Bird Dog Biscuits

Rewarding people, and not just employees, for referring new hires to your company is both economical and effective. If you think about how much a search firm charges for finding warm bodies (20 to 30 percent of the first year's compensation), doesn't it just make sense to be willing to reward other people you know for doing the same thing? Many organizations, particularly technology-based ones, are paying hundreds to thousands of dollars to successful bird dogs, which is a bargain when you consider what these organizations are getting. Over 40 percent of Microsoft's new hires come from employee referrals. Nearly 65 percent of Silicon Graphic's new hires begin as referrals from current employees.

Statistics also hires begin the employees will generally refer higher-quality candidates than other sources because their reputation is on the line as well. Similarly, most people with whom you do business and with whom you have developed a relationship (vendors, customers, suppliers, etc.) will also be judicious in the types of people they refer. Current employees and others with whom you do business can be your best recruiters (and screeners) because they already know and understand what you do, your values, your culture, and all those intangibles that cannot be as effectively communicated in an ad or through other traditional sources. In any event, isn't it the job of human resources to screen and select the best people? This just improves the odds for them.

In fact, one of the best times to ask employees for referrals is when they are newly hired. Not only do they want to please their new employer, but they just left another organization for some reason, and there are probably others in the new hire's circle of influence who may also be interested in improving their lot in life. This isn't limited to former coworkers; it could also include spouses, friends, mentors, and many others. (Just as an aside, if you ask for references, you know that they are always going to speak well of the candidate, so instead of just asking them for their input, see if they are looking for a job, too.)

Most companies require more than just a warm lead or a name. In some, bird dogs are expected to talk with the candidates before the interview to tell them about and sell them on the company, to host them during their visit (also see "Birds of a Feather"), to talk with them afterward to see if they have any questions or concerns, and finally to talk with them after an offer is extended to help close the deal.

Another important twist on this concept is in how you pay the bonus. In order to improve and reward retention as well as hiring, some organizations pay the bird dog bonus in installments. In other words, the bird dog might get half of the bonus on the date of hire and the other half six months to a year later, or some other variation of the installment plan.This give the bird dog (friend) a stake in keeping his or her referral with the company long enough for you to realize a return on your investment. It encourages an ongoing, supportive buddy system. It also creates an incentive for the bird dog to stick around because if the bird dog leaves, she or he loses too. Both the new employee and referring employee must stay if the referring enployee is to get paid in full.

One company actually pays the bird dog a second bonus after one year if the employee he or she referred receives an excellent performance review. (Also see "Headhunter Hostage Pay.") There are even some companies that pay different amounts based upon the level and difficulty of the position (s) to be filled. In other words, for "commodity" talent, you might pay a few hundred dollars, but for "rare" talent, it could be thousand. Again,if you compare the cost of traditional sourcing, this is an obvious bargain.

There are also companies that will pay a special bounty for stealing talent from the competition. In fact, some are particularly interested in stealing the competition's top internal recruiters, because this not only improves the company's recruiting ability, but also cripples the competition's recruiting efforts for a while.

Lastly,some organizations enter referring employees into a drawing (the more referrals hired, the more entries in the drawing) and periodically award somethi8ng really grand, like a new car. MCI WorldCom gave away a brand new Porsche and was even smart enough to display the car in the lobby where everyone had to walk by it every day.