More than two years ago, I wrote a post outlining a freaking gold mine of top candidates that no one ever has a strategy for - the references of the people you hire each year.  Think about the quality and the automatic vetting that is present with most references - it's mind-blowing.

But we generally do nothing with those leads (they're GlenGarry, BTW).  Here's what I wrote back in the day:

"What's the big deal?  If you think about it, you'll agree that references are an underutilized resource of candidate flow for key positions in your company.  Let's think about references and what they bring to the table:

1.  A trusted pool of professionals, so much so the candidate is willing to make them a part of their personal brand.

2.  Often have served as mentors for the candidates who have cited them as references.

3.  Usually bring greater experience to the table than the candidate who cited them.

4.  Known to be "stable", meaning the citing candidate knows they're going to be around for awhile.

5.  Self selected by the candidate pool for their communication skills.  They'll be expected to pop a 2 minute elevator speech on demand about the candidate in question, and this is who the candidate selected for that task.  Have any jobs where you need a filter for the ability to communicate on the phone or via email?  Ever come to the conclusion that people who can communicate can also generally perform at a high level?

Flash forward to the present day.  While there are multiple great referral solutions like Zao in the marketplace, I'm not familiar with any reference solutions that have helped people like you and me capture the gold candidates presented to you as references.  Until now - SkillSurvey, a high end reference solution that helps people extract meaningful data on candidates beyond the traditional reference check, has a new product called "The Q".  Here's how they describe it:

"It's a known fact that strong candidates know strong performers.  The Q℠ is a new talent portal that allows you to take advantage of this valuable - and ongoing - source of talent by turning references into candidates. 

With their permission, a references' contact information is automatically captured in The Q℠, giving you a way to stay in touch and approach references as the need to fill jobs arises in the future.  It works because those leads already have a connection to your organization; they've asked you to stay in touch and are predisposed to receive your call or emails."  

Pretty cool.  This isn't a sponsored post and I'm not getting paid.  I just wanted to follow up on my post and acknowledge that someone has a solution for this.

Skeptical?  Multiple your number of hires last year X3, then think about the quality level of those people.  Think there are some great people to hire in there?  They're in the markets your candidates are in.  If you don't hire them, think they might be great sources for referrals?  After all, someone they know and like went to work for you - unless you screwed that up already, they're inclined to help.

I'd start looking at this as a place to innovate.  Glengarry leads, my friends.