b'The Best Referral Sources someone with a sense of urgency to move business forward, you might ask, Who do you know who As a part of this study, we dug a bit deeper into themovesclientstowardssolutionsfasterthanoth-referrals category to understand our clients besters?sources for referrals. Another way to enhance your recruitment process Here are the top three referral sources: and get good referrals is to create an employee re-Current employees ferral program. More and more companies are get-ting creative with these incentive programs. Most Peers/Other managers reward employees for referring a qualified candi-Friends outside the industrydate with a cash employee referral bonus between $1,000 and $5,000. Other companies are rewarding It is important that you establish a strong resourceemployees with days off or by giving a charitable list that includes friends, family, and coworkers thatdonation on the employees behalf to their favorite you can tap into when you are searching for talent.charity or cause.Some other referral sources include clients, busi-ness owners in the community, people you interactFinding Superstars on LinkedInwith socially, people who have worked for you in the past, and people you have worked for previous- You can do more than just post jobs on LinkedIn to ly. attract talent.Think about how you might improve your profile.When a manager has a strong LinkedIn Two Tips for Finding Super- profile and posts regularly, it works like a magnet to stars Through Referrals capture the attention of people who are not neces-sarily looking.There are two things you can do to get good re- Here are some tips:ferrals and build a stronger Talent Bank. The first is creating a list of good questions to ask when seek- Write a headline in your profile that describes ing referrals. Once you have built a good referralYOU (not just your title). resource list of people you know, think about theDevelop a summary based on the audience you questions you can ask these individuals to find thewant to engage. talents for which you are searching. The NominatorSelectskillsthatillustrateyourstrengthsasa System, available in the Resource Library on Themanager. Center for Sales Strategy website, includes a robust list of questions you can use when seeking referralsSolicit recommendations both from current di-to specifically target the behaviors that will lead torect reports and those who worked for you in excellence in your open job. the past. This will help you avoid asking general questionsYou might also set aside time to search for potential such as, Who do you know whos a good salesper- candidates.Whensearchingforprofilesofpoten-son? which will likely get you names of people thattial candidates, start by searching specific keywords fit the references perception of what a good sales- such as Sales, Media, or B2B Sales.person is, and that perception will most likely notYou will get a ton of profiles to sift through, but be in alignment with what you need. you can narrow the list by using search filters Instead,youcanaskquestionsaboutthespecif- such as location, experience, and industry.ic talents you are looking for. For example, if youPay close attention to the quality of the profile. are trying to find someone who can solve complexYou may want to target profiles that appear less client problems, you can ask, Who do you knowlike employment resumes and instead describe who is a big picture thinker who anticipates prob- how they have helped their customers.lems and finds solutions? Or, if you are looking for 23'