[guestpost]This is a guest post by Daniel Braithwaite, Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder for Veremark. Daniel is an expert in product design having worked across many of the leading digital design agencies in Europe and decided to create a better screening solution after having his background screened multiple times by the same company. He has a masters in UX and a degree in Economics.[/guestpost]
Long gone are the days when a candidate reference check was little more than a shady, 5 minute, off-the-record telephone call.
As a result of increasing privacy legislation, and the growth in flexible short-term employment, (and other causal factors), the background checking task has become more complicated and labour intensive.
Today, effective and safe candidate reference checks involve navigating a complex and highly proliferated educational, regulatory and employer ecosystem.
Modern reference checkers require a unique set of skills and qualities including curiosity, persuasion, tact and guile, along with a good knowledge of relevant GDPR or PDPA laws.
The good news is that the labour intensive part of the candidate reference check process can now be automated using online background checking software, leaving HR to concentrate on the more strategic elements of pre-employment screening.
Automated communication and chasing referees
For example, automated online candidate referencing software can now complete a comprehensive reference check for you.
All you need to do is to configure the system with the right trigger information, e.g. the email address of the candidate, and it will do the rest.
Candidate responses can typically be customized through the inclusion of response guidance notes, such as, ‘you want to hear from recent line managers’.
Once the trigger information is included, these online candidate reference check systems will automatically contact and request that the candidate update the system with their referees.
More actionable referencing information
Modern referees are not typically forthcoming with information, which can lead to bare references which don’t add much value to the selection process.
Automated online reference checking can alleviate this problem as the superior tools in this area tend to include in-built libraries of proven questionnaires, (which can be customized if you wish).
These inviting question templates have been shown to work in extracting good information from referees, and can not only save you time, but they’ll also result in much more actionable and insightful candidate reference data.
Will chase the referees for you
With modern automated candidate referencing checking systems, HR teams don’t have to spend time chasing up references as the system does that for you.
Once all the trigger information has been included, these automated candidate reference check systems will automatically petition the referee, sending reminder emails until all information has been submitted.
No more emailing and chasing multiple candidates and referees; leave it to automated on-line candidate reference checking software.
Streamlines and automates information sharing
When you have a lot of references to process, preparing and disseminating this information between hiring managers and key stakeholders can be time-consuming.
Automated online systems can remove HR bottlenecks and streamline this information preparation and sharing process.
This is because these automated candidate reference check systems have the ability to automatically analyse and presenting reference information in an actionable report, almost instantly.
These reports can be swiftly and securely shared with colleagues and appropriate parties at the click of a button.
Greater speed and effectiveness
The best of breed automated candidate reference check systems can boast over a 95% successful response rate from referees, which means they can in most cases improve the reliability of the typical background checking process.
The leading automated referencing software tools can also boast a 24 hour average response time too, meaning that they’ll probably save you time too.
They do more than just check references for you
While most HR teams know how to photocopy a passport, many find the task of ID verification awkward and time-consuming and so the good news for HR teams is that automated ID verification tools will be going mainstream pretty soon.
This will alleviate a large administrative burden which is likely to increase/change significantly in scope post-Brexit.
An increase in gig-working and flexible working means that the typical candidate might have worked for numerous employers, many more than in the by-gone job-for-life era.
This has led to an increased burden on the employment verification area.
The good news is that several players in the online candidate reference check field are set to release automated employment verification functionality, which can alleviate the burden in this area too.
Finally, due to the gig economy, changing worker habits, increasing legislation and the growth and proliferation of educational qualifications, the employee referencing process is becoming increasingly complicated and labour intensive.
The good news is that there is an increasing number of online automated candidate referencing check systems that take the labour and pain away from the referencing process, leaving HR to concentrate on the more strategic elements of pre-employment screening.
