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Verification of work experience
Validata checks the work experience of a (potential) employee. A specified reference or HR department is contacted to check the length of employment, the specified position and the company. The referee is asked to answer several questions whose answers will be included in the screening report.
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Common lies on CV: work experience embellishments
Studies show that common lies or misleading information in candidates’ CVs include dates of employment, exaggeration of responsibilities, previous employment, and academic qualifications. Discover the risks with the help of background checks.
Hiring without reference checks
- Risk of hiring errors
- Risk of hiring an employee without integrity
- Hiring someone with an overly embellished CV
Why do reference checks when hiring?
- Hiring and retaining the right people in your organisation
- Build trust and transparency in the workplace
- Ascertain the candidate’s previous work role
- Period of work
- The actual existence of the company
We verify work experience through referencing
To verify recent work experience (often over the past 5 years), a (potential) employee is asked to provide contact details of references, including name, current email address and phone number. Validata only accepts business email addresses and phone numbers. A designated reference person will never be contacted via a Gmail or Hotmail address, nor via a personal (mobile) number.
An additional advantage of contacting referees via a work e-mail address or telephone number is that this serves as a source check. Validata checks the work experience directly at the source, i.e. the recent employer.
Why choose Validata for background checks on candidates’ work experience?
Validata takes care of everything
As soon as the (potential) employee has provided a referee, Validata takes the work out of your hands. The referee is asked to answer a number of objectives.
Offers appropriate solutions
Does your organisation have specific questions that should be added to the standard reference check? Validata Always provides appropriate solutions for you.
Specialising in employment background checks
Validata has specialised in employment and recruitment background checks since 2009. Thanks to our many years of experience, we offer a fast and efficient screening process that complies with current (privacy) laws and regulations.
Recommended screening check profiles
The success of an organisation depends on having the right people. Therefore, it is important to make sure you know who you are recruiting and retaining. Validata has created different verification profiles for each sector, which can be supplemented as desired. In addition to the work experience check, there are many other background checks to choose from.
We let you decide the competences while we validate the facts
To carry out the work experience check, a referee will receive a secure link via email to complete and submit an online form. Objective information is then confirmed using the following list of questions:
- Is the employee listed truthfully accurate?
- Is the stated position of the (potential) employee, correct?
- Is the role of the candidate at that former employer correct?
- Is the stated period of employment correct (day to date)?
- It is possible to extend the reference check with questions that are particularly important for your organisation. Interested in this option? Get in touch with us!
Digital reference checking – fast and simple for both employers and employees
Notify the reference person for a fast-processing time. To avoid delays, Validata advises (potential) employees to inform their referee before the reference check. From then on, the referee is aware that he or she can expect an email with the link to the online form from Validata. If the answers are submitted on time, the work experience and reference taking can be finalised quickly and included in the screening report.
Learn how Validata background checks have helped other organisations
Let Validata take care of background checks so you can focus on finding talents
Doing background checks when hiring can be time-consuming. Let us take care of the background checks while you do what you do best – recruit talent. However, work experience checks are not widely evaluated by Validata. It is important to note that Validata only verifies factual information during work experience and reference checks. A reference person will never be asked about the performance of a (potential) employee in a certain position.
Validata will also never contact a reference person by phone to discuss the matter. On the few occasions that Validata contacts by phone, it is only to encourage the referee to fill in and submit the online form. This only happens when Validata has not received a response after sending several reminders by email.
Frequently asked questions about reference check
Here you will find frequently asked questions about work experience checks. A reference check with Validata can be easily integrated with most HR/ATS systems.
How does reference checking work?
With Validata, the entire process is digital and secure. The candidate gets their own page where they can fill in information and contact details for their references. Please note that contact details and sensitive data are never sent via email. This is to avoid data breaches and data leakage. After the candidate has filled in all the information, we start with reference taking. The quicker we receive the data from the candidate and the answers from the references, the faster the whole vetting process will go.
What questions to ask during reference checking
When you do a work experience check, you do not need to prepare any questions. We have already done that for you. To establish the candidate’s stated details in the CV, we make sure that the period of employment, the job role and the company exist. Additional questions we can recommend are:
Different roles in the same company and their time period. This is to ensure the candidate’s credentials. It is common for CVs to be embellished with additional information that is sometimes not true. Reference checking helps to prevent unnecessary risks before hiring.
How to detect fake references?
Unfortunately, this is common, and luckily it is possible to detect fake references. As an employer, you should check whether the reference person actually exists and whether the company listed exists. It can sometimes happen that the candidate chooses to list their friends or family members as references. To minimise this risk, Validata requests either the contact details of the HR department of the former employer or the contact details of an active employee.
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