Novelty:

For many people the simple fact that these solutions are new will be enough to make them try adding them to there recruiting process. It's no secret that recruiters everywhere are frustrated with the diminishing value of traditional resume board and job postings. While the still provide a measurable ROI for recruiters, their industry wide adoption by practically every employer negates any competitive advantage.

 

The Active vs. Passive Candidate:

One of the biggest complaints I hear about the traditional job boards/postings, is the fact that they rarely produce passive candidates. A recruiter might attract a semi-active candidate from a good job posting, but by definition you won't find passive candidates on any resume database or posting response list. The promise of the referral based solutions is the ability to target candidates that are not looking for a job at all.

 

CRM (Candidate Resource Management):

The hidden value I see in many of the new referral based solutions is the fact that tend to combine traditional referral based recruiting practice with a CRM like tracking tool. Rather then manually chasing down referrals from great people who know other great people, these new systems provide recruiters a much more streamlined and efficient way to solicit and track candidate referrals.

 

Metrics:

There is finally  a simple way to measure the results of your referral based hiring results against the traditional job board/posting products.

If you have a high volume of hiring activity and a commitment to using a referral based recruiting product:

1.  Jobster
2. LinkedIn

If you have a lower volume of hiring activity and/or a moderate interest in a referral based recruiting solution: