Dear Nicky,
I recently received the same candidate from two different partners. I'm a fairly new member, and I'm not sure which referral to honor.
Uncertain in Ubly
Dear Ubly,
Thanks for writing! It's always appreciated when members confirm policies before inadvertently causing a ruckus.
NPAworldwide policy is pretty clear about honoring member referrals: You are free to recognize EITHER the first referral received OR the referral that triggered your interest. If, for example, the first referral did not appear to be a good fit and you did not initiate any activity, and the second referral was more detailed, with newer information and that information is what made you contact the candidate, then that is the referral to honor. The guiding principle is that no one owns a particular candidate; what is owned is the information about that candidate.
It is NOT appropriate to start working with the first referral and then switch to the second referral, since there was clearly enough information in the first referral to warrant your action. It is imperative that you have a good tracking system that records when you received a referral and from whom to avoid any missteps. It is also never appropriate to receive a candidate referral and then see if you can 'find' that candidate already in your own database as that is clear evidence of your interest in the candidate.
Nicky
send letters to: nanderson@npaworldwide.com