Referral recruitment

Referral recruitment is a process whereby vacancies are promoted and filled by recommendations rather than by traditional methods such as direct classified job advertisements or by employing a headhunter. Proponents of this recruitment method claim that since each candidate comes with a personal recommendation behind them, the applicants are likely to be better suited to the job and the applicant already has a referee.

Many companies offer incentives to the referee, usually a monetary fee. A potential downside of referral recruitment is that these incentives can lead to candidates inventing an online alter ego for themselves to claim the reward or for them to contact a friend and split the reward.

The key advantage of referral recruitment is that it allows recruiters to reach passive candidates, those who are not actively looking for a new job but are sometimes amongst the most prized employees.