Kiwibank – Why switching to Referoo was a ‘no-brainer’

Kiwibank is New Zealand’s largest Kiwi-owned bank, employing 2,000 people nationwide. The organisation recruits and develops talent from all corners of Aotearoa, with a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Based at the organisation’s headquarters in Auckland, the internal recruitment team hires for 50+ roles each month and must move at speed to secure top talent.

Technology is integral to achieving this objective for Kiwibank Recruitment Manager Maddock Price. And the recent mplementation of a Cornerstone system at the bank had him rethinking his reference checking solution.

“When we rolled out Cornerstone, we were already using online reference checking software, so we were fully on board with the technology and had no intention of returning to a manual process,” he says.

“But, when it became clear that our incumbent provider didn’t integrate with Cornerstone and had no plans to do so, we could see a number of potential pitfalls. We didn’t want to have our people double-handling data – it’s not a great experience for the team, impacts productivity and leaves things open to error.

“We regularly audit and review our reference data too, so we need to know it’s all in one place and accurate,” adds Maddock.

Enter Referoo

Maddock connected with Referoo NZ Head of Sales Michaela McLean at an event and mentioned that Kiwibank was moving to Cornerstone. He says he was surprised by her proactive response.

Obviously, it’s not only Kiwibank that uses Cornerstone, but Referoo was so quick to move after our discussion, connecting with Cornerstone and working with their development team to get API keys connected.

“I was so impressed with Referoo’s proactivity and their willingness to take on the burden of the API integrations, because they can be tedious and take productivity away from other areas,” Maddock says. And Maddock adds that there were wins for Kiwibank across the board.

“On top of that, Referoo was more cost-effective, so it made sense from that standpoint too. Then you add in the risk management piece with identity verification and fraud detection tools, which was another big tick. “And last, but by no means least, Referoo offered a better candidate experience, particularly when it comes to the use of text messaging.”

In fact, Maddock calls the decision to switch a ‘no brainer’.

The switching discussion with the leaders here was an easy one. Money, useability, risk management, candidate experience; Referoo simply made sense for Kiwibank on every level.

The Results

Maddock and his team have been using Referoo since November 2022, and he says Kiwibank has already seen some fantastic outcomes.

“With the addition of text functionality, which our previous provider didn’t offer, we’ve cut our reference turnaround time by 8 hours. We’re getting some great feedback from the team here, and our candidates, so that’s been pleasing too.”

In addition, Referoo’s identity and fraud tools are always on, keeping Kiwibank safe from the growing risk of employment fraud.

The fraud detection and identity verification tools are a great risk management addition. Having potential fraud flagged in the system is a fantastic tool. In many cases, there is a solid justification for things like matching IP addresses, but you want to stay informed and be able to review, says Maddock.

Referoo helps Kiwibank maintain a high level of compliance too.

“We need quick access to references for our internal audit and review processes, and Referoo automatically stores a link to the references in our Cornerstone system. We used to have to download all the documents for the auditing process, but now it’s right there when we need it.”