6 Advantages Co-Optation Has for Recruitment

With current workforce shortages, companies are struggling to recruit good candidates. Co-optation, also called co-option, sponsorship or participatory recruitment, can be an excellent way to recruit at lower cost and more quickly. Find out what this recruitment technique is and the benefits it represents for a company—particularly when talking about talent manager retention. 

What is co-optation?

Co-optation is a recruitment method by which company employees can recommend a candidate they know when a vacancy is announced. Generally, the person who puts the candidate forward, the co-opter, receives a bonus from their employer if that candidate is hired successfully.

This hiring strategy occurs when the recruit's skills match those that the recruiting company is looking for, so this system is completely different from "pulling some strings" to get a job using an unofficial, automatic method, with no regard to expertise.

Sponsorship can be either internal or external. If internal, company employees suggest a person within their network who works for the same company. If external, people outside of the company recommend someone after having seen the job advert. Setting up a co-optation program is a task for the human resources department.

What are the benefits of co-optation for a company? 

Co-optation provides several benefits for a company wanting to uncover new employees and build a talent pool.

Faster recruiting

Searching for qualified people takes up a lot of time. Once they've determined the hiring criteria, the human resources department has to post the job advert in various formats, spread it around, filter candidates and then organize in-person or online interviews. By making use of participatory recruitment, they'll remove the need for several of these steps and get pre-screened candidates directly from the company's own employees. And generally, these candidates exactly match the criteria they're looking for. Essentially, knowing that their reputation is on the line, the co-opter, or the one who recommended someone in their network, will make sure they choose their candidate carefully. For their part, the co-optee, i.e. the applicant, will submit their application with an excellent idea of what they're in for since the co-opter, being in the field, will have told them.

Saving time during the hiring process can prove a serious advantage over your competition when you know that the faster you can recruit, the fewer candidates pull out or get hired by other companies.

Reduced recruiting costs

Setting up a hiring campaign is expensive. HR departments have to pay posting fees for job adverts and resume databases, and for making use of recruitment agencies or headhunters, etc. With co-optation, resumes find their way directly to their office, without needing to go through the process.

Better targeted applications

Co-optation also enables you to receive better targeted applications because co-opters know the qualities and values of the people they are recommending. Thanks to the power of networking, sponsorship also enables you to:

• get more diverse resumes than those HR can get by going through more traditional recruitment channels;
• reach less typical profiles;
• find those who aren't necessarily looking for a job or young people who have just left school.

Highlighting your employees' contributions 

Participatory recruitment that takes place internally most often comes with a bonus or a gift voucher for the co-opter to encourage as many employees as possible to participate in recruitment. This method helps to strengthen corporate culture by asking employees to get involved with the organization's activities, all while shining light on what they bring to the table. It's vital to make it easy for workers who want to get involved to do so. Typically, the more exceptional the candidate's profile, the higher the bonus.

Strengthening your employer brand

To recruit someone from within their personal network, your employees need to convey a positive image of your employer brand. They're acting as genuine ambassadors for the company. In doing so, they are also showing that they are happy to work there, otherwise, it wouldn't be worth promoting it to other people. They help make the company shine and raise awareness of its EVP (employee value proposition).

Workers who are ready for the job

The co-optee often knows the co-opter well. These close links are an asset for the company because when the co-optee starts in their new position, they can count on their co-opter to help them integrate more quickly. Moreover, the new employee, recommended by a friend, will be more motivated to gain the confidence of their coworkers and manager.

To sum up, co-optation is a recruitment technique that lets you attract new talent faster, all while valuing your employees. According to a recent Glassdoor report, workforce shortages will continue in key economic sectors over the coming years  To keep your company competitive, your hiring techniques need to be more effective than ever.