A referral program can have two very different purposes:

1. A trusted employee vouches for a potential employee they know personally or worked with before.

2. A way to collect applicants as an alternative or to complement job ads on page. This has the risk as other public referral programs, where it encourages affiliates to advertise the job in spammy and unethical ways, tarnishing the company's reputation.

A public referral program like targets the second purpose, while the author and many posters here assume it aims for the first.

What about a referral program + 5-10 interviews with no intent to hire?