Look before you leap. This proverb applies also to the situation when you are considering whether to refer a friend of yours as a potential employee to your employer. The number of companies actively developing programs for new employees to be refferred by the existing staff are rapidly increasing and you may, therefore, need some advice for such a case. The following 12 questions to ask before you refer someone were published on Forbes.com.
1. What is his/her work history?
Make sure that you know the current job description and professional reputation of the friend you want to recommend.
2. Will he/she trust the strategy of your company?
Before you refer someone, talk to him about the strategy and mission of your company and see if he agrees with it.
How will his/her eventual employment be perceived by your colleagues?
Well consider whether it will not be seen as nepotism and what effect it would have on the atmosphere at your work.
4. Does he/she take working for your company seriously?
It makes no sense to recommend someone who do not actually want to work for you. You would be wasting your time - and worse, even the time of your superiors.
5. Will he/she fit into your corporate culture?
Think of both the culture of your company and the culture of your team and evaluate the possibility of potential conflicts.
6. What kind of relationship you have?
Do not recommend anyone with whom you do not have a good relationship for a long-time. Likewise, prefer not to recommend anyone with whom you have a romantic relationship.
7. Could you work together?
To be a friend of someone and to be in daily contact with him at work are two different things.
8. Will he/she be able to communicate with others?
Focus also on the level of your friend's communication skills. Think whether he is always honest with you, how openly he can talk and how is he used to talk about his employers.
9. Will he be able to do what he/she knows the best at your company?
Talk together about the personal objectives your friend wants to reach to find out whether you can help him to reach it in your company.
10. Have you been honest to him in terms of your work experience with your current employer?
Maybe you have praised your work too much and your friend now has distorted ideas about it. Discuss, therefore, once again both the positive and negative aspects of your work.
11. Is your refferal the right way to help him/her get a job?
If you think that your company is not the right one for your friend, rather help him with the preparation of CVs and interviews for other employers.
12. How will this affect your reputation in the company?
Recommeding a particular person can help as well as hurt your career. Before recommending anyone, you should therefore prepare for it very well.
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