If you’ve spent any time browsing the Workwolf website, you’ll know we like to do things differently here—and for the better. Our team has been in the hiring business for years, and has overseen thousands of hiring cycles. We’ve seen what works and what doesn’t work. Mainly, what doesn’t work is what we as a society have been doing for years: looking at all resumes equally and ranking them based on employment history and academic claims. Then, maybe performing background checks to confirm those suspicions weeks after offering a candidate a job. But we know from experience, mis-hires happen all the time from performing background checks after job offers. Plus, hiring only candidates with prestigious employment history on their background check is restricting and prejudiced. But let’s unpack that a bit more.
The Traditional Method: Looking at Employment History on a Background Check
As Indeed notes, typical background checks performed for a new position are usually performed to ensure applicants are submitting truthful resume information. Sometimes background checks are inescapable for positions that require certain training and qualifications. And as HireRight mentions, up to 84% of employers have found resumes or misrepresentations on candidate applications after performing background checks. So, yes, they are important to perform. But traditional background checks and resumes themselves are very limiting in what they can offer employers and recruiters.
What Employment History Can Tell You about a Candidate
With a reliable background check done before making a candidate a job offer, a candidate’s employment history can reassure the employer that they are qualified for the job. A background check might also offer more information that the candidate did not offer in their interview. This information depends on the background check, but some can include their previous salary and reason for leaving. While this is important information, there are things that can be more telling of a candidate’s potential.
So, other than confirming a candidate’s previous employment and the employment details, what else might be good for knowing about a candidate? We think it’s about everything that a traditional background check can’t tell you.
What Workwolf Does Differently
For one, Workwolf is an all-in-one platform that offers candidate potential assessments, employer-candidate matching, and background checking. Our hiring process has been designed to remodel the hiring process from start to finish.
First off, all candidates take Packfinder, our free soft skill assessment. Packfinder uses psychometrics to measure a candidate’s potential in various job functions. When the assessment is completed, a candidate’s results can be viewed by employers and recruiters—but only with the candidate’s permission. This is, after all, their own data to keep!
In addition to their Packfinder results, candidates can build a Digital Work Passport to verify and maintain their resume credentials. Think of it as a pre-verified resume, so they can skip the long waits for background checking. This information is also theirs to keep and share with employers or recruiters if they choose.
Employers and recruiters can then use pre-set or their unique benchmarks to measure how well-suited a candidate may be for a position. This way, their filtration processes are blind, equitable, and faster than sorting through resumes manually. Easy enough, right?
Why Packfinder Beats Only Using an Employment History on a Background Check
What’s maybe the most important part of using Packfinder is the way it empowers job seekers. Candidates will apply with confidence knowing that they are well-suited and equipped with the right soft skills to succeed in a certain position or environment. After all, Packfinder measures candidates not only for what they want in a job, but what they’re best at.
Along with offering positions that best use their unique soft skills, Packfinder measures a candidate’s
- Self management skills
- Motivational type
- Environmental fit
- Social orientation
- Analytic style
- Comfort with conflict
Not only is this crucial information for determining their success in your job position, it may also offer them an insight into their own career path, if they’re not sure of it already themselves!
How You Can Look beyond a Candidate’s Background Check
For starters, try hiring differently! Try changing your job requirements and what you look for in a candidate. Offer applicants a free Packfinder assessment with no strings attached! You never know who you might end up having on your team. Sign up for your free Workwolf account and offer your applicants Packfinder at no extra cost!
