Refer a colleague to an opportunity

What this achieves

A referral tells the people running an opportunity that you think a particular colleague would suit it. The person you refer is flagged in the applicant pipeline, so your recommendation reaches the reviewers rather than staying a conversation.

Required role: Any signed-in user.

Steps

Go to Opportunities → Referrals.
Select Refer Someone.
Choose the Opportunity.
Search for and choose the Referred colleague.
Write a Message explaining why they would suit it.
Select Submit referral.

What a referral does and does not do

A referral is a recommendation, not an application. The colleague you refer still has to apply.

Example: Olivia Bennett refers James Whitfield to an opportunity in another department at HC Corp UK Ltd. The reviewers see that he was referred and by whom once he applies, and nothing happens until he does.

You cannot refer yourself. The panel says so if you try.

Referral status

Option	Description
Pending	Submitted. The colleague has not applied yet.
Applied	They have applied to the opportunity.
Hired	They were taken for it.
Declined	The referral did not go forward.

Only open opportunities can be referred to

The opportunity picker lists opportunities that are open. If there are none, it says so rather than offering an empty list.

That is the same rule an applicant meets: a closed opportunity takes no new applications, so a referral to one would have nowhere to go.

Referring the same person twice

Submitting a referral again for the same colleague and the same opportunity updates the existing one rather than creating a second. The panel tells you this before you submit.

Use it to improve a message you sent in haste, not to apply pressure.

What the reviewers see

Where a referred colleague applies, their entry on the applicant list names you as the referrer. Your message goes with the referral.

Write it for the hiring manager rather than for your colleague. What is useful is what you have seen the person do, not general praise.

What happens next

Your referrals stay on this page with their status as it changes. If the colleague applies, they are reviewed like any other applicant — a referral is context for the reviewers, not a shortcut past the pipeline. Referrals also point outward: the section covers introducing external candidates as well as colleagues.