Ray & Barney bring value back to reference checks
Automated on-line CheckPoint™ service speeds and improves quality of references

Columbus OH – July 18, 2005 – Reference checks, once the most important tool in a hiring manager’s kit, have lost much of their value in the past two decades.

The time and effort required to connect with a reference, inconsistency among the interviews, and the threat of litigation that now hangs over even positive references has reduced references to “name, rank, and salary number,” according to Rye D’Orazio of Ray & Barney Group.

“Our clients know, however, that there is no better and more complete judge of an applicant's professional abilities than a former employer or co-worker and that the cost of hiring the wrong person makes this service essential.”

To return the value to the reference checking process, Ray & Barney has launched CheckPoint, an automated, on-line reference checking service already finding favor among the human resources consultancy’s clientele. “CheckPoint automates the solicitation of confidential, objective and subjective references and returns them to the hiring manager's ‘applicant dashboard.’ There, the candidates are considered side-by-side for functional and cultural fit.”

CheckPoint’s benefits include:

• Configurable questionnaires enable the collection of job-specific subjective and objective information.
• Automation speeds the process, eliminates human error (omissions, interpretation), and increases response rates and quality by allowing the reference to answer on-line and at their own pace.
• Confidential references reduce the threat of litigation and encourage candid responses.