Below is an extensive step-by-step guide on creating a Reference Check.
1. Select existing template or start from scratch
Once you've created a Job, start by clicking the + Select template button in the Job page:
From here, you have three options:
Start from scratch
this will not preselect any modules or questions and you'll have to pick the modules/questions yourself from scratch
Create new from selection
once you've selected one of the general or job-specific templates, by clicking the "Create new from Selection" button, you will have an opportunity to use the selected template as a base for your Reference Check, but will be able to make adjustments it to tailor it better to your job.
Select
once you've selected one of the general or job-specific templates, by clicking the "Select" button, you'll go straight to the next step of inviting candidates and won't edit anything. This is handy once you've already created and saves templates you wish to use as standard templates.
You can preview which questions are included in each template by clicking on the “Preview” eye button, which you can see when you hover over one of the templates:
2. Select modules & add custom questions
The method of selecting content (detailed in the following steps) is the same for the “Start from scratch” and “Create new from selection” options.
In the “Create new from selection” option, there will be modules pre selected based on the template choses, but you're able to turn these on and off.
2.1 Select survey modules
Now you need to decide which reference feedback modules you want included in the reference survey by simply toggling on the modules that are relevant for your reference feedback process.
Note that some modules are a single question and some are group of questions used to evaluate the selected area. You'll be able to see the exact questions that form part of each Module in the "Preview" stage of the process.
💡 Onboarding Insights - enable modules that have the green "Onboarding Insights" sticker to get specific hints and tips for onboarding the candidate that the hiring manager can use in the candidates first weeks and months.
2.2 Custom Questions
To add Custom Free-Text Questions
Click the yellow "Don't see what you're looking for?" button at the bottom of the modules:
Type your desired question and click the purple "Add custom question" button:
The question will appear in green. You can now continue to add more custom questions or select the "Add questions" button to add the question to the reference check:
Tip: If you'd like to include the candidate's name in a custom question, you can use the below macro to automatically pull their name into the question text:
{CANDIDATE.FIRST_NAME}
For a full list of fields that can be pre-populated in custom questions, check out this page.
2.3 AI generated custom questions
If you'd like a list of AI generated questions, you can use the "Add a job description" button to add the job description:
Paste the roles/responsibilities/job outline into the "Job description" field and save the role:
Navigate back to the Select Template stage and click the "Custom Question" button and you'll now see AI generated questions in yellow and if you select one, it'll add it to the list of questions in green:
Once you select the "Add questions" button, they will be added to the reference check:
3. Add skill questions
On the next page, you're able to add questions relating to the skill level of the candidate. In order to do so, consider the most important competencies a candidate has to have to be successful for the particular job or in general at your organisation.
3.1 Add skill questions from the library
Use the "+ Add skill question" button to search the library of hundreds of skills. It's ideal to use this option first, as the skills used from this library help to build the benchmarking you see in the results.
You can use the search bar in the top right corner to look up skills and then select them so they turn green:
Then use the Add skill(s) button in the bottom right corner to add them to the Reference Check:
3.2 Add custom skill questions
If the skill you'd like to ask about isn't in the library, you can always create your own custom skill questions using the "Create custom skill question" button and then typing the skill into the "Question" field:
The skill questions (both from the library and custom) will appear to the reference giver as both a scale and example question format. The scale section is a required field and the example/free text section is optional.
Once you've added all of your skill questions, click the "Next step" button to proceed.
4. Preview
In the preview step, you can make sure you've covered everything you want to in the reference check. In case you are not happy with what you see, you can always go back and make the necessary adjustments.
One thing to note here is that if you don't like 1 particular question from a pre set module, you'll need to go back and turn off the entire module (it's not possible to turn off individual questions within a module).
4.1Talent Pool & Sales Pool
The Talent Pool & Sales Pool questions can be turned on/off from your organisation settings. You can find out more about these features here.
5. Confirm & save the template
When you are ready, simply click the “Confirm” button on the Preview tab.
Here you'll see two options:
5.1 Add to library
This option lets you save the reference check modules/ custom questions/ skill questions you've just set up as a template to be used in future and the template would appear in the library from step 1. This is a great way to save time in future and also have a consistent approach to the questions being asked for similar roles or all roles going forward.
5.2 Use as custom survey
This option will only save the reference check modules/ custom questions/ skill questions you've just set up as a "one off" for this particular job and it wouldn't save it as a template in the library to use in future.