If you missed the "Recruiting Isn't a Waste of Time ... You're Just Doing It Wrong" webinar on June 25, here is the Q&A. You can also view it online now by clicking here.

NOTE: While many more questions were asked at the live webinar, we condensed and combined many questions for simplicity. We also posted just the most broadly applicable below.

ANSWER: You specify the type of references required. All reference contact info, including phone, email, contextual comments and professional relationship with candidate are
provided to the hiring manager. All references are also required to
state whether they are willing to be contacted, or not, for additional
information.

Additionally, candidates must disclose where a reference provider currently works and the workplace in which they were together. This helps Chequed verify by email domain address.

The problem with phone based reference checking is that most candidates submit references they believe to be favorable. Allowing for anonymous feedback on closed ended, scientifically constructed,
competency based questions is the only way to get truly honest, accurate
feedback, even from “cherry picked” references.

QUESTION: What is the difference between this type of service and outsourced, 3^rd party reference checking, or paying a “fee for information” from a data warehouse?

ANSWER: There are three main differences. 1) With ChequedReference, it’s the candidate that is asking the reference for assistance, not some unknown company or individual asking the
reference to answer questions. Obviously, a reference is more likely to
heed the request of the reference than a 3^rd party. 2)
Outsourced services still get mostly “name, rank and serial number”,
even from those few references that respond, because of the disconnect
between the candidate position and reference checker. With
ChequedReference, the request comes directly from the candidate and our
data definitively shows over 80% of references will provide the needed
data, not just “name, rank and serial number”, despite corporate
policies. 3) The cost of ChequedReference is unlimited use, license
based, allowing you to check more references, earlier in the process
than is economically feasible with any other method.

QUESTION: Do you have any statistics on how many organizations are now utilizing this type of reference check?

ANSWER: Solid statistics on the use of online reference checking are hard to attain as it is an emerging field of employee selection. However, it is gaining significant traction and
popularity among large and small companies with a significant portion of
the Fortune 500 utilizing some tools today. In addition, the Society of
Human Resource Management (SHRM) has documented its growing role in
employee selection on numerous occasions in its various publications.

QUESTION: Do you have any suggestions about how to handle references that will only release dates of employment, title, etc. and not performance information?

ANSWER: We would recommend a candidate lead process such as this (combined with confidentiality for the reference provider) to dramatically increase completion rates. By having a
candidate provide the “ask” to the reference (much the same was as in
ChequedReference with the system generated emails), the reference is
much more likely to complete. Recent research shows an average of over
80% completion rates when done in accordance.

QUESTION: If the candidate is interviewing for multiple jobs is the same reference used each time?

ANSWER: All references are correlated to an underlying job profile or benchmark to ensure job relevancy in the reference check. If a candidate has applied for multiple jobs, our
suggestion would be to use (1.) Distinct references (if possible) for
each job, or (2.) Unique questions related to each position for which a
reference is being checked. However, in our experience, typically the
references are checked on only final candidates so the instances of the
same candidate requiring references for multiple jobs are rare.

QUESTION: With anonymous references, how are we able to build a candidate pool?

ANSWER: While actual reference answers are used in the aggregate only (combined and scored with the answers of the other references), the names, company, job title, contact information
and relationship history (to the candidate) are fully disclosed, i.e.
you know who completed the reference, you just don’t know specifically
how they rated the candidate. Thus, when appropriate and in accordance
with relevant policy, the references can be added to your candidate
marketing database to maintain contact for future opportunities.

QUESTION: Does ChequedReference integrate with any applicant tracking systems?

ANSWER: ChequedReference is built on the most current open source and XML standards and is simple to integrate with most applicant tracking systems available today.