Why Checking References for Seasonal Hires Is Essential

The Christmas season is officially upon us; stores are jam-packed with festive treats, as are our diaries are with social events. For many industries, work will be winding down as the year closes out - but for retail and hospitality, their busiest season is just getting started.

As you tuck into your first mince pie, spare a thought for the recruitment professionals facing their highest volume hiring period.

The pressure is on...

But, as we speak to hiring managers across the globe, an alarming truth has come to light; the sheer volume of seasonal recruits means essential processes like reference checking are being ignored.

Even businesses that usually prioritise reference checking, crack under the pressure of high-volume hiring.

Whether you’re hiring short-term recruits in bulk or just a single candidate, your due diligence never becomes any less critical.

Two reasons you should always reference check seasonal hires

1. Reference checking protects your company and the community from fraudulent candidates, ensuring you hire someone with an appropriate background, that can be trusted with your stock and cash
2. Through checks you ensure their skills are suited to the role; during busy periods, a bad hire can directly impact revenue through negative customer experiences and the cost of additional training and management

Take your reference checks online

Whatever your bulk hiring habits are - seasonally, for major projects or for perhaps for graduate schemes - you simply can’t let your usual standards slip. The good news is that reference checking each and every hire is still possible, without spending hours chained to the phone. How? By doing it online!

At its core, the Xref platform exists:

1. To make the job of recruitment easier and more efficient
2. To protect businesses through comprehensive reference checking

We’ve built in a bulk referencing function to help you get through high-volume recruitment with ease. It’s done in three simple steps:

1. Add all of your candidates to a spreadsheet - you can do this for up to 100 candidates at a time
2. Upload your candidate details spreadsheet to the Xref platform
3. Sit back and wait - the rest of the process is driven by the candidate and references are returned often within as little as 24 hours

This means you can reference check hundreds of candidates in a matter of days, while storing data securely and taking advantage of our anti-fraud algorithm to ensure the safety of your business.

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