References that matter

Save time with upfront references

You simply can’t call and verify every applicant’s references, especially when references often fail to provide valuable information.

Upfront references from validated sources save you time and provide early insights into a candidate’s quality.

Gain insights from credible, validated sources

SafeHire candidates may only request references from workplace superiors, HR officers, and educators.

These exclusive sources are the most qualified to testify to the work ethic and behavior of the candidate. Their experiences are the best indicators of what future employers can expect.

Reference requests may only be sent to validated professional email addresses, which are published with their reference.

Learn valuable candidate information

Workplace superiors & HR officers may include the following in their reference:

Candidate’s official job title
Candidate’s dates of employment
Written or video testimonial
Rating-scale responses

Educators may include the following in their reference:

Written or video testimonial
Rating-scale responses

Some references may prefer to answer rating-scale questions about a candidate, instead of writing or recording a reference.

References have more freedom to be candid

Liability concerns often prevent references from providing meaningful information, wasting your time and effort.
SafeHire candidates allow their employer references to speak candidly by providing 3-layers of protection:

Signing a waiver of liability, protecting the individual and any affiliated organizations
Explicitly consenting
Becoming the sole publisher of the privately-delivered reference

Frequently
Asked Questions

So, you watched the short video and you're wondering....

How are SafeHire references different from LinkedIn recommendations?

LinkedIn is a networking platform and SafeHire is a verification platform. On LinkedIn, reciprocal endorsements and recommendations from friends, family, and acquaintances are commonplace. Job titles and dates of employment claims are also frequently exaggerated without consequence. SafeHire’s founder has even managed to become widely endorsed for “Hostage Negotiation” on LinkedIn, despite no experience!

On SafeHire, references may only come from educators, former workplace superiors, and HR officers. Requests may only be sent to professional email addresses, which are displayed along with any published reference.

When you provide a LinkedIn recommendation, your profile displays what you wrote and for whom for all to see. This can lead your LinkedIn connections to feel entitled to an equally complimentary recommendation. This may be desired by a networking platform but is intentionally avoided by our verification platform, where validated references can only be viewed on a candidate’s profile.

What reference policies are the safest?

Providing references against company policy may be the “most violated policy in the panoply of HR policies. ” Businesses can best protect themselves by providing a simple reference procedure for all employees and utilizing all elements of SafeHire’s 3-layers of protection.

When a former employee or another business asks for a reference, tell them, “I’d be happy to! I’ll just need a SafeHire request first.”

What about negative references?

Applicants who don’t have overwhelmingly positive experiences with past employers and educators generally “self-select” out of using SafeHire. If they can’t gather strong references from validated sources, it doesn’t make sense to pay for a SafeHire profile.

The best applicants are eager to share high-quality references from credible sources, that’s why they use SafeHire.