Take The Two Week Employee Referral Referral Challenge

Ready to transform your sleepy referral program into a hiring hype machine? Join our 10-day Employee Referral Challenge and build unstoppable momentum. Each task takes just 15 minutes but creates a lasting impact on your talent pipeline. Over two weeks you’ll complete 10 simple actions that spark engagement and deliver results your managers and employees will love.

Day 1 — Kickoff: Send the Referral Ask

Goal: Visibility. Remind employees that the referral program exists.

Action: Write a fun email encouraging employee participation in the referral program.

Sample subject lines:

• “Help build the hive and earn some honey.”

• “Your referrals fuel our success.”

• “Team work makes the dream work. Refer a friend today.”

Sample email body (steal this):We’re buzzing with new openings and need the hive’s help. Who do you know that would be a good fit? We’re offering sweet referral bonuses for every hire you bring in. Just refer a friend to one of our qualifying roles!

Hot roles this week: Pick a few hot roles to highlight at the bottom of the message.

Day 2 — Give Managers a New-Hire Flyer

Goal: Encourage hiring managers to ask every new hire for referrals in their first week.

Action: Make an Employee Referral flyer to be used in the onboarding process. New hires are a gold mine for referrals and they are eager to help out. Encourage them to participate in the referral program right from the start.

Include:

• Title: “Bring your crew and earn rewards too!”

• How-to: Three easy steps - Browse openings → Submit referral → Earn Reward.

• FAQ mini: Bonus, eligibility, payout timing, what counts as a referral.

• QR code to the portal.

Day 3 — Poster Party

Goal: Visual advertisements in common areas.

Action: Create an employee referral poster (11×17/A3), and then print it and post it around the workplace.

Headline ideas:

• “Remember to wash your hands—and refer a friend.”

• “Sharing is caring. Post our jobs to social media and get credit when your friends apply.”

• “Share the dream and help build the team.”

• “Our dream team is expanding. Invite a friend to join.”

• “Don't let these opportunities slip away. Refer a friend today.”

(Each poster gets a QR + one-line bonus blurb.)

Day 4 — Kick Off the 1-Week Referral Raffle

Goal: Create a burst of referrals with a limited-time raffle—simple rules, clear prize, and loud reminders.

Action:

• Pick prizes (e.g., 5 × $25 gift cards + 1 × $250 grand prize).

• Set the dates and simple rules (e.g., 1 referral = 1 entry)

• Post the announcement (email + Slack/Teams) with your referral link/QR.

Day 5 — Hand the Megaphone to Leaders

Goal: Exec amplification at all-hands and team meetings.

Action: Encourage company leaders to talk about the referral program.

Reasoning: When company leaders talk about the referral program, it stops being “an HR thing” and becomes “how we hire here.” Executive voices signal priority, create social proof, and give everyone permission to recruit—not just recruiters. A 60-second shout-out will do wonders when you’re building momentum in your employee referral program.

Day 6 — Celebrate a Referral Win (Slack/Newsletter)

Goal: Prove it works. Make it human.

Action: Post a short spotlight with confetti.

Template: 🎉 Shout-out to Alex M. for referring Priya S., our newest teammate! Priya said, “I applied because Alex raved about the culture.” Help a friend take the next step toward a rewarding career by submitting a referral today.

Day 7 — FAQ Glow-Up

Goal: Remove “wait, how does this work?” friction.

Action: Post a simple explainer video for those who are new to your referral program and simplify your FAQ and Program Policy document.

Reasoning: A short explainer video plus a simplified FAQ/Policy shifts your referral program from a chore to a no-brainer. The video lowers the barrier for first-timers—showing exactly where to click, what “qualified” means, and how payouts work—while captions and plain language make it inclusive and easy to share in Slack or onboarding. A streamlined FAQ/Policy (clear eligibility, timing, exceptions) builds trust, reduces support tickets and back-and-forth with HR, and keeps managers consistent and compliant.

Day 8 — Portal Polish + Everywhere Links

Goal: Make the path obvious and omnipresent.

Action:

1. Walk the portal, review bonuses, make sure the branding up to date, place hot jobs at the top of the list.

2. Create a short link and add it to email signatures, intranet tiles, and other places where company links are located.

3. Ask the IT department to add links to the referral portal on all company-owned devices.

Day 9 — LinkedIn Share Day

Goal: Turn employees’ feeds into free reach. Remind employees that it is the last day to submit referrals for the raffle.

Action: Create an image and some sample text that can be shared on social media announcing that the company is hiring. Send this out to employees asking them to post it on Linkedin and remind them that it is the last day of the referral raffle. Make sure employees use their unique share link. so they get credit for the referral when their friends apply.

Day 10 — Scoreboard + Raffle Winners

Goal: Close the loop and keep the momentum going.

Action: Take score of how many referrals came in during raffle period. Select the winners and publish a message announcing the raffle winners showing the stats. Award the prizes to the winners.

The Send-Off

As you take on this challenge, watch these small daily nudges turn into real hires. Leaders will echo it, managers will love it, employees will brag about it—and your pipeline will thank you. May your requisitions fill swiftly, your culture thrive with great people, and your efforts be rewarded with abundant referrals. You’ve got this—now go crush Day 1!