The Xref Insights That Drive Better People Decisions

Xref was founded on a need for better insights. For decades, those conducting reference checks have done so in the same, manual way and the information gathered has been, at best, unreliable, and at worst, incorrect.

Since tools like Xref have been introduced to the market, things have changed in a big way. Automation makes the process simple, fast and consistent, allowing recruitment teams to gather a greater volume of more detailed, reliable and comparable feedback.

“We find that referees provide a lot of detail in their answers. So the detail we’ve been getting is fantastic.” Legal People

Here’s how Xref helps...

Relevant feedback from tailored questionnaires

Although recruitment teams will commonly approach the reference checking process armed with a questionnaire template, this one-size-fits-all approach is not the best way to find the information you need to make an informed decision on a candidate.

Templates should be created for individual roles to ensure they are relevant and gather the details you need to understand a candidate’s suitability. For example, the leadership and problem-solving skills required of a senior executive, might not be necessary from an entry-level hire. The questions asked during the reference checks for a more junior recruit should be adapted to reflect what’s required of them in the role, such as “Please comment on their reliability, punctuality and attendance.”

Xref offers a fast and simple solution, enabling every reference to be tailored to the role you are hiring for. Using Xref’s Template Builder tool, anyone (whether or they are an Xref account holder or not) can create a free, tailored template and those using Xref can then add that directly to the bank of questionnaires in their Xref account.

And, when you need a completely bespoke template, our customer success team is on hand to make sure you stay compliant and have used the right questions to get the best response.

Clear, digestible analytics at a glance

While we will send you the reference report with the verbatim responses, the platform also includes multiple analytical features to give you a first impression of a candidate at a glance. These include:

• Core competency ratings (Candidate benchmarketing) - Xref’s core competency graph is a visual representation of how your candidate measures up against other candidates, in relation to the competencies required for the role, or your business values.
• Turnaround times - not only a great way to measure the ROI of the Xref tool, by measuring the time taken compared to a traditional, phone-based approach, this data can also offer some insight into the candidate’s eagerness to secure the role and the referee’s willingness to respond.
• Word count - like turnaround time, this metric, is a great way to measure the improved volume of insights offered by Xref. It also provides a good indication of how engaged a referee is in the process and their desire to offer detailed feedback for the candidate.
• Feedback sentiment - this tool gives tone of voice a digital upgrade with machine learning that demonstrates the sentiment of the reference, without bias or misinterpretation. It picks up on the positive, neutral and negative language used by the referee, to give you an indication of the candidate’s performance. allowing you to quickly form an initial opinion before you take a closer look at the feedback in the full report.

“The data provided by Xref helps us to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of new employees before they join us. We are now able to plan our training and management requirements to support the growth and development of each employee.” APG & Co.

The best decisions are based on detailed and reliable insights and when that decision will have an impact on the success of an individual in their career and a business in meeting its goals, nothing should be left to chance. Xref ensures that the reference checking process once again fulfills its purpose and delivers the quantity and quality of information recruitment teams need to place or hire the best talent into the right roles.