refer.com, an online referral service pays people who help their friends and business contacts find better jobs.
Backed by idealab! and Webhire, refer.com helps companies find qualified job candidates by combining the human element of networking with the speed and scale of the Internet. People who make referrals that result in successful hires can earn rewards up to $5,000 or more. With more than 75,000 jobs on the site, www.refer.com is a great place to find exciting jobs for friends, family and business contacts. refer.com is the first company to be launched from idealab!'s Boston office.
"refer.com combines the speed of the Internet with the power of word-of-mouth referral to provide a new way for people to find jobs," said Bill Gross, founder and chairman of idealab! "Perhaps even more importantly, this new service provides an effective tool for companies facing the time-intensive task of hiring good employees."
refer.com offers more than $75 million in referral rewards for jobs at Fortune 500 companies and at some of America's most exciting new companies, including Allaire, dotTV, eMachines, eLease, eVoice, FirstLook, Incentive Systems, cooking.com, NetMorf and Zefer.
How It Works
For each job, refer.com posts a reward that it will pay to people who help their friends and business contacts find new jobs. If the hire is the result of multiple referrals, everyone in the referral chain shares in the reward.
refer.com users are encouraged to search for jobs that match the talents and skills of people they know. They can then email compelling job descriptions to friends who can easily apply for jobs online. Additionally, anyone who applies for a job directly through refer.com (without being referred) and is hired, earns the reward as a signing bonus!
"Everyone gets calls from headhunters asking if they know anyone who might fit a particular opening. refer.com allows people to help their friends find better jobs and get rewarded for doing it," said Lars Perkins, Interim CEO of refer.com, Inc., and a Managing Director at idealab!. "refer.com pays people to do something they already do."
Employer Benefits
Many companies are reporting that referrals are their favorite way to recruit, accounting for 30% or more of new hires. refer.com offers corporate recruiters and human resource professionals a fast, scalable, cost-effective alternative to agencies, online job boards and help wanted ads since its significant rewards will help unearth the highly desirable `passive' job candidates.
"We are excited to have this new recruiting tool to help us with one of today's greatest challenges," said Karen Davis, Manager of Recruiting Strategy for Allaire Corporation, a leading provider of Internet software products and services for companies building business on the Web. "refer.com broadens our network of potential candidates at a fraction of the cost of headhunters."
Perkins noted that "Unlike job boards, which often attract active job seekers and the unemployed, refer.com leverages people's knowledge of friends and business contacts to create a pipeline to reach the most sought-after job candidates, those who are not actively looking for jobs."
Members can send their own resumes to employers through
refer.com and be eligible for a reward as a signing bonus.
Founded in September 1999, refer.com's principal shareholders are idealab! and Webhire, the leading business-to-business provider of Internet recruiting marketplace. refer.com is based in Boston, Mass.
