HCS Healthcare is a specialized national healthcare workforce solutions firm that provides clients with top-quality candidates in both clinical and non-clinical roles. As a differentiator, HCS Healthcare enhanced its service offering by providing fully reference-checked candidates for faster placements. But inefficient reference processes meant their recruiters spent too much time tracking down references over the phone, completing reference feedback forms, and uploading the finished reports into their system.
Automating the Reference Checking Process
“These inefficiencies meant that we couldn’t complete reference checks on all candidates. We could only complete them at the time of interview,” said Gilda Juarez, Operations Manager for HCS Healthcare.
HCS Healthcare selected SkillSurvey Reference® to automate the process. SkillSurvey Reference integrated with their CRM and applicant tracking solution, Bullhorn, to further streamline and accelerate the hiring process. The combined solution allows recruiters to request a reference check within one application, which only takes about a minute of their time, and the system automatically updates once references respond. Recruiters are then notified by email when a candidate feedback report is ready to finalize and move to the next stage of the interview process.
HCS Healthcare helps their clients fill a large variety of positions. Because each position requires different levels of skills, HCS is able to choose from the more than 170 job-specific surveys SkillSurvey has to offer, including Patient Financial Services Representatives and RN Case Managers.
“With SkillSurvey, we can run reference checks for all positions—whether they’re customer service, sales reps, registered nurses and everything in between. That puts our clients’ minds at ease,” Gilda said.
References provide feedback on observed job-related behaviors, as well as include additional comments on a candidate’s strengths and any areas of improvement. Since the process is so fast and easy, HCS Healthcare can conduct a reference check as soon as a candidate is pre-screened, regardless of whether they have been placed.
SkillSurvey Reference also provides an unbiased way to present reference information to clients, helping them make more informed – and consistent – hiring decisions.
“Using SkillSurvey, we can now check references for five to six candidates at once, rather than only two or three. By providing our clients with the answers to open-ended questions, we make it easier for them to determine who is the best fit for their culture. And we can check references for every candidate in our database, which means they’re ready to be placed. That accelerates our process significantly.”
Gilda JuarezFaster Responses. Faster Hiring.
HCS Healthcare has utilized many of the benefits SkillSurvey Reference provides, doubling the number of people they can ask for references. The SkillSurvey Reference solution is also mobile-enabled, leading to faster responses from references. In the healthcare industry, most references only have a few minutes during breaks or lunch, so reaching them via the telephone can be very challenging. With SkillSurvey Reference they can easily answer the survey on their mobile phones.
By using SkillSurvey Reference integrated with Bullhorn, HCS Healthcare’s reference process is more consistent and unbiased. Plus, if a candidate’s recruiter leaves the company, the candidate can be assured that their reference report is still easily accessible, helping them get placed in the future.
HCS Healthcare recruiters can take advantage of SkillSurvey’s analytics and reports, including reports which show usage by recruiter. This provides a snapshot highlighting the most successful recruiters and helps them share best practices and success stories amongst the team.
Building a Highly-Qualified Candidate Pipeline
At the end of the reference check process, references are asked if they are interested in learning about job opportunities. HCS Healthcare recruiters receive a daily email of everyone who opted in to their private, passive candidate database so they can reach out to references and potentially match them up with current openings. Forty-nine percent of the more than 1,200 references who have opted in to their passive candidate database are manager-level, providing them with a rich source of potential candidates to be ready to meet any client request.
30% to 40% Faster
at obtaining references than their previous phone-based reference-checking method.
Over 17,000
candidates have been entered into SkillSurvey Reference since 2016, leveraging over 170 job-specific surveys.
3.1 References
on average are collected per candidate in less than one day.
About HCS Healthcare
HCS Healthcare is a staffing firm that specializes in healthcare and serves Fortune 1000 organizations. It sources everything from staff to executive-level candidates in clinical and non-clinical roles.
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