Employee offboardingMulti-product solution
Zaps, Canvas
Turn your team's network into high-quality candidates with automated warm intros
Automate employee network referrals to find top talent using LinkedIn connections.
Click and drag to move around the canvas and pinch to zoom.
Overview
Systematically leverage your employees’ LinkedIn connections to source high-quality candidates. This template automates the process of getting warm introductions, from inviting your employees to reach out, to tracking responses and candidate interest. Employees receive clear instructions and ready-to-use outreach templates directly in Slack, eliminating manual follow-ups. Your recruiting team gets full visibility into referral activities through centralized, automated tracking.
Why build an automated employee network referral system?
- Get more impact from your sourcing strategy by getting warm intros to candidates from your team.
- Save time by eliminating manual coordination and follow-ups with team mates.
- Gain complete visibility into your network-based recruiting efforts with centralized tracking and reporting.
What key features come with the Warm intro recruiting system template?
- Work right from LinkedIn — Your team can kick off the workflow right from LinkedIn using the Zapier Chrome extension, and avoid manually copying candidate info. Because the easier you make it to share, the more likely they are to actually do it.
- Smart Slack notifications — When you identify a potential candidate connected to an employee, we'll automatically sends a personalized Slack message asking your teammate they're willing to reach out, complete with candidate details and clear next steps.
- Pre-built outreach templates — Provide employees with professionally crafted message templates they can personalize, removing the uncertainty of what to say and increasing the likelihood of candidate engagement.
- Comprehensive engagement tracking — All candidate information, employee outreach status, and response data are stored in Zapier Tables, giving talent acquisition teams complete visibility into the pipeline without manual record-keeping.
Who should use this template
A network connection automation system is ideal for:
- Talent Acquisition Leaders → Maximize the effectiveness of your sourcing strategy by systematically leveraging employee connections while maintaining complete visibility into outreach efforts and results.
- Recruiters and Sourcers → Save hours each week by automating the administrative aspects of connection-based outreach, allowing you to focus on candidate evaluation and relationship building.
- HR Operations Specialists → Implement a scalable, measurable process for network-based recruiting that provides valuable data on conversion rates and effectiveness.
- Hiring Managers → Tap into your team's professional networks more effectively, with minimal disruption to their workflow and maximum transparency into the process.
How does this template work?
This template builds you an automated workflow that helps your team leverage employee connections for candidate sourcing on LinkedIn. Here's how:
- When you find a promising candidate on LinkedIn who's connected to one of your employees, use the Zapier Chrome Extension to capture their profile information and the connected employee's details.
- Then, we'll checks your database to see if this candidate has already been contacted. If they're new, an automated message is sent to the employee through Slack, including the candidate's name, profile link, and potential role, asking if they're willing to reach out.
- The employee responds through a simple "Willing to Contact" form. If they agree to reach out, the system automatically provides them with customized outreach templates and a link to log the candidate's response.
- Based on the candidate's response (logged by the employee in another form), the system triggers different follow-up paths:
- For candidates who haven't responded, the employee receives a reminder to follow up.
- For candidates who declined, the process concludes with a thank-you to the employee.
- For interested candidates, the system notifies the recruiting team and facilitates a handoff.
- Throughout the process, all information is stored in Zapier Tables, giving your talent acquisition team complete visibility into the status of each outreach attempt.
This automation has been field-tested at Zapier, where it's helped the talent team save hours each week while significantly increasing the effectiveness of their network-based sourcing strategy. By implementing this template, you can achieve similar results, transforming occasional employee referrals into a systematic, scalable channel for attracting high-quality passive candidates.
The best part? This entire workflow happens without any need for manual coordination, spreadsheet updates, or follow-up emails. Your team members receive exactly what they need, when they need it, to make successful connections with potential candidates. Meanwhile, your talent acquisition team maintains complete visibility and control over the process, with all data centralized for easy reporting and optimization.
With this template, you'll be able to tap into your organization's most valuable recruiting asset—its existing network—with unprecedented efficiency and consistency, turning more passive candidates into active applicants through the power of warm introductions.
Frequently asked questions
Can this template work with other platforms besides LinkedIn?
While this template is optimized for LinkedIn, the core workflow can be adapted to other platforms. You might need to make some adjustments, but the basic principle of leveraging employee connections can be applied to various sourcing channels.
Can I customize the outreach templates and workflow?
Absolutely. While the template provides a solid starting point, you can easily customize the message templates, workflow steps, and data capture fields to align with your specific recruiting process and company culture.
How does this template handle data privacy and compliance?
The template is designed with privacy in mind. It only captures publicly available information from LinkedIn profiles, and all data is stored securely within your Zapier account. However, it's always a good idea to review the process with your legal team to ensure compliance with your company's policies and local regulations.