Recruitment Risk Index: Australian Candidate Perspective

Get a candidate's perspective of the hiring process

This research was developed to address a key industry issue: the inefficiency, inconsistency and vulnerability of the traditional phone-based reference checking process. With hundreds of reference checks passing through the platform every day, Xref is confident the solution it offers clients helps to tackle reference checking pain points and helps clients understand their industry, market, their talent pool, and the solutions available to them. 

The Recruitment Risk Index: Australian Candidate Perspective surveys 1,000 Australian job-seekers to explore their attitudes towards the reference checking process.

The Recruitment Risk Index draws attention to four key areas of concern for HR managers and recruiters: 

• Candidate fraud - The level of “fraud” a candidate applies during the reference checking process varies. Some candidates will - somewhat predictably - choose a referee they think will be favourable rather than the most appropriate person. Others will actively encourage a referee to lie on their behalf. 
• Employer discrimination - Traditional phone-base reference checking is - by its nature - inconsistent. Often, due to resource constraints, this time consuming task is left to the most junior team member. In other cases, especially in small businesses, the process is conducted by someone with no experience in HR or recruitment. 
• Inefficiencies in the reference checking process and the impact on the employer - The war for talent is becoming more competitive than ever, particularly as our talent becomes increasingly accessible by international markets. The ability to compete for the best recruits, on a global scale, requires efficient, flexible and robust recruitment processes. 
• The burden of reference checking on employers - As previously highlighted, reference checking is often left to an individual with little or no experience in recruitment. Aside from the risks this poses in terms of consistency and discrimination, it can also have a significant impact on the performance and resources of a team who could otherwise be conducting revenue generating work. 

The survey also revealed a number of alarming statistics, including:

• 71% of candidates admitted to exploiting flaws in the reference checking process
• 29% of those who had been referees were asked inappropriate questions about the candidate
• 84% of candidates had applied for two or more jobs in the previous year alone

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Advancements in technology and data collection in recent years mean that good-quality data has become the minimum requirement for business processes. The findings uncovered in the Australia-wide sample survey demonstrate the real need for improved efficiency in recruiting to avoid candidate fraud, hiring based on inaccurate data and ultimately, money wasted on critical stages of the hiring period.

The number of respondents admitting to deceiving potential employers during the hiring process is representative only of those that were willing to admit to the behaviour. The likelihood is that the number of people actually doing these things is significantly higher. Businesses which are not arming themselves with solutions to protect themselves from this risk are exposed.

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