With 2Vouch still being in beta, only 3 months old, there are still lots of changes going on with the site. Fixing bugs, modifying processes and taking on user feedback. While the development team has a weekly release schedule over the last 2 weeks there have been some major changes on the site.

Probably the most visible change is on the home page when you first arrive on the site, visitors are now greeted with a simple 4 step process to get going.

Other changes on the site include:

• New feedback module powered by Get Satisfaction
• New salary bands for job ads
• Recruiters can now also be referrers
• Advertisers can now send jobs immediately to their contacts
• Advertisers can assign jobs to up to three different industries
• Lots of minor user interface adjustments, with still more to come!

With the year coming to an end, if you have been in the stock market in the last few weeks you could have thought the world was ending, it is a good time to sit back and review your recruitment strategy and look to reduce your costs for 2009.

Today you are probably overwhelmed with consultants and companies providing options on how to upgrade/streamline/change/improve your strategy and reduce costs of recruiting. Here at 2Vouch we believe in reducing your costs to recruit as well, and not just by using our tools (although they will reduce your costs). So we have gone back into our archives and found these ten employee referral program tips from BINC Professional Search.

Recruiting should be an evident priority from the top down

There should be a clear reward system in place to reward referrals and employee recruiting

Setup training sessions that actually teach your team how to more effectively use their own personal network to recruit

Incorporate social networking into your recruiting plan

Send your team members to conferences and arm them with the tools to recruit

Host recruiting events at your office

Have somebody in HR or Recruitment (or a Direct Manager) go through  their address books and identify potential candidates and contact them directly saying you are looking for great staff

Offer additional bonuses for helping to retain the new hires or split the initial bonus into two halves

Set up a system to track all of Activity

Make a Big Deal Every time a Hire is Made Using your Program

By Michael Specht, Consultant to 2Vouch on Social Media and Recruiting

By Riges Younan

It has been 3 short months since we went into beta and what a lot has happened since then!

• Lots of good media coverage, both “new” and traditional.
• Engagement with several recruitment agencies around Australia.
• Discussions have taken place with a number of organisations about using the tool for internal recruiting.
• Deployed several new releases, with significant new features coming in the new year, keep the feedback coming as we are always listening.
• We are getting right into social media
  • Follow us on Twitter along with JobGenie
  • YouTube
  • Facebook group & Fan Page
  • Slideshare account has been setup for presentations on social recruiting
  • Set up a Get Statisfaction forum to help with user support, collect feedback and solve issues
• We have also started working with two Melbourne consultants, Sjors Provoost and Michael Specht.

Sjors has joined the team in November and is working on new features that will make the whole referral process even easier and more powerful! The end result referrers will be able to make better referrals with a higher chance of earning rewards and employers will get better candidates faster. Sjors moved to Melbourne after finishing his studies in Physics and Sustainable Development. He has turned his attention to software engineering.

Finally Michael Specht is consulting with us to further develop and implement our social media strategy. You will see him on the blog, posting on Twitter, hanging out on Get Satisfaction and generally wherever 2Vouch an online presence. Michael is a well known blogger and consultant in the HR and Recruitment industries.

Look for some more major announcements in early 2009

Dr. John Sullivan is widely known as THE thought leader when it comes to using referral programs as part of your recruitment strategy. Which is why his a webinar on updating your employee referral program had over 900 people attended with 70 odd questions submitted. Last week he began to publish the answers to the questions on ERE Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

Some of the questions he answered:

• Working with the CFO to build the business case
• How to handle quality of referrals
• What levels of roles should be included in referral programs
• Handling payment amounts and timing
• What technology you should use (other than 2Vouch of course)

If you are interested in referral programs you should definitely read through the 5 part series.

By Michael Specht, Consultant to 2Vouch on Social Media and Recruiting

A social recruiting services such as 2Vouch relies on the fact that people know other people who might need a new job. But what happens if your network is small? How do you go about growing the network?

There are lots of ways to grow your network. Even if you have a large network your network is a living organism the participants are always changing. People change jobs, move industries, cities, and even countries. This means you need to keep “feeding” your network with new contacts to keep it fresh and up to date.

The list below was originally published on my personal blog but are worth reviewing as they are easy to implement tips on how to build up your professional network.

1. Join the social networks online
   The first step for anyone today wanting to expand their network is to join LinkedIn. Further look to join more specialised services such as FaceBook, MySpace and industry specific services ad these will provide you with different connections.
2. Attend industry gatherings
   All industries have key groups and organisations where people of similar background gather, many are free or require minimal investments other than your time.
3. Get a personal business card
   When you build your network you want to make sure that it is transportable from employer to employer. By handing out a personal business card, not one from your current employer will assist with this process.
4. Meet 5 new people
   Don’t always associated with the same people. Every time you go to a professional or social event make sure you meet at least 5 new people.
5. You are a brand
   Brand yourself to your network in order to build it further, the more people know you to more people will want to know you.
6. Globalise the network
   When you were growing up, perhaps you had a pen-pal in a different country, in a global marketplace you never know when knowing someone in Tanzania will come in handy.
7. Become an information sponge
   Use a contact management tool to record e-mails, phone numbers, and everything else you can about the people you know.
8. Take control of your virtual presence
   Make sure that when people look for you online, your image is both accurate and flattering.
9. Join the virtual communities where your target market lives
   Once you have joined one group, ask the members where else they connect with like-minded people. Be sure to look for smaller groups within larger sites.
10. Take a leadership role in your industry
    Write a blog to cover your domain, and perhaps create an online community around your unique interests.

By Michael Specht, Consultant to 2Vouch on Social Media and Recruiting

Everyday we hear more and more about how the economies of the world are collapsing. Today 2Vouch has some positive news for you.

Aussie start-ups get to use the JobGenie Referral Recruiting Engine to source candidates and only pay our cost price - which is just what we pay our referrers.

The way that JobGenie finds people is as old as business itself… if you have ever made or received a call/request along he lines of “Hey, do you know anyone for this job?” then you understand how referrals work. What JobGenie does is take that process - which research shows delivers high performers - and put it online in a simple to use system that makes everything measurable and trackable. Even better, successful referrers get paid $1,400-$2,800, which they can take in cash or donate to one of our charity partners.

How do you get started?

Register and place a job ad on www.2Vouch.com, we will only charge the referral reward if you fill that job, or any other during 2009. You get this deal for 12 months!

When they sign up to be an advertiser on 2Vouch, you will receive a confirmation email. Simply reply to that email telling us that your a start-up and a little bit about your organisation, basically that you meet our definition.  Then you are in!

Are you eligible?

This offer is for the first 50 start-ups. Our definition of a start-up is: less than 3 years in business, under 20 staff, turn-over of under $1 million and Australian Owned.

Why are we doing this?

Well, other than it being after lunch on a sunny summer Friday. 2Vouch is deeply involved in the Australian Start-up Community, as such we know it can be hard to find staff. We want to give a little back to the community.

No the 2Vouch team have not just come back from the pub, they are just a great bunch of people.

By Michael Specht, Consultant to 2Vouch on Social Media and Recruiting

Over the last few weeks Riges Younan, CEO of 2Vouch, has been interviewed on what 2Vouch is doing and social recruiting in general.

First was with Wires and Lights in a Box on November 17 2008. In this interview Riges covered his background, the feedback so far on 2Vouch, who are our competitors and a little of an insight into future development plans.

Most recently Riges spoke with Phillip Tusing from Destination Talent on December 1 2008. In this interview Riges admits to being “one of those crazy career recruiters”, defines the 2Vouch value proposition and how 2Vouch is different from regular referral programs.

By the way if you are interested in the Australian Job Board market you need to review Phillip’s presentation.

By Michael Specht, Consultant to 2Vouch on Social Media and Recruiting