Template · Recruiting and hiring
Employee referral form
In short
An employee referral form is how an employee formally recommends someone for a job, so HR can record who referred whom, for which role and when. This template captures referrer and candidate details, the relationship, why they are recommending the person, candidate consent and bonus terms, with an HR block for duplicate checks, outcome and payout.
Employee Referral Form template
Employee Referral Form
Use this form to refer a candidate for an open position. One form per candidate. Referrals are reviewed against the same criteria as every other applicant. Bonus eligibility is set by the Employee Referral Policy in effect on the date this form is received.
About you (referring employee)
- Your full name
- Employee ID
- Job title
- Department / site
- Manager's name
- Work email
- Phone
About the candidate
- Candidate full name
- Candidate email
- Candidate phone
- City and state
- Current or most recent job title and employer
- LinkedIn or online profile (optional)
- Resume attached
- YesNo, candidate will apply directly
Position
- Job title of the open position
- Requisition or job ID (if known)
- Location or site
- If not this role, other roles the candidate may fit
- Shift or schedule the candidate is available for
Your recommendation
- How do you know the candidate?
- Worked together (I was their peer)Worked together (I managed them)Worked together (they managed me)Studied togetherFriend or acquaintanceFamily memberOther
- How long have you known them, and in what setting?
- Have you seen their work directly?
- YesNo
- Why would they be good in this role? Give specific examples.
- Anything the recruiter should know (availability, notice period, preferred contact time)
Candidate consent
- I confirm the candidate knows I am referring them and agreed that the Company may contact them about this and similar roles.
Referrer acknowledgment
- A referral does not guarantee an interview or a job offer. All candidates go through the standard selection process.
- Referral bonuses are paid only as described in the Employee Referral Policy, including any minimum employment period for the new hire and for me.
- If the candidate already applied or was referred by someone else within the policy's ownership window, no bonus is due on this referral.
- Referral bonuses are taxable income and are paid through payroll.
- I will not share confidential details about the hiring process or compensation with the candidate.
Signature
- Referring employee signature
- Date submitted
For HR use only
- Date received
- Candidate already in ATS? (date and source of first record)
- Referral accepted as valid
- YesNo, duplicateNo, ineligible referrer (e.g. hiring manager for own team)No, other
- Recruiter assigned
- Date candidate first contacted
- Outcome
- HiredNot selectedWithdrewOn hold / talent pool
- Start date
- Bonus eligibility date
- Bonus amount and payroll date
- Referrer informed of outcome (date)
How to use this template
- Set the rules first in your employee referral policy: bonus amounts, eligibility, waiting period and who cannot claim a bonus.
- Publish the form where employees actually are: a mobile link, a QR code in break rooms and a link in every internal job posting.
- Have the employee fill in their details, the candidate's details, the role and their relationship to the candidate, and confirm the candidate agreed to be referred.
- On receipt, HR checks the ATS for an existing application and records the date stamp that decides referral ownership.
- Contact the candidate within two business days and tell the referrer it is in progress.
- Record the outcome, calendar the bonus eligibility date if the candidate is hired, and tell the referrer the result either way.
Why use a referral form instead of an email
Most referral disputes come down to timing and proof: who referred the candidate first, and did the candidate already apply? A referral form with a date stamp and an HR duplicate check settles that before it becomes an argument over a $1,000 bonus. It also gives recruiters the context that makes referrals valuable in the first place, such as how the employee knows the person and whether they have seen their work.
The form works best as part of a defined program. Set the rules in your employee referral policy, and see the glossary entry on the employee referral program for how programs are structured and measured.
What to ask, and why each field matters
- Relationship and direct knowledge. A former manager who saw the candidate handle a queue of escalations is a stronger signal than a friend from the gym. Recruiters should weigh referrals accordingly, and the form makes that visible.
- Specific reasons. Ask for examples, not adjectives. "She ran the night shift at a grocery store and never missed a closing" is useful; "great person" is not.
- Candidate consent. Contacting someone who did not know they were referred is awkward and, in some jurisdictions, a privacy problem. California applicants are covered by the CCPA as amended by the CPRA, which requires a notice at collection, and the GDPR applies to candidates in the EU.
- Shift and availability. For hourly roles this one field saves a screening call.
Bonus rules that avoid disputes
A common structure is a flat bonus paid after the new hire completes 60 or 90 days, sometimes split into two payments (half at 30 days, half at 90). Typical amounts range from a few hundred dollars for hourly roles to several thousand for hard-to-fill professional or technical roles. Both the referrer and the new hire usually need to be employed on the payout date.
Write down an ownership window, often 6 or 12 months, during which the first valid referral or application owns the candidate. Exclude hiring managers referring into their own team, recruiters, and HR staff involved in the hire. Referral bonuses are supplemental wages for tax purposes, so pay them through payroll, not as gift cards outside it.
Fairness and compliance notes
Referrals tend to look like the people making them. If your workforce is not diverse, a program that fills most roles through referrals can reproduce that pattern and, in some cases, contribute to disparate impact claims under Title VII. Keep referrals as one source among several, track referral hires in your aggregate EEO reporting, and apply the same screening criteria and interview process to every candidate.
Do not give referred candidates a shortcut past required steps such as background checks or skills tests. Do not ask referrers about a candidate's age, health, family plans or other protected characteristics, and remove any such details if they appear in the free-text fields. Rules on bonuses, data privacy and record retention vary by state and country.
Running referrals at volume
In a 600-person warehouse or contact center, referrals can supply 20 to 40% of hourly hires when the process is easy. The form has to work on a phone in under two minutes, ideally through a link or QR code that employees can share. Building it with online forms that feed straight into your ATS removes manual re-keying, and ready-made referral templates help employees send a short note to friends.
Speed matters more than the bonus amount. If referred candidates wait a week to hear back, employees stop referring. Commit to a two-day first contact, send the referrer a status update, and run periodic referral pushes before big hiring classes, with a short employee referral request email listing the roles and the bonus.
Frequently asked questions
What should an employee referral form include?
The referrer's name and ID, the candidate's contact details, the position, how they know each other, why they recommend the candidate, confirmation that the candidate agreed to be referred, bonus terms and an HR section for duplicate checks, outcome and payout.
Can employees refer family members?
Usually yes, but check your nepotism or conflict of interest rules. Most policies bar employees from supervising or influencing decisions about a relative, so the referrer should not be involved in the hiring decision.
When are referral bonuses usually paid?
Most programs pay after the new hire completes 60 or 90 days of employment, sometimes in two installments, provided both the referrer and the new hire are still employed on the payout date.
What happens if two employees refer the same candidate?
The policy should say the first valid referral received, by date and time stamp, owns the candidate. If the candidate already applied directly before either referral, no bonus is usually paid.
Does the candidate need to know they were referred?
Yes. Ask the referrer to confirm the candidate agreed before submitting. Contacting someone out of the blue about a referral they never agreed to creates a poor first impression and privacy issues.
Is a candidate referral form needed for internal transfers?
No. Internal moves go through your internal job posting process. Referral forms and bonuses are for external candidates.