Why do referrals mean so much? Why are referrals so important?
Because existing evaluation tools stink.
Let me repeat, referrals are important because the existing evaluation tools stink. If resumes and interviews are effective indicators (tools) for predicting future employee success, referrals wouldn’t matter. We wouldn’t care that Susan had worked with Jake and discovered that he would be a perfect fit. If resumes and interviews are great tools for predicting employee success, we would trust them! But, we don’t trust them because they simply don’t work!
Referrals tend to be outstanding evaluation tools. For example, I am looking to hire a summer marketing intern. I trust my former college marketing professor, so I sent her an email that told her about the position. She wrote back and said she had the perfect student, Chris for this particular position. I didn’t even look at Chris’s resume or interview him…I hired him.
I am not arguing that resumes and interviews have no value in a candidate evaluation process. They do, just not very much. You give me a great interviewer and a great referral and I would pick the referral all day, everyday.
There is only one better evaluation tool than a referral – actually doing the job with a candidate. You want to hire a good ditch digger, go dig a ditch with him/her for two days. You want to hire a great social media intern, go develop a twitter strategy with him/her for an hour. Talent doesn’t waste time formatting a perfect resume or being an amazing interviewee. Talent is busy doing things. Find and evaluate candidates by doing things with them.
Referrals and doing- two strong words that yield results.
