Companies are doing Referencing all wrong. Here’s why!
It is estimated that 39% of all background checks conducted by employers had at least one red flag. The trendline has shown a disturbing increase over the last decade despite (or is it due to?) progresses in technology.
What is causing inaccuracies to creep up in the resume? and what can employers do to solve it?
There is an easy way.
“If only you had asked me before you hired him…”
Before my current gig, which I will come to in a moment, I used to work with large IT services firms. These firms used to employ upwards of 100,000+ engineers where the regular churn of employees led to 35,000 or more new employees added globally every year.
Running a Technology Consulting Services unit within the firm, I used to face issues of ‘wrong hires’ quite regularly. But soon, quite late in the hiring process or sometimes immediately upon them joining, we realized that far from being fit-for-purpose, many of their consulting credentials simply did not stack up.
Later, in some cases, I would come across an ex-manager of the employee who would simply smile and say, ‘if only you had asked me before you hired, I would have suggested he was not good as a consultant. Perhaps, he could be a good salesperson but definitely not a sharp subject matter expert…’
These experiences of mine is not an isolated problem. I realized in my multiple interactions with many firms across geographies, this is an issue that most organizations have utterly failed to come to grips with. With the “gig economy” set to grow to 40% percent in many of the markets including US, UK and Europe, the churn on candidates looking for new opportunities is set to increase. With this, the challenges in getting the right candidate every time is set to further increase and current methods of referencing and background check are neither effective nor efficient.
So, like any other entrepreneur, I set upon finding a solution to this vexed problem.
The Problem is in the Process
Most organizations do their referencing and background checks at the fag end of the process, after all the interviews, fitment and salary negotiations have been completed and accepted. Hence, there is a tremendous desire on part of all parties concerned to ensure that nothing rocks the boat. For certainly, at that late stage, if someone were to highlight some discrepancy, it just annoys all the participants who have invested time and effort so far into the process to get it to that stage.
What if….
…Instead of referencing and background checks done at the last stage of the process, we do a Shift-Left and moved it to the first stage? (as in the process illustrated below)
Given that material discrepancies in the stated background profiles of candidates are as high as 39%, moving it to the beginning would simply eliminate the large managerial and staff efforts spent in multiple rounds of interviews and discussions on the wrong profile. One would only pick candidates whose resumes have already been validated by their references.
But it is INSANE, I hear you say…
Yes. Why would one want to go about spending hundreds of dollars on referencing and background checks for candidates we are not even keen to interview. It simply doesn’t make any sense.
But, what if the costs of Referencing were reduced from the hundreds of dollars that it is today, to say, the tens? What if it is FREE (gasp)???
Ok — Now for a shameless plug!
Did I say earlier, we were working on this problem? The problem of how to shift-left Referencing from the fag-end of the cycle to the very beginning of the hiring process. Well, finally, we are here with the solution.
Tra la la… Presenting ReferSense, where Referencing is free. As a candidate you have control on who to ask references and showcase them to work as an effective differentiation — for free !
How does it work?
It is simple.
- Anyone can register for free with their LinkedIn Id
- Create a basic profile (work experience, start date, end date etc)
- Ask References for the work experience from your managers, colleagues, HR, clients, subordinates etc etc.
- References are saved in a ‘virtual sealed envelope’. The person asking the reference can never see inside the envelope. So the feedback remains confidential and impartial.
- You can then share the reference with any prospective employer(s) whenever needed.
- To summarize — Get your References when you can, keep them with you and use it effectively to enhance your chances in the hiring process.
What is in it for the Employers?
We create a virtual 360 degree Reputation profile of the candidate based on the multiple feedback(s) that come in from various sources — such as Managers, subordinates, clients, suppliers and colleagues.
Employers can then search for profiles based on their skills and more importantly, shortlist them based on their Reputation Scores. (This is something no other platform today provides)
How does this solve the Accuracy problem that we talked about earlier?
Essentially, any and all skills that one needs to showcase on their profile needs to have been endorsed by at least two references. That ensures that anything that one claims on their resume is backed up by real feedback rather than straight-up claims and exaggerations one sees so rampant in Resumes and in the many other platforms online today.
Now for the TL;DR, if you have made it this far
Fake resumes and inaccuracies in profile is rampant in Recruitment, seen in almost 39% of the hires. Companies struggle with it for lack of good solutions. A good solution to solve this is to hire based on feedback given by past employers, clients and colleagues.
ReferSense is a free platform to ask, store and share References that makes it easy to build your Digital reputation profile. It helps candidates in getting noticed and hired by employers based on the strength of their References.And finally,…
If you liked this approach, I have a favour to ask of you. Could you please send a few claps my way and share this article within your network, LinkedIn, twitter, Medium, Facebook or whatever your poison is! Feel free to send your suggestions, advice, encouragement etc. my way.
