How You Can Track The Footprints Of Referrals To Achieve Hiring Success

If you have ever had the opportunity to go on a photographic safari, you know the trek’s success depends upon modern day tools.  Safaris have come a long way since the days of old-fashioned tracking.

In places like Mala Mala, a private game reserve tucked into the northeastern corner of South Africa, the tracking game has gone through high-tech transformation.  Whereas local guides used to search for tracks on foot, now they go out daily to watch big game movement in sturdy Range Rovers equipped with radios and cell phones (although, as Australian photographer Bobby-Jo Clow’s photographs show vividly, technology doesn’t necessarily keep the animals at bay).

Mala Mala stretches over 5.5 million acres so you can only imagine how long some tracking trips may take.  The key for photo hungry tourists and their guides is persistence.

Referral tracking works in much the same way.  When keeping past referral sources currently active and growing networks for future referrals, recruiters need to use the best methods and tools.  They need to rely on their networks and hiring experience, as well as automated recruiting software, to find the next great catch.

No safari guide will find the animals they’re hunting for without the right strategy and tools in place.

For recruiters, referrals should be closely monitored and documented.

A New Landscape for Referral Tracking

Think about how far we’ve come in referral management.  It wasn’t that long ago that a hiring pro’s desk was stacked with post-it notes covered with pen-written names and numbers.  Then, we moved up to rolodexes with business cards neatly filed in alphabetical order.

Now we’ve got the most sophisticated tools available.  Recruiting software automation has made it hundreds of times easier to trail our target candidates – and to keep track of the sources we follow regularly to find new candidates.

But tools without strategy won’t cover the distance.  Put yourself in the best position to find the right candidates with these three best practices for referral tracking:

• Frequent the watering holes. Once recruiters learn the best watering holes for candidates, such as social media sites like LinkedIn, and create relationships with other folks that gather there, they are on their way to building a reliable supply of information.

With recruiting software intelligence, recruiters have at their fingertips helpful data about each referral source, down to when they last sent chocolates as a thank-you for the last candidate they referred.

• Communicate with other guides.  On safari, the guides are constantly communicating with each other to establish animal habits and travel patterns.  “We’ve got a herd of zebras down by the Sand River,” or “We’ve come along the leopard family sacked out under the Acacia grove just south of camp.”

Similarly, recruiters who stay connected to others in the hiring business as well as the industries they serve will put themselves in the best position for fresh referrals.

• Use the newest and best tools available. With recruiting software such as AdaptSuite, staffing and recruiting pros can similarly identify and locate the candidates referred to them. They can categorize and manage each candidate with easy access to critical data such as their profile, resume, history, and social networks.

Recruiting software can also “ping” recruiters electronically when new opportunities come along that match the referral.

The More Footprints, The Better

Obviously more footprints mean more animals.  There’s nothing quite like being on safari and coming upon a fresh set of multiple footprints to get everyone’s blood pumping.

The same holds true for recruiting.   Before you hit the trail, make sure you are maximizing your sources of footprints with these tips:

• • • • • Leverage the right tools to capture and nurture referral footprints.
        • Collect footprints from a variety of sources – such as scraping all the teachers at a specific college who can ultimately lead to their truly best graduates – and give a wider pool of top-notch candidates.
        • Depend on trusted referral guides and recruiting software to flush out even the most elusively passive candidates.

Safari time, anyone?

Learn more about how recruiting software can help manage referrals by downloading our AdaptSuite brochure.