Using the Referral channels report

The Referral channels report shows where referred candidates come from and how they progress through your hiring pipeline. It includes candidates from the referral portal, Search with AI, the Chrome extension, candidates whose source was manually set to a team member, and referred candidates copied to another job when the original referral details are unknown.

To access the report, go to the Reports page in the navigation bar and open Referral channels. Use the report filters to specify the jobs and timeframe you want to review. Learn more about filtering reports.

Referral candidates

Metrics

The three metrics at the top of the report summarize your referred candidates:

• Referred candidates: Candidates referred directly through the referral portal, endorsed social shares, referrals through Search with AI or the Chrome extension, manually assigned referrers, and referred candidates copied to another job
• Advanced: Referred candidates whose current stage is other than Sourced or Applied, whether they are qualified or disqualified
• Hired: Referred candidates who are qualified and currently in a Hired stage

The Advanced metric uses the candidate's current stage, rather than their history of moves between stages.

Internal applications are excluded from these three metrics. Social share applicants who have not been endorsed are also excluded, except in the copied-candidate case described below. Both categories are included in the charts and referral-category table.

If a social share applicant who has not been endorsed is copied to another job and marked as recommended, the candidate can count in the Referred candidates metric while remaining under Social shares not endorsed. The recorded referrer may differ from the person who copied the candidate.

Candidate funnel by referral category

The funnel compares Total candidates, Advanced, and Hired. Each horizontal bar represents 100% of its candidates and is split by referral category, helping you compare which channels bring candidates who progress further in the pipeline.

Candidates by referral category

Every candidate in the report belongs to a referral category. The table groups these categories into two sets:

• Referrals portal: Internal applications, Social shares endorsed, Social shares not endorsed, and Direct referrals
• Other referral channels: Search with AI, Chrome extension, Manually assigned, and Copied candidate

Internal applications are employees who applied through the referral portal. Direct referrals are candidates submitted directly through the portal. Social shares are candidates who applied through a shared referral link, split by whether the person who shared the link endorsed them.

Search with AI and Chrome extension include candidates referred by a team member through those tools. Manually assigned includes candidates whose source was set to a team member by editing their profile. Copied candidate includes referred candidates copied to another job when their original referral details are unknown.

For each category, group, and the overall total, the table shows candidate counts, advanced candidates, and hired candidates. The Advanced and Hired percentages are calculated using the candidates in the same row.

Referral requests reach by channel

This chart shows how many people viewed a shared job and how many applied through Link share, LinkedIn share, Facebook share, X share (previously Twitter share), and Internal applications. Candidates from shared links are split into endorsed and not endorsed.

Views are recorded per job and channel, rather than per candidate. Job filters update the view counts. Applying a candidate filter hides the Views bars, so the chart does not compare unfiltered views with filtered candidate counts.

Candidates by referrer

This table lists team members and referral portal users alongside their Referred candidates, Advanced, Hired, and Rewards. It is sorted by Referred candidates, highest first. Advanced and Hired percentages are calculated using each referrer's referred candidates.

Only referred candidates are counted, so this table’s total can be lower than the overall total in the referral-category table. Internal applications are excluded and do not have a named referrer because no coworker referral link was used. Social share applicants who have not been endorsed are generally excluded, even when the person who shared the link is known. However, an unendorsed applicant copied to another job and marked as recommended can count as referred, as described above.

For social share applicants, the person who shared the link can select Refer in their Social Shares tab to endorse the candidate. If they select Ignore or do not respond, the application remains counted under Social shares not endorsed and does not count toward their referral reward eligibility. Learn more about reviewing applications from your network.

The Candidate referrer field can still identify the person who shared the link for an unendorsed applicant. Having a recorded referrer does not, by itself, mean the applicant counts as a referred candidate.

Rewards apply only to referrals through the referral portal. Referrers outside the portal show no rewards.

Viewing the candidates behind a count

Select any of the following to open the matching candidate records:

• The Referred candidates, Advanced, or Hired metric
• A segment of the candidate funnel
• A candidate, advanced, or hired count in the referral-category table, including group and total rows
• A candidate count in the referral requests reach chart
• A referred, advanced, or hired candidate count in the Candidates by referrer table

Percentages, views, and rewards cannot be selected to open candidate records.

The details view shows the report filters and the selected category, channel, or referrer as filter chips. If a filter contains several values, select its chip to see the full list.

The table includes candidate names, jobs, referral details, whether candidates advanced or were hired, and candidate creation dates. Use Columns to add or remove columns, select a column heading to sort, and move between pages to review more results.

Opening candidate profiles

Select a candidate name to open their profile in a panel over the details view. You can review the profile and take actions without leaving the report. Select View to open the full profile page, or close the panel to return to the same table. Select Close in the details view to return to the report.

Exporting candidate details

If you have permission to export reports, select Download CSV to receive the table by email. The export includes the columns and sort order currently shown. External recruiters do not have this option.

Understanding differences in the data

The details view respects your access permissions, so you may see fewer candidate records than the count in a shared report.

Candidate profiles show the latest information, while report data is refreshed periodically. If a candidate's details have changed since the last refresh, their profile may differ from the report until the next refresh.

Deleted candidates remain in report totals and appear as Deleted candidate in the details view, with their personal information removed. The Candidate details report excludes deleted candidates, so its totals may be lower.

Use the Deleted candidate filter in the Candidates dataset to include or exclude deleted candidates.

If a candidate has been deleted or moved to another job since the last refresh, their profile may be unavailable from the details view.

Filtering referral data

On Premier and Enterprise plans, select Add filter to filter by:

• Candidate referred: Whether the candidate was referred by a team member or referral portal user, including candidates whose source was set to a team member
• Referral status: Whether a referral portal user endorsed the candidate; this is empty for referrals outside the portal and internal applications
• Referral source: Where the referral came from: Referrals portal, Search with AI, Chrome extension, Candidate source edit, or Copied candidate
• Candidate referral type: Direct referrals, Social shares, or Internal applications; this is empty for other referral sources
• Candidate referral channel: Link share, LinkedIn share, Facebook share, or X share; this is empty for other referral types
• Candidate referrer: The team member or referral portal user who referred the candidate; this can also identify the person who shared a link when the applicant has not been endorsed

Candidate referrer includes referrers outside the referral portal. Referral category is used to group the charts and table, but is not available in the report's filter menu.

The additional referral columns and filters are also available in the Candidate details report and custom reports built on the Candidates dataset on Premier and Enterprise plans. On Standard plans, the new Candidate referred filter is available in Candidate details; the additional referral filters are not included.