SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--(Marketwire - Sep 5, 2012) - Chequed.com, Inc., an online reference checking and pre-employment testing provider, today announced the results of its recent survey on employee hiring practices. Responding employers acknowledged the importance of gathering information about their candidates; however, in reality, 63.2 percent indicated they always perform reference checks while a significant 32.9 percent said this was a sporadic business practice for their organization.
The goal of the survey was to learn how today's hiring companies approach the reference checking of their finalists for job openings and how this process can help gauge the success of these candidates in terms of predicting job performance. The results showed that employers use a range of methods to conduct reference checking, but most methods often fail to accurately predict job performance.
For example, in order to collect relevant information, employers are increasingly using social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare as a way to learn more about their candidates. However, as these methods are subjective and not backed by behavioral science, many have found that using social media for reference checking is particularly ineffective at predicting job performance.
Instead of relying on these methods and failing to get sufficient information, there is great opportunity for employers to attain relevant, competency-based information they need to better predict performance through online reference checking that is backed by assessment-based logic. According to the survey, one-quarter of respondents (24.5 percent) currently use online reference checking systems, and 37.7 percent plan to add such solutions in the next 12 months. The results of the survey showed that although market penetration of online reference checking is relatively low, adoption of such solutions will rise in the near future.
The online survey was conducted in July 2012. Overall, 161 individuals representing a wide range of industries and company sizes participated in the survey, sharing their organizations' current hiring practices, the effectiveness of those methods and the tools and technologies they plan to adopt over the next 12 months.
Greg Moran, Chairman and President of Chequed.com, commented, "The survey results showed what many of us had figured -- while employers recognize the value of checking references, they often struggle to implement effective methods that accurately predict job performance. Rather than using various reference checking tools and techniques on their own and getting mixed results, employers can benefit from ChequedReference™, Chequed.com's automated reference checking software. This solution combines automatic reference checking built on assessment-based logic to provide employers with unprecedented visibility into a candidate's past performance, enabling them to make smarter hiring decisions."
Chequed.com will be exhibiting its solutions in Booth #670 at the 15th Annual HR Technology Conference, October 8 -10, 2012 in Chicago. More information about ChequedReference™ can be accessed at: www.chequed.com.
About Chequed.com
References are a joke. Every company requests them, every candidate provides them, but no one checks them. Why? Because old-fashioned reference checks are phone-based, time-consuming and obsolete. Chequed.com makes reference checks relevant with an automated reference-checking solution built on assessment-based logic. As an add-on for an even greater level in hiring accuracy, Chequed.com delivers the same assessment-based screening logic in ChequedFit™, a high-volume early stage pre-employment test to rapidly weed out low potential and identify high potential candidates.
Chequed.com is headquartered in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. with offices in San Diego and Boston. Further information can be found at http://www.chequed.com, by calling 888-412-0699 or emailing info@chequed.com.