Submitting referrals

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Available for Roles Super Admin, Admin, Team Member, Limited Team Member, Interviewer
Permissions • N/A
Packages Lever Basic, LeverTRM, LeverTRM for Enterprise

 

This article depicts and describes updates to Lever's referrals feature included in the Fall 2023 Product Release, scheduled to rollout progressively in November 2023. For full details, refer to our Fall 2023 Product Release Notes.

Referral programs are an effective way to leverage the talent networks of your organization's employees in order to fill your candidate pipeline. Referred candidates tend to move through the pipeline faster than passive candidates, at a lower cost to your talent acquisition organization. Any member of your organization can submit referrals via Lever. To learn how to set up the referral form for your Lever environment, refer to our help article on configuring and using forms.


How referrals works

In Lever, referred candidates are those that have had opportunities added to your pipeline as a result of a direct or indirect submission from your organization's employees. Opportunities associated with referred candidates are added to the 'New Applicant' stage in the Applicant section of the pipeline. The origin and source(s) attributed to opportunities associated with referred candidates are dictated by the type of referral (see below). Employees can monitor the status of their referrals directly in Lever, as their candidates move through the recruitment process.

Types of referrals

There are two types of referrals in Lever: direct referrals and social referrals.

Direct referrals
These are referrals generated as a result of an employee's submission to your organization's referral form. In the following sections of this article, you will find instructions on how to submit direct referrals. Opportunities generated via direct referral are given an origin of 'Referral' and the source tag 'Referred.'

Social referrals
These referrals are generated as result of a candidate applying to a job posting via a social referral link shared by one of your organization's employees. In a later section of this article, you will find instructions on how to generate social referral links. Opportunities generated via social referral links are given an origin of 'Applied' and the source tag 'Social referral.' 

Submitting direct referrals via Lever

You can submit referrals for Listed job postings on external and internal job sites, as well as unlisted job postings if configured to be visible to referrers. It is not possible to refer candidates for postings that have only been published internally. For more on this topic, refer to our help article on job posting publication.

To submit a direct referral via Lever:

  • Navigate to the Referrals page

 

If your organization uses G Suite or Office 365 and has single sign-on enabled for Lever, anyone within your organization's email domain (e.g., @company.com) can log in at hire.lever.co with Interviewer level access. Users must be logged in to Lever in order to submit direct referrals.
  • Click the + Refer Candidate button

Interviews page with arrow pointing to Refer Candidate button

OR

  • Navigate to the Jobs tab to view a list of referable job postings
  • Click the Refer Candidate button in the list of postings

Referrals page with arrow pointing to Refer Candidate button in the list of jobs.

  • At the top of the referral form, select job postings for which you wish to refer the candidate
    • You can refer a candidate for a maximum of three job postings in a single referral. Separate opportunities will be created for each posting.

Posting selection menu at the bottom of a referral form

  • If you have the resume of the candidate that you are referring, add the resume to the referral form, either by dragging and dropping the file or by clicking the upload file button
    • Lever will parse the information from the resume and auto-populate the corresponding fields on the referral form.

Referral form with arrow pointing to attach resume button

  • Fill out the fields on the referral form. 
    • Many of the fields on your Lever environment's referral form are customizable by your Lever Super Admin or Admin. Some fields may be required while others are optional. In all cases, you must provide an email address for the candidate that you are referring.
  • Provide details on your recommendation by filling in the fields of the Your recommendation section. 

 

With the 2023 Product Release, the 'Name of referrer' field is now customizable and no longer tied to the 'Referred by' data point that appears on a referred opportunity. The 'Referred by' name is automatically attributed based on the user who submits the referral. 

Screenshot 2023-11-17 at 7.57.27 AM.png

  • Click the Submit Referral button

The referrer will be listed on the referred candidate's profile. The referrer is automatically attributed to the account of the user who submitted the referral. The referral form will be added to the opportunity profile in the candidate history and in the 'Forms' tab. 

Screenshot 2023-11-17 at 8.18.15 AM.png

Submitting direct referrals via the Lever Chrome extension

Lever's Chrome extension allows users with any level of access to add candidates from sites such as LinkedIn, GitHub, and AngelList to your Lever pipeline. To submit a direct referral via the Lever Chrome extension:

  • Navigate to the profile of a candidate that you wish to refer
  • Open the Chrome extension in your browser window
  • Select the 'Referral' checkbox under the name field; the fields from your Lever environment's referral form will appear in the extension
    • Note: This step only applies to users with Super Admin, Admin, Team Member, and Limited Team Member access. Users with Interviewer level access will see the referral form fields when they open the Chrome extension.

LinkedIn profile with Lever Chrome extension expanded containing referral form fields

  • Fill out the referral form fields in the extension
    • Depending on how your Lever environment's referral form has been configured, some fields may be required while others are optional. In all cases, you must provide an email address for the candidate that you are referring.
    • Tip: If you are making a referral using a candidate's LinkedIn profile, you can save their profile as a PDF and drag it into the extension. Lever will parse the information on the profile and auto-populate any applicable fields. For full details, refer to our help article on how to save a LinkedIn profile as PDF.
  • At the bottom of the referral form, select a minimum of one job posting for which you to refer the candidate
    • You can refer a candidate for a maximum of three job postings in a single referral. Separate opportunities will be created for each posting.
    • It is not possible to refer candidates for postings that have only been published internally. For more on this topic, refer to our help article on job posting publication.
  • Click the Create Referral button

Generating social referral links

To generate a social referral link:

  • Navigate to the Referrals page
  • Select the 'Share Referral Link' tab and click the Get Referral Link button

Social Referrals tab on the Interviews page with arrow pointing to Get Referral Link button

  • Open the 'Link to' menu and select the posting for which you wish to generate the referral link
  • Click the buttons below the 'Copy link' field to share the link directly to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Note, selecting any of these options will require you to log in to the respective social media site.

Close up of social referral link pop over

When an applicant applies via the social referral link, a candidate profile and opportunity will be created in Lever along with an indication that of the opportunity as 'Via social referral ink created by [the creator of the referral link].' The source will indicate the platform the link was shared to - Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

a887187e-7aa2-4e10-9225-c184b44d5055.png

 

The source (Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn) is only captured and reflected on the opportunity if the link was shared from within Lever as described above. If the link is copied and pasted, the source will be listed as just ‘Job Site’ (i.e. your Lever job site) when a candidate applies.

Tracking the status of your referred candidates

To monitor the progress of your referred candidates as they move through the recruitment process:

  • Navigate to the Referrals page
  • To view the status of candidates that you have directly referred, select the 'Referred Candidates' tab

The referral lists include candidates' names, the stage of their referred opportunity, the associated posting, the date of last interaction, and the opportunity owner.

Lever referrals page showing list of Referred candidates.

 

Users with Super Admin, Admin, Team Member, or Limited Team Member access are automatically added as followers to opportunities generated from their direct referrals. Depending on how they have configured their personal account settings, they can receive email notifications when actions are taken with the opportunities associated with their referred candidates. To learn more, refer to our help article on configuring personal account settings.

 

If you are running a referral incentive program at your organization, use the 'Referrals' data export to keep track of all referrals submitted through Lever that resulted in a hire so you know which employees to compensate. Read about the 'Referrals' data export in our exports help article.

Blocking repeat referrals

You can prevent candidates from being referred to the same job posting multiple times. If referrers attempt to select a job postings for a candidate who has already been submitted for the same job, they will see an error message.

  • Navigate to Settings > Forms > Referral
  • Turn on the 'Block repeat referrals' toggle

Lever Referral settings with arrow pointing to Block repeat referrals toggle on blue.

Referrers will see an error message during the referral process.

Lever Referral job posting application with arrow poinging to red warning on job listing.

Configuring automated updates

You can configure email updates for referral submissions and progressions. Refer to our help article on building referral workflows.

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