Why Online Reference Checking is Great for All Roles

Why Digital References are Better for All Roles?

For internal recruitment teams, time is of the essence and in a challenging hiring market, minimising admin is key to remaining competitive. That’s where digital reference checking comes in, taking the legwork out of a critical recruitment task to ensure it is done quickly and with compliance. But the buck doesn’t stop at certain roles or industries. Regardless of who you’re hiring, robust reference checking remains essential for confident recruitment decisions. 

From blue collar staff to executive hires, Xref is used across a diverse range of roles

• Leadership: Approximately 7,000 leadership hires, for “Director’, “Head of” and C-suite roles, have been referenced using Xref.
• Sales and Support Roles: Sales, Business Support and Customer Services are the most widely referenced white-collar roles.
• Roles for Nursing Staff: More than 10,000 Nurses were referenced using Xref in 2019.
• Blue Collar Jobs: A wide variety of blue-collar roles were referenced using Xref in 2019, including more than 1000 correctional officers, drivers and cleaners.

Who are you hiring?

White Collar

When making white-collar hires, particularly at an executive level, you require considered reference feedback. 

The Challenges: 

• Rushed phone-based references or fast-tracked verifications lack detail and don’t help to paint an informed picture of the candidate’s past. 
• Senior referees may be too busy to track down during business hours, which can make reference collection an onerous task for both parties. 

How Xref can help: 

• Verbatim responses collected and securely stored. 
• References contain, on average, more than 300 words, giving you comprehensive feedback.

Blue Collar

Blue-collar reference checks will typically include just the role-specific questions relevant to the practical capabilities of a candidate. 

The Challenges: 

• Traditional reference templates are designed with a “one-size-fits-all” approach and don’t help to gather relevant insights for the role. 
• References for blue-collar roles are often provided by those working shift hours or in remote areas, making it difficult to contact them by phone. 

How Xref can help: 

• Fully customisable questionnaires ensure you ask only the questions you need answered. 
• Reduced requirement of referees, meaning responses are delivered swiftly, at a time that suits them. 
• More than 60% of references are provided outside of traditional working hours.

Volunteer

When hiring volunteers, having confidence that the candidate is suitable for a high-trust role, working with potentially vulnerable individuals, is critical and references are key to confirming an applicants suitability. 

The Challenges: 

• Volunteers may not have appropriate referees to provide insights that will match the work that will be required of them in your role. 
• Often, volunteer roles must be filled quickly and traditional reference checks can slow the process down. 

How Xref can help: 

• The ability to request a character reference, suitable for assessing a candidate’s personal attributes, rather than their practical skills. 
• References are returned in, on average, 24-36 hours.

Peak Period Hires

With temporary hires made for peak business periods, it’s critical to verify the people you’re trusting with your cash, stock and brand. 

The Challenges: 

• The burden of phone-based reference checking can make it feel like overkill for a hire that may only be with the business for a matter of weeks. 
• Peak business periods require high-volume hiring and traditional reference checking processes can create barriers to filling roles. 

How Xref can help: 

Up to 100 reference requests can be submitted at one time, using the Xref bulk reference feature.

Improvements on phone-based reference checking

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Time-saving

References returned within, on average, 24 hours of the request. Xref minimises delays in the recruitment process, enabling you to focus on hiring the best talent. It creates a smooth, fast process for everyone to ensure a lasting, positive recruitment experience. And it eliminates the need for any chasing, to allow you more breathing space to find the best hires.

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Fraud detection

More than 7,000 cases of potential fraud detected in one year. Xref's unique multi-touch fraud algorithm monitors for any unusual activity during a reference. It raises a red flag and offers peace of mind that any potentially fraudulent activity from the candidate — such as writing their own references — will be detected. If a fraudulent case does arise, Xref offers an audit trail of all activity to validate your process and hiring decisions.

Value & trust 

Trusted by more than 1,200 businesses globally. Xref offers a reliable tech solution with a dedicated account manager and local, expert support. It’s an enterprise-ready solution that will meet your immediate hiring needs and scale with you as you grow. It creates a transparent recruitment process to ensure the best candidate experience.

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Compliance

Certified by the world’s highest global standard for data security. Xref is ISO 27001 certified, built to the highest standards of security, for peace of mind about your processes. It offers globally compliant data collection and storage, to protect you and your business. And it delivers processes that meet all regulatory requirements, to ensure you assess every candidate fairly. 

Insights

Offering candidate suitability assessment and benchmarking at a glance. 

Xref delivers data analytics at a glance, to inform great hiring decisions, quickly. It gathers consistent and comparable insights, so you can benchmark candidates to identify top performers. And collects relevant candidate feedback based on tailored processes specific to your needs for each role.

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Xref tools and features

• Template Builder: Build best-practice reference templates for free and add them directly to your Xref account. 
• People Search: Find passive candidates from a database of referees who have given you consent to be contacted about potential job opportunities in the future.
• RapidID: Confirm your candidates’ identity with a real-time, all-in-one platform for human verification. 
• Bulk upload: Request up to 100 references in one go, making a traditionally slow and inconsistent process, fast and safe. 
• Unusual Activity Detection: Add assurance to your reference checks with Xref’s multi-touch algorithm which monitors for potentially fraudulent activity.

With Xref, you can stop playing phone tag and get back to recruiting the best talent. It will take you just 30 seconds to request an Xref and then you can sit back as the platform does the rest while offering everyone involved a smooth and enjoyable experience. Xref is an enterprise-grade solution that makes reference, background and ID checking fast, simple and secure. With user-friendly technology, a fully automated process and local customer support teams, it is now trusted by businesses all over the world to empower great people decisions. The platform is accessible from any device and integrates with multiple leading HR tools and ATS platforms to offer seamless, end-to-end recruitment workflows.

To find out more about the products and features that could benefit you, visit xref.com.