Security & compliance give Blue Sky Recruitment peace of mind

Let's start by hearing a little about yourself and your background.

I actually started off in finance and then had a career break to focus on raising my young family and was offered this role when I returned to work about three years ago. Even though I’m new to recruitment, I am absolutely loving it and I feel like my previous experience has helped give me a different perspective.

Tell us about Blue Sky Recruitment and the kind of roles you are hiring for.

I am responsible for the contract side of the business and the demand can vary from month to month. We are quite a small agency, so a normal month for us will consist of around 4-6 hires. We specialise in the learning and education space and prefer a boutique approach so that we can really focus on building strong relationships and matching candidates who have high-quality skills to offer. 

We use Xref for the majority of our hires as we really like the consistency that the platform provides for us. When we are hiring for executive roles we will follow up with a phone call to be sure that no stone is left unturned. We find Xref particularly useful for our contract roles as it gives us great insights into the candidate without us needing to do all the legwork ourselves. 

What did your process look like before bringing on Xref?

Our process used to be very manual, we would call up the referees individually and try to write out notes as quickly as possible. This was a very time-consuming process and, of course, the end result wasn’t as accurate or insightful as what Xref can offer us. I’d find it very difficult to go back to this way of doing things after having made the switch to automated references. It’s so much easier now and the amount of time we save is huge.

What recruitment challenges are you currently facing during COVID-19?

We have been dramatically affected by COVID-19 and, for the time being, our recruitment has come to a full halt. We are using this time to focus on our brand and are investing time and money into building our online presence to prepare for the other side of COVID-19. 

This time has really highlighted the importance of having digital processes in place as we’ve relied heavily on technology to stay connected while we’ve been working remotely.

Have there been any unexpected benefits of using Xref?

Bringing on Xref gave us the chance to review our question template and the Xref team provided a lot of valuable advice on the questions we should be including. For example, we added a few extra compliance-related questions, asking candidates about any potential criminal activity. 

Another unexpected benefit was how useful the fraud detection tool would be for us as it certainly raises red flags that would be impossible to catch without the platform in place. This has added a level of security and peace of mind that our old referencing method couldn’t provide. 

It’s also really handy that we work in the same office building as the New Zealand Xref team, so at times it feels like we get extra special service because they are able to come right up to our computers and answer any questions right there on the spot!

Are there any other technologies that you are using alongside Xref?

Yes, we use the JobAdder integration with Xref which makes for a really efficient recruitment process. We like that everything can be accessed from the one platform and that it’s so simple to follow the candidate through every step of the recruitment process. 

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3. La Fosse Associates Save Time with Online Referencing Solutions

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