In a Job Search, Referrals Are the Gold Standard

Modern technology makes it easy for job seekers to flood an entire industry with applications. Hiring managers are so overwhelmed that they need any help they can get to find the diamonds hiding in that giant pile of resumés. They are increasingly turning to employee referrals as a key element to target the most likely candidates for a given job.

Some major companies are encouraging employee referrals overtly by offering prizes and incentives to the employees who make successful referrals. Others have set internal hiring goals of finding up to 50 percent of their new hires from employee referrals. Studies show that candidates who come to a company's attention via employee referral are twice as likely to be invited to an interview as those who come in through blind resumé submissions and have a 40 percent better chance of landing the job. At some companies, those numbers are even more extreme, with referred candidates being 10 times more likely to be hired than those who come in over the transom.

A company that uses its own employees to help find promising job candidates makes its own search process easier. An employee is far more likely to recommend someone who fits in with the company culture, which is an important consideration for many hiring managers. There is a sense of security in hiring someone who comes prevetted and preapproved by people who already know the company and its needs well.

So what are you as a job seeker to do if you've been out of the job market for a while or don't feel you know the right people in the right places? While it is true that the increasing reliance on employee referrals makes it even harder for the long-term unemployed to break through hiring barriers, there are some steps you can take to increase your employability in this new job market.

Establish and strengthen your network. Go out of your way to broaden your business and social networks by connecting with people at lunch, after-work functions, conferences and charitable events. Keep track of the people you meet and follow up with them briefly after the initial contact. The goal here is to build a wider network, not to establish deep personal relationships.

As your network grows wider, take the bold move of asking for help in your job search. Ask people already in your network to connect you with others who work at the companies you are interested in or who know people there. People are much more likely to respond to a request than to make an offer to help without any prompting, so don't wait. You are going to be surprised by the people whom you barely know who are nevertheless willing to let you use their names when you make a contact, or who are ready to make that valuable employee referral themselves.

As job recruiters get increasingly flooded with resumés via social media networks, the personal touch is likely to become even more valuable. Widen your job search network to tap into the power of employee referrals, and get ready to make some big changes.

Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net