An Easy Way to Recruit More Women in Your Organization is to Ask for More Names

Increasing the number of women, especially in the upper echelons of management, is a challenge many companies want to address. But when diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives became politically charged, it left many organizational leaders unsure of how to pursue this goal without risking backlash or legal challenges. New research from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business has an easy fix: Widen the pool of qualified candidates for open roles by asking for more referrals.

“The core idea is straightforward, which is a strength of this approach: Just ask for more names,” says Aneesh Rai, assistant professor of management and organization who co-authored the research in the Journal of Applied Psychology. “For example, instead of asking for two referrals, ask people to give at least four referrals.”

Referrals are a critical channel for filling open positions and securing professional opportunities. It is common practice for hiring managers to solicit referrals, asking people to recommend  anyone they know that could be a good fit for an open position. By simply asking for more names, you can get a longer list of qualified candidates. More names means more qualified women (and men) that companies can choose to hire. 

Rai says there are two potential reasons why this strategy works. First, by asking for more referrals, there are more chances for people to name women. In essence, when you give people a higher goal, they usually try to reach it. “As long as there’s a non-zero chance of women being referred, this will increase the chances that women are referred,” he says.

The second potential reason has to do with pushing people past the first names that come to mind, which in many cases will be men for male-dominated organizations and industries. In those contexts, men are the prototypical hires to fit the mold. But if you have people come up with a longer list of suggested candidates, they are more likely to start referring to women.

“While we find support for the goals-based account in our research, we find mixed evidence for prototype divergence,” Rai says.

He and his co-authors worked with a company called IDinsight in India to run two field experiments. They ran several follow-up experiments in the United States, using online samples and hypothetical hiring scenarios. All came to the same pattern of results.

“We found that just doubling the number of referrals that were requested substantially increased the number of women getting recommended — by 17% to 88% across all studies,” Rai says. 

“As you give people a higher target, they provide more referrals, and that naturally creates more opportunities for women to get referred.”

Given the current moment, where managers may be reluctant to implement policies seen as explicitly favoring a particular group, Rai says this research takes a different approach: it just nudges companies to cast a wider net.

Another interesting finding is that despite the apparent simplicity of this solution, the researchers found it rarely came to mind. In surveys of hiring managers, HR leaders and working adults, fewer than 5% suggested the strategy of asking for more names when asked for ideas to increase referrals of women.

But, Rai says, organizations have to find the right number of names to request, or they risk it becoming too much work for people to do at all. He says there is likely a threshold where it becomes such an onerous task that people will opt out entirely or not do it properly.

“Managers have to think about who they’re asking for referrals and how many people they might have in their network,” Rai says. “Try tinkering with these numbers to find that sweet spot between maximizing the number of referrals while annoying the fewest number of people.

Having a lot more referred candidates also means companies have more resumes to sift through. But, Rai says, that also means companies can be more selective because a bigger candidate pool increases the odds of finding the right hires.

Rai says companies can use this strategy to increase candidates from any population or skill set — not just women. 

“Essentially, increasing the supply of referrals can serve as a versatile yet simple-to-implement way to address many strategic goals that companies might have, whether it is increasing gender diversity, quickly filling open positions, or seeking out particularly qualified candidates,” Rai says.

The research paper, “Setting Higher Referral Targets Increases the Number of Women Recommended: Evidence From the Field and Lab,” is published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.