A solid network of friends in the Information Technology sector could be rewarding. If you refer the names of your well-qualified friends for relevant jobs in these sectors, you will earn points that can be used to buy fuel or pay mobile phone bills.
This has been facilitated by the launch of StarReferral by Global Talent Metrics, a talent research company with offices in Bangalore and Chennai, in association with i-mint, the consumer rewards programme pioneered by Loyalty Solutions and Research Ltd.
StarReferral, an online employee referral programme, is a Web 2.0-based service that combines the power of social networks and the reward point system to help employers source better candidates to fill the vacancies.
Global Talent Metrics chairman Cabot L Jaffee said, "Any person who provides information about talented people they know will be rewarded with i-mint points. StarReferral is a talent sourcing system that leverages the power of social computing to help companies win the war for talent by providing unprecedented access to passive candidates (those who are working but are not on the look out for another job) around 60 per cent lower cost per hire."
Unlike the conventional job board system where firms are forced to absorb people suggested by recruitment agencies, StarReferral uses a person's network of contacts to access the best talent. Every successful online referral will be rewarded with i-mint points.
A company, for instance, might have a job opening for a professional whose cost to company would be Rs 4 lakh per annum. If the company approaches a recruitment agency, it ends up paying Rs 35,000 to the latter.
But under the StarReferral system, the company gets to pay Rs 15,000 to the person who has referred the prospective employee's name. Hence, the person who has referred the name gets 10,000 points, which can be used to buy 57 litres of petrol. Savings to the company will be 67 per cent through StaReferral system, Jaffee said.
StarReferral is being tried out as a pilot by Global Talent Metrics in tandem with Summit HR Worldwide in companies like Yahoo India, Fidelity, TSystems, SAP, Hansen Transmissions and Xerox.
Speaking on the occasion, LSRL CEO Vijay Bobba said: "We had been focusing on the consumer market so far, now we will be entering the employee business market. StarReferral does not have any tax implications."
