I, for one, am sad to see the scratch-off lottery card-powered ERPs go. Alstin was the first to apply them to Employee Referral Programs — we even won a Creative Excellence Award for the original ERP we used them for. Those addictive little gold spaces revealed treasures to be coveted (usually a pen, water bottle, or a stress ball…remember those?). They added excitement to the referral process and were part of the movement that believed employees should be rewarded not only for a successfully hired candidate, but for going to the trouble of reaching out in the first place.
But then budgets shrank. Even for this most cost-effective of hiring tools — ERPs are shown again and again to the be the most cost-effective way to recruit the highest quality candidates — incentives fell by the wayside. The referral bonuses remained, but even those varied depending on whether you were referring someone for a “hot job”, a lukewarm one, or one of the Jack Frost variety.
Paper-based ERPs morphed into less wasteful online varieties. More instantaneous responses. Quarterly emails to remind people of the program’s rewards. The ability to capture resumes and funnel them to your ATS. Good times.
Then: “What are you doing?”
Or more to the point, “What are you doing at your current job when you could be finding a more interesting/higher paying/closer-to-home job?” Twitter arrived, and Tweet it has. For those who choose to follow an organization’s job updates, there’s no need to check a Careers website. To email HR. Or, (gasp) to ask a friend about opportunities. The viral version of the ERP is alive. It’s well…better. And it’s kicking fast and taking names. Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself.
I heard John Mayer just applied for a job with Apple.
Or maybe it was that Apple Paltrow-Martin was listening to John Mayer…
