The hiring process has been disrupted by tech in many ways including virtual recruitment, social media as well as data-driven solutions that aggregate candidate information for real-time access.

Xref is an automated, fully mobile candidate-referencing platform. The process for the candidate is a simple one: they receive an email from the recruiter or hiring manager with a link to access the platform. They click on the link, agree to a privacy disclaimer, enter their references’ information and the references are then sent an email requesting them to input their feedback on the online portal.

‘The candidate is in control of the timeliness of responses,” remarked John Dawson, Xref’s Regional Manager, North America. “[Candidates] are kept up to speed with the progress of their feedback with 12, 24, 36 and 60 hour prompts when references are outstanding, rather than being left in the dark and unsure of the status of their application.”

“Our business model centers on automation and we constantly remind the market of the value automation brings to recruitment, as well as the knock on effect this has on business success,” said Dawson. “As well as speed and ease, Xref’s platform offers an added layer of security that minimizes fraud and protects organizations from the risk of any data privacy or discrimination breaches.”

One company using Xref is SIR Corp. SIR Corp made the switch from manual reference checking to Xref to save time, and “to ensure they are doing their due diligence in the last, critical stages of their recruitment process,” explained Dawson. “They are now also able to benchmark candidates using custom questionnaires for different roles.”

Erin Jaczenko, Talent Attraction and Employment Branding Manager at SIR Corp added, “Before using Xref, our systems were all very manual. The team was spending a lot of time on routine mundane work and less time on recruiting, which is what we should be doing.”

Revera, also using Xref, is a leading owner, operator and investor in the senior living sector and owns or operates more than 500 properties across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. “Going from 3-7 days to complete references to 1-2 days makes a huge difference in our time to fill,” shared Josie Cugliari, Manager of Talent Acquisition at Revera.

Xref’s competitors are essentially anyone who is collecting references using traditional phone and email-based methods. “Traditional HR processes are very admin-heavy and time-consuming. They can cause process fatigue, which can lead to corner cutting, as well as delays in the overall hiring journey, which may result in lost talent,“ commented Dawson.

“With Xref, references are free to complete the report in their own time,” said Dawson. “As a result, Xref delivers 60% more data than traditional methods, 45% of Xref references complete references outside business hours, and 27% complete the process on mobile devices.“

Xref is setting itself up for continued growth in Canada and the United Statues. It recently completed a partnership and integration with Checkr, which makes Xref, according to Dawson, “the only fully mobile, automated, end-to-end background checking service in North America, incorporating the full suite of background checks provided by Checkr alongside the reference checking services of Xref.”