Most Innovative Employee Referral Program: Quicken Loans

Quicken Loans might just have the best and most aggressive recruiting team in the world (honest).

Michael Homula, clearly the most sales- and marketing-focused recruiter on the planet, has helped Quicken Loans to create an employee referral program that turns every employee into a "talent scout." If recruiting has a Tiger Woods, he would be it! The referral program relies on frequent refreshing, creative approaches, and extensive promotion to drive high-volume participation.

The program is so effective that 61 percent of hires come from the ERP each month.

Best practices:

  • All referrals are contacted by a live program coordinator within 48 hours of submission.
  • Referring team members are kept in the loop through a web portal that allows them to track the status of referrals online and by emails that update them when:
    • The referral has been initially contacted.
    • An interview is scheduled.
    • A post-interview decision has been reached. To move forward, the system advises recruiters and managers of the next steps.
    • A hire is actually completed.
  • Utilizes highly branded contests (example — a contest for finding the best salesperson in the Detroit area), in addition to bonuses to drive participation. Such contests offer unique and highly valued prizes.
  • Surveys are periodically conducted internally to measure:
    • Employee satisfaction with the program.
    • Ease of process.
    • Referral "experience."
    • Employee motivation and their willingness to refer.
  • Focus groups are held periodically to generate new ideas for contests and promotions and to gather feedback on the current process.
  • They provide training to employees on how to better make referrals.
  • In addition to process metrics, Quicken Loans tracks retention by source, quality of hire, and cost per hire.
  • Bonuses are grossed up to cover taxes.
  • A proactive referral process approaches key individuals directly for high-quality referrals.
  • Extensive e-mail marketing is delivered to the target employee population to:
    • Educate them on current hiring needs.
    • Drive referral for specific types of jobs.