Want to know a secret about your business? You have untapped recruiting talent right at your fingertips – your employees. The people who work for you should be your biggest advocates, and they have the network and ability to bring new talent to your organization.

Employee referrals are an effective way to help businesses find, attract and retain qualified candidates. For example, they are the fastest way to fill a job opening at 29 days, and they are the number one source of candidates who are actually hired. Also, in 2012, referrals were the top source of external hire, accounting for 24.5 percent of hires, according to CareerXroads.

Employee referrals can lead to better applicants, but an established employee referral program can create a growing pipeline of qualified candidates and a more engaged workforce. Below are seven considerations for implementing a successful employee referral program:

1. Get the C-Suite on Board

Start by selling your executives on the value of employee referrals. Help them understand that your organization can increase the quality of hires and reduce costs by focusing on applicants referred by your very own employees.

Zao, an employee referral management platform, has debunked some of the common myths many skeptics share about employee referral programs, using data points that speak to the power of employee referrals. For instance, employee engagement can increase from 10 to 50 times with referral rewards. Additionally, 46 percent of employee referrals stay with the hiring company for three years or more, while only 14 percent of job board hires stay with the hiring company.

2. Spread the Word

Your employees also have to understand the value of employee referrals to want to participate. Once you have the C-Suite on board, capitalize on their excitement and participation to educate the rest of the business on your employee referral efforts. Communicating the incentives is a great way to drive initial participation, but employees may also want to understand the entire strategy behind your new company initiative.

Spread the word throughout your entire organization and provide regular updates on successful hires, new incentives and progress to keep employees engaged in your program.

3. Motivate Your Employees

Incentives such as cash rewards, prizes and extra perks at work can help motivate workers to participate in your program. But one of the common pitfalls of employee referral programs is that they offer little to no rewards for successful referrals. In 2013, more than 80 percent of the companies with employee referral programs are using non-cash rewards. At the same time, cash rewards are the number one incentive to increase employee participation.

Rewarding employees throughout the referred applicant’s entire hiring process is another way to keep employees engaged and motivated to participate. Consider giving employees smaller rewards for bringing in a qualified candidate or even if they receive an interview, for example, and award the cash prize if the referral is eventually hired.

4. Seek Participation from Outside Sources

By opening up your referral program to allow participation from non-employees, businesses can drastically boost their hiring rates, and some have seen increases as high as 69 percent. Identify outside referrers who the company trusts – alumni, partners, business contacts, local colleges or professional organizations – who have a different network to tap into. Reward outside participants too so they may continue to be incentivized to grow your applicant pool and candidate pipeline.

5. Make It Simple

The easier it is for employees and outside referrers to share your job description or application, the faster they will be able to start participating and get your employee referral program up and running. Equip them with links to your job posting within your online hiring center and approved copy they can use to promote and share your open positions on various social networks or email. Giving them options and different ways to share your open positions will make it easier for referrers to spread the word and increase your pool of employee referrals.

6. Communicate Frequently

Keep employees and referrers engaged in the hiring process by consistently communicating the challenges and successes of the program. Specifically, let them know how their referrals are doing, such as when they’ve had interviews, if the candidate has been eliminated from the process or if the referral even met the ideal job qualifications.

At the same time, when an employee shares a great referral, HR should take steps to contact that candidate as soon as possible. After a referrer has helped you out by bringing in a quality applicant, it becomes HR’s responsibility to keep the applicant engaged throughout the hiring process.

7. Give and Get Feedback

In addition to keeping employees informed about their referral’s status, HR should provide feedback on the quality of the referral. Did the referral meet the job requirements? If the referral did not lead to a successful hire, tell the referrer why so he or she can refer better candidates in the future.

Also, solicit feedback from referrers and employees to determine how engaged they are in the program, if your rewards are serving as true incentives and how you can modify the program to increase overall participation.

An employee referral program is an effective way to increase your applicant pool and find qualified candidates. To learn more about how you can attract more applicants, download “The Online Recruiting Guide: 11 Steps to Attract More Applicants” below: