an introduction to a connection that truly makes sense

When employees feel as if they have to provide a never-ending list of potential new hires in order to please their boss, you’ll often wind up with a number of candidates who simply aren’t a good fit. Instead, encourage your team members to provide an introduction only if they truly think the individual would work well in your business. Making them feel as if they need to provide a certain number of names is a lot of pressure, and results in lower quality candidates.

Don’t make recruiting feeling like a requirement

When you force your employees to recruit on your behalf, you may put them into an awkward position. Instead of making it mandatory, state that it is an option but provide incentives for those who do advocate on your behalf. This way, no one feels pressure to bring people on board who might not be right for the job, but there’s still a reason to get them interested in finding potential new talent to add to your organization.

Make sure your employees know what you’re looking for

Just like a recruiter needs to know what kind of person would be a good fit for a job, before you send your employees out trying to find new talent, make sure that everyone is on the same page regarding job descriptions and about who would work well inside your company. What kind of skills do they need? What kind of personality should they have? Where will the company be in one year or five years? Getting everyone on the same page first helps to prevent miscommunications, which could lead to recruiting mistakes.

Treat your current employees properly

If your current staff members aren’t happy with their employment situation, they’re certainly not going to want to go out and tell their friends to apply for a job at their company. Before you try to use employees as recruiters for your business, you’ll need to focus and make sure that morale levels within your office are where they should be. When your current employees feel valued and appreciated, then they can begin to encourage people in their network to consider working for their employer.

How do you use your employees as recruiters for your business? Share your tips with us in the comments!

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