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Back to the Basics: Character References

Back to the Basics: Character References

Back to Basics, Blog, Resources

It’s the first day of Shelby’s new hire and he’s late. When Max shows up, he gives her no explanation and she notices he is wearing jeans after telling him to wear business casual. She’s already dreading his first week of training. This is not a good start.

Now it’s three months into Max’s position and he hasn’t accomplished anything. Shelby hasn’t seen an increase in sales/numbers and she is devoting all her time to assisting him. He isn’t receptive of Shelby’s help and seems to be doing the opposite of everything he’s asked. She is regretting hiring him and is not looking forward to his future with her company.

Shelby asks herself, “How did I get into this mess in the first place?” and, “What could I have done to prevent this?”

Shelby wonders about Max’s performance with his last company and regrets not contacting his previous supervisor to do a character reference.

The price of a bad hire is at least 30% of their first-year earnings. Have you ever found yourself in a situation similar to Shelby’s?

Character Reference

Character references are almost as important as running criminal history, along with education and employment verifications.

What is a Character Reference?

A character reference is additional information that can verify more about an applicant’s previous work experience.

You find out the dates of employment with an employment verification; however, with a character reference, you will may gain insights into their timeliness and attendance. Our customer service team will ask in-depth questions to get a better sense of their personality and work ethic.

Although a candidate’s resume should always be honest and up-to-date, it can’t say everything about the individual. Are they a timely person? Do they call off work constantly? What’s their personality?

These are all qualities that are essential to know before hiring someone for a position. When hiring, you want a reliable employee whose personality will allow them to get along with others.

Checking a candidate’s references is vital to gaining more in-depth information than what is provided on a typical employment verification.

When looking to hire a new employee, one must be sure that they are not only qualified for the job, but they also must be able to work well with your current employees.

SELECTiON.COM® can provide you with vital information that allows you to make a much more educated and insightful decision. Click here for a character reference check sample.

How can you find this information on an applicant?

By having a character reference done on a potential employee, you can find out answers to all these questions and more.

A character reference reports more in-depth information on the applicant, such as work ethic, ability to work with others, strengths, improvement areas and personality.

At SELECTiON.COM®, our customer service team contacts the applicant’s references and records their answers during the check.

What kind of questions are asked on a character reference?

You can customize your questions. We have included some example questions that clients have previously used:

  • What can you tell me about the applicant’s personality?
  • What can you tell me about the applicant’s work ethic?
  • If provided the opportunity, would you hire the applicant? Why or why not?
  • What can you tell me about the applicant’s reason for changing jobs?
  • What can you tell me about the applicant’s ability to get along with peers and supervisors?
  • How reliable is the applicant?
  • What are the applicant’s strengths?
  • What areas can the applicant improve upon?

Click here for a full description of the character reference report.

How long does a character reference take?

The average turnaround time for a character reference report is 1-3 days.

What industries benefit the most from character references?

What information do I need to provide?

Once you have an account with SELECTiON.COM®, we only need the reference’s name and phone number.

Additional information that may be provided are address, city, state and how long the reference has known the applicant.

Contact us today to add character references to your account or to see how SELECTiON.COM® can benefit your background screening program.

Why Character References Are Important:

Why Character References Are Important:

Blog

Background checks are an essential part of any hiring process. And while most companies think that criminal history along with education and employment verifications are enough— there is another way to find out more about a potential employee.

Character references can be supplemental and used to verify more information about previous work experience. 

SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

  1. If provided the opportunity would you hire him/her again? Why or why not?
  2. What can you tell me about his/her personality?
  3. What can you tell me about his/her work ethic?
  4. How reliable is he/she?
  5. What can you tell me about his/her ability to get along with his/her peers and supervisors?

Character references allow you to get more in-depth information about a candidate. Just verifying that a candidate worked at a certain company in the past isn’t always enough. References give you more information than basic dates of employment.

Character references allow you to receive more information such as time and attendance by talking with direct supervisors. Since the questions are more in-depth, we can get a better sense of work ethic and personality.

For example, if you are hiring for a position that requires very strict attendance policies, you need to know if the candidate has had attendance issues in the past.

Character references give insight into a candidate’s personality. While most questions are very standard, talking to a direct supervisor who knew the candidate personally gives you more accurate information.

SELECTiON.COM® goes above and beyond standard background checks. Our education and employment verification packages can be customized to fit your every need.

We want our clients to KNOW they are getting the most information about a potential candidate as possible.

 

By: Jordan Henges – SELECTiON.COM® Social Media Manager

Who Are You REALLY Hiring?

Who Are You REALLY Hiring?

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How do you really know who you’re hiring? Does the interview and application allow enough face-to-face time for you to really get a good read on an applicant? Do you have enough knowledge about the applicant to make a great hiring decision?

In today’s workplace, background screening programs are a common part of the hiring process. While some companies only run criminal background checks, there is a better solution, verification and reference checks.

SELECTiON.COM® provides four different types of verifications/ checks. character reference

First, is the employment verification report which provides positions held, length of employment, salary, motivation, work habits, and other information about the applicant’s work performance.

Second, is the reference check/ character reference. A reference check gives you more personal insight into the applicant. Things such as reputation, conduct and integrity of the applicant.

Both the employment verification and reference check allow you to get to know the applicant on a more personal level. These checks provide information that allow you to make a much more educated and insightful decision.

The last two verification checks are to make sure that their resume and credentials are accurate.

The education verification documents an applicant’s start and end dates, major fields of study and degrees earned. The last is the professional license verification which includes license type, issuing authority and dates of validity.

These four additional verifications/ checks should be implemented into your background screening program.

Adding these provides insight into the behavior of the applicant along with other aspects of their work habits that you might not have discovered through a basic interview. So, next time you hire, try running these additional checks, so you really know the individual you are hiring.

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