As the saying goes, a business owner has to wear many hats. After you've owned a business for a while, you really come to understand how true this is. Even if you have employees who do a lot of your day-to-day marketing, ordering, and accounting, the responsibility for these tasks is ultimately your own.
If you are starting to feel overwhelmed with the many hats you're required to wear, you have stumbled upon a good resource. We created this website to share knowledge about all of those hats — all of those roles you have to play as a business person. Start reading, and you'll not only gain helpful advice, but also realize that you're not alone.
How To Make The Most Of An Automated Reference Checking Platform
Reference checking has long been one of the great challenges of the hiring and retention processes. However, an automated reference checking platform can help you maximize your returns. If you're interested in automated reference checking, though, you should look at these four ways to make the most of the process.
Seek Several References
When candidates apply for certain positions, you want them to provide a robust list of references. The more references someone puts on an application, the better the analysis will be. Multiple references will allow a reference checking platform to draw connections between individuals, interests, companies, and industries.
You might see a pattern of excellent candidates who've connected with previous managers, for example. An automated reference checking platform will notice those connections and flag candidates with strong networks.
Monitor Data Quality
Systems and people often mangle inputs. If you want a reference checking system to do the best possible job, you need to supply clean data. Monitor your data for input issues and correct them as quickly as possible. You might find, for example, that a website security script that cleans inputs to avoid injection attacks is making data fields unreadable. Once you've identified the problem, you can track it down and fix it so you're feeding the best available data to the reference checker.
Be Open to Out-of-the-Box Recommendations
Automating the process shouldn't just be about speed and efficiency. If you want to find the best possible candidates, you need to be open to what the analysis might tell you. That is especially the case when the analysis runs opposite to your judgments and biases.
An automated system can help you spot candidates other organizations are overlooking. Stay open to the possibility the system is seeing something you're not. Someone might not fit the educational profile you expect. However, their network of references could indicate the person is capable of doing the job just as well as the prototypical hire for the position.
Follow the Data
Ultimately, adopting an automated reference checking platform requires your organization to take a more data-centric view of hiring. An automated solution can flag fraudulent references, for example.
You need to trust the system's assessment unless there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. If the reference checking platform says there's something off about a candidate, then something is probably going on. You shouldn't override that judgment without digging deeper, even if you're over the moon about a candidate. The goal should be to avoid bad hires, and the data will help you identify which candidates will probably cost your business in the long run.
Keep these tips in mind when looking for automated reference checking platform services near you.