Politico has seen a whopping number of employees leave the publication in the last year. And not just any employees–but many of their star employees.

And now, they need to make some hires… fast.

So they’re asking their employees for referrals. And if they past muster, the Politico employee will win $1000. Like a game show! Then, they will also be thrown into a larger raffle for a chance to win $10,000.

Some employees and ex-employees are finding the measure rather desperate-sounding.

But cash is cash — right?

See the internal memo below.

From: Kim Kingsley
Date: May 13, 2015 at 2:36:44 PM EDT
To: TP-Staff
Subject: New Referral Bonus Program

Hey team,

It’s no secret that our greatest need as a company is to expand our staff and scale our teams to tackle the ambitious growth plans we have in place. We know that without a doubt talent attracts talent, and we’re sure that each of us has a large network of former colleagues, classmates and other professional and personal contacts who have heard about POLITICO’s growth and may be curious about what it means to work here.

We’d like to have you tap into those networks to find the most outstanding professionals nationwide to fill our growing ranks, and we’d like to give you a great incentive to do so.

Effective immediately, you’ll receive $1,000 for everyone we hire who you personally referred. Here’s how it works:

· Send an email to the appropriate department leader and InternalApp@politico.com attaching the resume of your referral candidate.
· The Talent Ops team will let you know whether the candidate was selected for an interview.
· If we make an offer and the candidate ACCEPTS, you’ll be notified of their start date. In the first payroll check following the start date, you’ll receive a $1,000 bonus for your referral hire.
· For each referral hire, you’ll gain one entry into the referral raffle, which we’ll draw on October 1st. The winner of the referral raffle will receive a $10,000 bonus.
· Note that referral bonuses are subject to standard payroll tax.

We’re excited to start getting everyone involved in our recruiting efforts and can’t wait to see who wins the $10K.

Start sending in resumes, and please reach out to Miki King with questions.

Thanks!
Kim