A relaunched staff referral scheme has produced impressive results for law firm Eversheds, a conference has heard. 

Speaking to an audience of recruiters, HR and resourcing professionals at the Hollaroo Social Recruiting Advisory Council conference in London yesterday, Mardi Smouha, resourcing adviser at the firm, said that the new scheme was launched in July 2011.

These were the following results:

• one in four candidates, totalling 25, were hired compared with only one in 25 of general applications

• 52% of candidates referred through the scheme were invited to interview vs 15% of general applications

• savings of £135,000 from reduced use of recruitment agencies and savings in staff time.

Smouha said the scheme was based on the principle of “referrals through relationships” and described how the firm’s jobs can be automatically fed into an online communications platform, called The Trusted Network. This allows alumni and future trainees, as well as existing employees to make referrals, she explained.