The employer is offering the bonuses for one reason and one reason only: they have need for competent and reliable employees. They are relying on their current capable and competent employees to recommend similarly talented friends, competitors or former colleagues to fill this need. They are not doing it so that an employee can scam his friend or former co-worker and invite her to work side-by-side in some dungeon or sweatshop.
An old boss put it like this once: the owners of the company have invested their money in this enterprise. We should not be making any expenditure of their money unless there is an expectation of a reasonable return on investment on that expenditure. This extends from the purchase of million-dollar equipment down to the purchase of a jumbo-sized box of paper clips.
Your employer is not going to hire someone unqualified to do the job (let’s hope so) simply to give you a $500 kicker.
And if you start running a bunch of useless slags through personnel trying to get a string of $50 checks they are going to wise up to your game very quickly and put a stop to it.’
If you have an acquaintance that you barely know who might qualify for the job at the next desk, get her in for the interview. The bonus check is compensation for your recommendation of someone capable and competent.
SRM