To build a great business, you need a great team. The best talent gets constantly inundated with messages from recruiters at all of the big name companies (and probably your competition). The only way that you can get out of the rat race for recruiting tactics, recruiting spam, and inflating compensation packages is to double down on a strategy that no one can imitate.

‍

It’s no secret that your network is one of the best assets in a business. It’s much easier to have confidence in the recommendation of someone you already know and trust rather than to take your chances with a complete stranger. That way, you can weave together powerful (and productive,) friendships that has compounding benefits.

‍

A Rutgers University study cited in the Harvard Business Review found that workplace friendships  —also known as “multiplex relationships”— "significantly increase employee performance", and increase the likelihood of employees cooperating with each other to ask for advice or access information.

‍

Employees with close friends at work reported being in a good mood more often, which could spill over into positive effects on the work being performed.

‍

Bringing in new hires who have one or more warm, pre-existing relationships speeds up this process, allowing you to quickly establish a productive social dynamic. Over time, these subtle synergies add up to a serious competitive advantage and an environment where employees respect, promote, and advocate for each other.

‍

However, most businesses largely underutilize their networks when it comes to People Ops and Talent.

‍

Would it surprise you to learn that only 7% of all candidates in a company’s talent pool come from network referrals, whereas 30% of hires come through the employee referral network?

‍

‍

This means that talent that comes to you through referrals is 7 times more likely to work at your company than any other source. Just think about that for a second. We use technology and tools for every other aspect of business and meticulously track our progress to improve results:

• We use tools like Salesforce to optimize sales productivity and outreach.
• We track our marketing email campaigns, open rates and click rates through platforms like Hubspot.
• We track our candidate pipeline with an applicant tracking system.
• We use these tools to make functions that are critical to business trackable, predictable, and scalable.

‍

But when it comes to referrals, the #1 source of talent, the most critical part of your business, the best that most of us do is to share a job post on LinkedIn, Twitter, or distribute a referral form & send an email with a JD to employees.

‍

This is why you need to embrace Employee Network Recruiting in your organization. Employee Network Recruiting focuses on strategically building and utilizing the company network instead of the tactical filling of individual job positions.

But where should you start? What steps should your company take to maximize its network and find the best talent? Get the ebook and find out!

‍

‍