The Andersen Project scores an unexpected business development win with online reference checking

The Andersen Partnership (TAP) is an innovative firm that delivers a specialist, honest and straightforward recruitment service across Australia and New Zealand. With business booming, the TAP team initially partnered with Referoo to increase efficiency and maintain compliance in their reference-checking process, but a boost to their business development was something the team didn’t expect.

Enter Challenge

With a strong focus on delivering a winning client experience, TAP is always looking for ways to increase productivity while maintaining a high level of service. The team identified reference checking as something they could do better – particularly when it came to having a paper trail.

The initial reason we looked at online reference checking was really around compliance. Previously references were done manually, and we knew we needed an auditable system. We wanted to make sure we could always locate references and keep the client updated on the status, even if the consultant wasn’t in the office,was on leave or had left the organisation,” said Shawn Twomey, Managing Director at TAP.

It was also about saving time for the team at TAP. “It was taking a good 20–30 minutes per reference, taking it all down, typing it up, making sure it’s shipshape for the client. And that’s not even taking into account the time spent chasing the referee up to actually get them on the phone,” Shawn added. “It was just taking too long.”

But Shawn says he had initial concerns about moving to an online reference-checking platform for one critical reason. Like most recruiters, TAP sees reference-checking interactions as a chance to build their candidate and client pipeline. When online reference checking was first pitched to me, I was very anti it because, in my view, an automated system would take away that business development aspect. But that’s actually where Referoo really came into its own.”

The Solutions

For TAP, Referoo’s online reference checking had a number of benefits; some the team was expecting but others were a welcome surprise. “Referoo really impressed us with their approach to the business development side of things. They recognised this could be an issue with automated reference checking, and so they’ve provided options, so both the recruiter and the referee have choice in the way it’s used.

The way Referoo is set up means we can use the automated tools to collect the reference, giving us that all-important audit trail and saving time. Then our consultants can put in a follow-up call to the referee, which can be more BD-focused, making the best use of the interaction. It’s the best of both worlds.

Referoo’s system integrations also proved a win for TAP. “One of the other added benefits for us is that alongside all the compliance and security features, Referoo integrates with our existing applicant tracking system. The systems speak to each other and just log every reference for us and now we have a really detailed audit trail. Any of our consultants an let a client know where a reference is at – the information is at our fingertips now,” Shawn said.

In their search for a solution, Shawn and his team looked at a number of providers, but he says, ultimately, Referoo provided the most value for TAP.

Once we started talking to Referoo, the value, compatibility and simplicity were obvious – it was an easy ‘yes’ for us from the outset. Our consultants just love Referoo and the feedback has been fantastic.” Shawn concluded.