Why Employee Referrals Are Crucial For Hiring In Tech

Referrals improve quality of candidates and hires

There is no greater advocate for a company than its own employees. Studies have shown that referrals are no longer the number one source for finding candidates; however, those same studies report that employee referrals still account for nearly 13% of hiring. Furthermore, referrals typically attract high-quality candidates who are more likely to be a better fit for the company. 

In a competitive market, it is crucial for recruiters to understand where their ideal candidates live, work and play. Who understands that better than an organization’s own team members? A deep knowledge of candidates makes all the difference in being able to hire top people quickly. In the tech industry, where specialized skills are highly sought after, referrals attract the right talent. Employees will typically only refer people who they think are qualified for the role — because they know that recommendations reflect back on them. By leveraging employee referrals, recruiters are more likely to see an increase in top applicants. 

Company culture makes all the difference

Candidates want to know the culture of their potential workplace. A 2016 study reported that the number one obstacle candidates experience when job-searching is not knowing what a company’s work environment is like. Websites like Glassdoor offer insight into company culture by giving a voice to current and past employees. This transparency has a direct effect on a candidate’s opinion of an employer.

While an employee referral program can be used to recruit new talent, it can also serve as a kind of litmus test. If you encourage and incentivize employees to refer candidates but never have any traction, you might have culture issues that need addressing. On the other hand, if there is a lot of energy around referrals, you should find out why. What is it about your company that leads your employees to refer their friends? This information is extremely valuable because it can be used to attract even more potential employees to your organization — and you’ll be able to keep doing the things that retain talent. 

ivision hiring methods

For a dynamic technology company like ivision, several methods are used to continuously progress our services and impact the community. One of these is a relentless desire to hire high-performing team members that fit our company culture and values. At ivision, talent is not found by just one team but by a cohesive and collaborative organization. Our company as a whole has learned how to transparently communicate our strengths, weaknesses and opportunities to the world.

We seek to push our capabilities forward every day with amazing talent. Employee referrals play a key role in hiring initiatives and an even larger role in accomplishing our company-wide goals. Thanks to innovative leadership, our employees are empowered with the resources to refer the best and brightest technical talent.

To encourage team members to refer a potential candidate, employees are provided with resources to fully understand where our company is heading in the future, what we will be challenged to perform and the opportunities available to all present and future team members. This information is provided directly from our leadership to encourage transparency, personal accountability, focus and empowerment.

Once candidates are discovered and encouraged to learn more about ivision, our teams work together using evidence-based interviewing to ensure that they have performed at the highest caliber in their respective professions. In a highly technical organization like ivision, there’s no room for error. It is worse to make a bad hire than to not make a hire at all. Relying on an instinctive and emotional decision often leads to incorrect hiring bias. Interviewers must use rational, behavioral and situational questions to assess the future performance of any candidate.

Refer a friend to ivision

Want to refer an exceptional colleague or interested in a position yourself? Take a look at our open positions and feel free to reach out to one of our team members. We appreciate your help as we continue to build and manage the technology landscape of Atlanta and the Southeast.