An upcoming add-on to leading social networking site LinkedIn’s Recruiter tool promises to “do all the work” in employee referrals for employees who might be considering referring friends for jobs at their organisations.

David Hahn, vice president of product management at LinkedIn, disclosed on Tuesday that Referral Engine, now in beta testing, would help employees capitalise on the “social credit” of referring friends to their employers for jobs. At the same time, the tool will do the pre-screening and qualifying of those potential candidates for jobs.

Vacancies at organisations that deploy Referral Engine will be listed along with the job profile, including required skills, qualifications and experience. Employees whose LinkedIn contacts have matching profiles will receive messages inviting them to put those friends forward for the jobs. Then the current employee can “take action — they can do it in one or two clicks”, Hahn said.

“We’ve taken all of the work out of it,” Hahn told a press conference in central London.

Research shows that more people who refer friends for jobs do it for the social credit rather than a cash reward, Hahn said.

Hahn’s comments came during the LinkedIn Talent Connect conference for resourcing professionals, the company’s first such event in Europe.