> "The key is to make it someone's full-time job to 1) proactively mine staff networks, 2) extract reputation information from staffers about their networks, an

> "The key is to make it someone's full-time job to 1) proactively mine staff networks, 2) extract reputation information from staffers about their networks, and 3) execute scaled outreach to the potential candidates that get surfaced." My personal network is not yours to "mine". If an HR person at my company contacts a friend of mine to pitch a job at the company I work at, trying to use my name as an "in", that is seriously unprofessional. If you want access to my personal network, you should compensate accordingly. > "You should definitely offer a referral recruiting bonus. It varies, but generally speaking, $1,000 to $2,000 for non-engineering staff and up from there for good engineers is market rate." If you get a referral from a recuiter and then hire the referred candidate, you need to pay that recruiter anywhere from 10-30% of the first year salary of that person as a placement fee. For an engineer that could be over $20,000. But you are only willing to pay $2,000 referral fees to your own employees, who can provide much better candidates than a recruiter? This is not a "sweet deal", it is taking advantage.