2012: THE YEAR OF REFERENCE CHECKING!
Way back in the late 70s and early 80s, when Barada Associates was beginning to build its reputation, our primary focus was on job performance-based reference checking. Few, if any other background screening companies offered a similar service. They focused on providing background checks on candidates for employment – conducting court records checks, verification of employment, verification of academic credentials and that was about all. Real reference checking was not unheard of, but it was not a common service offered by outside firms like ours.
As can be imagined, it took longer to explain to prospective clients the value of having an independent evaluation of a candidate’s overall job performance based on actual conversations with people who had known and had worked with the candidate. Gradually the service caught on as more and more employers began to see the value in knowing more about a candidate for employment than simply that he or she had honestly filled out a job application or submitted a truthful resume.
Knowing what sort of management style the candidate utilized gave the prospective employer a fresh insight about how he or she would fit the employer’s needs. Having a sense of strengths and weaknesses gave the prospective employer a huge advantage in evaluating the suitability of the candidate for the position to be filled. Understanding what the candidate might need to continue his or her career development was another very useful insight the employer could use to help chart the candidate’s career path was extremely useful – especially when all this information, and more, came from references supplied by the candidate!
Over the years, Barada Associates has added all the background checking services that are available, because that’s what clients often want and a careful background check is vital to helping insure that the candidate actually is all he or she claims to be. Careful reference checking, however, can tell the prospective employer if the candidate can actually do all he or she claims to be able to do! There is a huge difference between the two!
As we begin a New Year, Barada Associates plans to emphasize reference checking as an essential part of the hiring process. It is, after all, the foundation upon which the business was originally built. We will continue to offer all the background services just as we always have, but you’ll be hearing more about the importance of the other half of our service offerings – real job performance-based reference checking. It’s one thing to verify that a candidate actually worked for the ABC Company. It’s quite another to gain insight on just how well former co-workers, superiors, and even subordinates believe that candidate performed on the job. Reference checking: the real key to making the best hiring decisions in 2012!