CHECK CANDIDATE REFERENCE: DOS AND DON’TS

So you have found whom you believe to be an ideal candidate for the vacant position in your organization and are planning to email them a congratulatory joining letter. But, do you think your selection process was thorough enough?

Did it involve reference checking?

While we understand the legal liability concerns over the trouble of reference checking, you can not overlook the fact that reference checking is a critical part of the selection and hiring process. Organizations that overlook it often find themselves in hot soup in the longer run, regretting the day they decided to bring the individual on board.

Why is a thorough candidate reference checking important?

1. Per a survey done by the CareerBuilder, 29% of the candidates provide a fake reference and 3 in 10 reference checks did not have anything positive to say about the candidate. Imagine offering a joining letter to one such candidate? A tremendous loss to the organization in the long run with a grievous impact on productivity, and probably reputational damage.

2. Hiring involves an extensive investment of money, time, and HR team’s potential, and if the organization lands with an underqualified or ineligible candidate, it might all go to waste. Candidate reference checking is an integral part of the employment process, and minor negligence might make the company vulnerable to losing a significant amount.

3. Reference checking performed post narrowing down the candidates to final few is done to confirm whether the person that you are planning to make a part of your organization possess the inter and intrapersonal skills, qualification and experience, they have mentioned in their resume. It helps in gauging the capability of the prospective candidate, as to how did they fit in the previous organization and what was their camaraderie with everyone, how well they performed their duties, etc.

No matter the designation you are hiring for, entry, associate or senior level, it is vital to suppress your perception and go with the factual information that is provided by the references mentioned in the resume. Gut feeling and perception have the potential to jeopardize the business’s standing.

Candidate reference checking can be strenuous with employers having to go reach out to multiple contacts and keep a note of how each candidate was reviewed and make a decision. Hiring might/might not happen throughout the year, why waste time and energy on going back and forth with candidate reference checking when you can have a dedicated team of RPO experts and a recruiter from India like Collar Search can efficiently manage it, while you focus on strengthening your productivity for attaining the business goal.

But as an employer, you have a limit to adhere to, and you can not just dive deep into their personal life under the pretext of finding whether or not they are a suitable candidate. Listed below are set of dos and don’ts that you should abide by when performing a candidate reference checking:

• DO ESTABLISH A STANDARD METHOD:

  The recruitment team and the HR need to sit down and devise a standard policy for the hiring manager to go about the reference checking process, clearly stating what and to what extent can they go into profiling and fact-checking. This can save you the legal hassle.

• DON’TS MAKE QUICK DECISIONS:

  If you find the reference feedback conflicting to what has been said by the employer, don’t immediately jump to a conclusion and make quick decisions. You must allow the candidate to explain themselves.

• DO ASK SPECIFIC QUESTIONS:

  Skip the generic questions and directly jump to what exactly separates the candidate, pressing on their competencies and asking the reference about what all exceptional quality does the candidate excel at? Don’t waste yours and the person’s time.

• DON’T RELY ON PROFESSIONAL SITE’S RECOMMENDATIONS:

  While they are helpful in sourcing and reaching out to the potential candidates, don’t make the mistake of solely relying on recommendation posted on such sites. Go through the profile, thoroughly and cross check all the references. Their profile will help you establish whether or not the candidate is bluffing or is a genuine talent with the mentioned expertise.

• DO KNOW THE LAW:

  Legal implications are why the organization steers clear of performing candidate reference checking. But reference checking is essential and so is abiding by the law. Know the privacy laws and regulation pertaining to the background and reference checks. Don’t delve on something that comes in the zone of discrimination, racism, or ageism.

You can trust upon Collar Search in making sure that the candidate you hire is a best fit in every manner, personal, professional, and legal. Our team of recruiter manager will perform a rigorous background along with reference checking, ensuring that you only get the most proficient candidate from the talent pool with a cost-effective yet technologically competitive technique.