This was absolutely my problem with this strategy as well. "Strip mining" someone's professional network doesn't give the impression that the employee's contac

This was absolutely my problem with this strategy as well. "Strip mining" someone's professional network doesn't give the impression that the employee's contacts will be treated with thought and care. The whole reason referrals are valuable is because they leverage the trust between two people. I trust that someone I refer is going to put their best foot forward and perform well, the person I refer trusts that I'm not going to recommend them to a crappy hiring experience or a crappy company. They also trust that I'm not going to spam them or otherwise waste their time. By putting all of my contacts in the hands of the HR dept I no longer have any control over how or when the company contacts them. That company can easily break the trust I have with my contacts. I wouldn't be comfortable doing that, referral bonus or no referral bonus. Then there's the section about outsourcing this internal contact mining and impersonating a VP in recruiting emails. If you're starting out the process with outsourcing and fake personal touches chances are you are not going to treat my network with care. The most important question doesn't even get asked here, does an employee want to refer his or her network to the company. Some people are just not going to feel comfortable with doing that at all, or maybe they don't trust the company enough yet. Being aggressive with someone that feels that way could elicit quite a negative reaction. I do think working the networks of employees could bear great referrals but I think a delicate and thoughtful touch needs to be applied.