Job Boards vs. Employee Referrals - who would you rather pay?
How much are you paying job boards to fill the top of your hiring funnel, and more importantly – why?
Here are some hiring facts for contact centers:
1. According to ResumeLab (2022) there were 400,000+ posts for contact center knowledge workers on career sites and
2. the average length of visit was 63 seconds (yikes!)
3. Most contact center organizations hire just 10-15% of their applicant flow
4. Cost per hire using job boards for contact centers averages $3,500-$5,000 per new hire (excluding training costs)
5. Turnover for many contact center organizations is 30-50% annually
Job boards are easy, and they fill the top of the hiring funnel quickly. But filling it with what, exactly?
There’s a very simple, often overlooked solution that will improve net hires by at least 50%, reduce employee churn and cost per hire, and make your employees really happy! 😍
Here’s the solution: SHIFT THE SPEND FROM JOB BOARDS TO YOUR OWN EMPLOYEES. And here are some getting started considerations:
🚘 Beef up your employee referral program payout. If you’re paying $500, double it. The minimum referral bonus for a contact center employee should be at least $1,000, or one third what you’re paying a job board. Do it as a trial or pilot, be transparent about the fact it might change.
🚘 Make or change the payout to one lump sum, payable when the new hire reaches 90 days, or 100 days, or even 120 days – whatever makes you feel somewhat whole about achievement of baseline speed to proficiency. Your referring employees will wait for the big payout, and will probably do more than just wait (see below). $1,000 referral bone once or twice per year is a game changer for most contact center workers!
🚘 Brand your employee referral program, make a big deal over it. Get your marketing team involved if you need help making the internal launch compelling. Your employees have rich social networks that are much more relevant than cold leads on job boards. Tap this talent pool first. Always.
🚘 Give your referring employees a guide for being successful as an active recruiter for you. Give them some branded material to post on their social networks about your job openings. Suggest that they check in with new hires they refer with some frequency, helping them become acclimated, answering their questions, steering them in the right direction during training. Your referring employees will happily step into action in order to protect their investments and realize the nice payouts.
By shifting the spend from job boards to your own employees, you will improve the quality of the funnel (and reduce the volume at the top), you will drive employee satisfaction and retention, and you will organically create a 90-120 day buddy system for your new hires. There’s no downside! 🚦
Looking for more to propel your remote/hybrid environment? Check out the 2024 Remote Working Summit, Dallas, April 9-10.https://www.wfhalliance.com/2024-remote-working-summit