Hiring Firms Employ The Buddy System

Globeandmail.com ^ | 4/29/2006 | VIRGINIA GALT

[Dallas59]

Before they became co-workers, Jeff Propp and Marlene West sometimes bored others within earshot on the gondola at Whistler Mountain with their tech talk during ski trips. In the course of one of those gab sessions, Ms. West learned that Mr. Propp, a family friend, was interested in changing jobs.

She convinced him to apply to Vancouver-based software firm Business Objects, where she worked, using her name as a reference. Mr. Propp, although employed, was weighing three other opportunities at the time. It was Ms. West's wholehearted endorsement of Business Objects as a great employer that tipped the balance, says Mr. Propp, who joined the firm as a sales representative last month.

More and more, Canadian companies are relying on the buddy system to bring in new employees -- 30 per cent of the 300 new Canadian hires at Business Objects last year were through employee referrals, recruitment director Terry Duncan says.

Which just goes to show, career coaches say, that your next job lead could well come from your hockey teammate, your hairdresser, your neighbour, your accountant or even a respected rival at a competing firm.

Some companies send their young interns back to campus as "student ambassadors" to enlist their classmates. In Florida and Texas, Asbury Automotive Group has instructed its car dealers to stake out the shopping malls, with a view to recruiting personable sales clerks serving customers at the Gap or Sears. Talent scouts, it seems, are everywhere as labour shortages start to affect some businesses.

Although on-line job boards proliferate, two-thirds of new jobs are still found by word of mouth, says Brad Karsh, president of JobBound, a Chicago-based career counselling service. Tapping into this informal network, many employers now pay referral bonuses to employees who bring in their friends -- Business Objects, for instance, paid Ms. West $1,000 for landing Mr. Propp.

"It is happening more and more. The job market is improving and people are opening up their recruiting efforts," Mr. Karsh says. "Some companies that have openings will send out an e-mail to everyone they have hired over the last six months from a competing company . . . asking if they know of anyone else. Or they will reach out to their stars, saying 'we want more people like you.' "

When a friend or acquaintance approaches with a job lead, there is no harm in listening -- but don't let your friendship cloud your judgment, advises Mickey Mehal, a vice-president at Toronto-based consulting firm Right Management.

"It's an ego boost, but don't be seduced or flattered into jumping without first exploring whether it [the new opportunity] is what you really want," says Ms. Mehal, who recommends that anyone seriously considering changing jobs should be diligent about taking stock of their current position and researching the advantages of the new offer.

The benefit of having a friend on the inside, says Toronto-area career consultant Caryn Johnston, managing director of Pathway Management, is that you can ask the questions you would be embarrassed to ask a prospective boss, such as: "What are the real hours? Is the 40-hour week a reality here, or it is more like 55 or 60?"

It is important to know such things, especially if you are well positioned where you are, Ms. Johnston says. "If you are actively interviewing with an organization, it is fair game to go beyond your initial network contact," she says. "I always encourage people to ask to meet some of the people they would be working with."

Recruiting organizations, eager to make a good impression, tend to be receptive to this, career consultants say.

In its recent campaign to recruit 50 new sales representatives across the country, Canon Canada Inc. promoted two of its senior sales managers to the human resources department because "they speak the same language" as prospective candidates, says Nicole Lichowit, Canon's senior manager of employee and organizational effectiveness.

In his new role, selling the organization instead of selling its products, Rick Reeve says he is able to fully answer questions about the sales position at Canon and help new recruits settle in "because I understand sales, I have lived the life."

Ms. Lichowit says Canon has become more creative in its recruitment and retention strategies because there is intense competition for good sales representatives.

Mr. Duncan reports that, for Business Objects as well, "sales is very much a priority." The company currently has 100 positions open in Canada right now, many of those in sales as well as in research and development. In addition to paying referral bonuses ranging from $1,000 to $2,500, Business Objects also deploys student ambassadors to talk up the company with their university classmates.

Mr. Propp says he already knew a lot about Business Objects by reputation, especially its commitment to work-life balance.

"But having someone from within [provide a referral] just sort of validated that it's a positive, challenging, team-oriented environment," he says. "It's a very high-achieving culture, and an excellent place to grow a career."

[glorgau]

This is news? It's just the way that the world has been forever.

[patton]

My company pays a $5,000 referral bonus.

My standing goal is four a year.