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Craig Caddell's Verification Tips
February 04, 2014 posted by Steve Brownstein
Finding Good Contact Information
Job applicants are notorious for providing incorrect contact information for past employers. Some creative applicants provide the contact information of a “friend” posing as a past employer. They assume you will call the number provided without first validating it. Therefore, you must validate, or develop, contact information. At ReferencePro we call this process “Clerking.”
Here are three tips to help you with the speed and accuracy of your clerking process.
1.Assign the task of contact information validation and development to no fewer than two specialists. Focusing on the task increases efficiency and redundancy ensures coverage whether due to absenteeism or a spike in volume.
2.In addition to searching the web for company sites and public listings, it’s especially helpful to develop an internal database with the following data points:
a.The last, best contact information used and the name of the person who provided the verification.
b.The employer’s protocol for providing verifications such as whether or not to send a release, and the fax number.
c.The third party you should contact in the event the employer’s data are outsourced.
d.Normalize employer name, city and state before storing entries. This avoids confusion in future queries against the database. Include notes on name variances encountered such as DBA’s and pre-merger or acquisition names.
3.Document your process and continually update it. If you lose a clerk you could lose a great deal of institutional knowledge. Protect your contact database and the integrity of it rigorously. In time it will become a very valuable asset.
