If you ever have questions and wonders about reference checking during hiring process, this episode is made for you! You’ll be able to find the video and transcript below. We hope you’ll find it helpful!
Do you have your trench coat, note pad, and magnifying lens ready? Today we’ll talk about reference checks. Welcome back to the Tea on Recruiting, where we share insightful and thought-provoking content that can help you shape your recruiting career!
Let’s check out the first article I picked.
If you’re on the fence about reference checks, this’ll be interesting. We’ve read “It’s Time to Scrap Reference Checking – Here is Why”. A quote to put you in the right mood? – “This practice is more than broken – it is useless.” According to Ed Nathanson, these are some of the issues with reference checks:
Issue number one: They’re approached like a box to check.
Problem number two: They’re, more often than not, done by recruiters, not hiring managers. In fact, most hiring managers rarely ever read them.
Problem number three: The questions are designed to either discredit or affirm a candidate, not much is learned in the process.
Problem number four: Naturally, candidates only put you in touch with someone who has a great opinion of them – and sometimes they tell them what to tell you!
Five: Sometimes, reference checks are gathered through a fill-in form, which is very annoying for the reference. It can even happen that the candidate gives the same reference for multiple job postings…
So, how do you fix this mess?!
The author believes it’s best to only do the basics, such as employment dates, and criminal check, and to train hiring managers to improve at interviewing and selecting talent.
And now, it’s time for our second article!
The title of the second article I’ve read is “Maximize the Effectiveness of Background Verification Companies”. The author of the previous article prefers sticking to the basics when it comes to reference checks. So, there are still some you shouldn’t skip.Here are two key features you need from your vendors:
Now, here are some background check processes that your vendors should automate:
Now onto the…
The more barbaric your treatment of candidates, the more demonic their reviews… Or their social media posts about you.
A Reddit user shared his cringe-worthy experience. He got rejected on a Saturday night at around 10 pm. What a buzzkill! Not exactly what you wish to see while you’re relaxing during the weekend. The user thinks this was caused by a poorly queued automated rejection email. So, please, make sure to queue them for normal business hours. But wait, it gets more interesting… In the comment section below, someone wrote “On Friday I got a call from a company I applied to a year ago asking me to call the recruiter over this weekend because he works 7 days a week. No. Just no.” I’m lost for words. Is that even legal?
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