Below is an extensive step-by-step guide on creating a Reference Check.

Once you've created a Job, start by clicking References on the purple banner within the Job page:

From here, you have two options:

We have hundreds of job-specific reference check templates available for you to select.

You're able to use the search bar at the top of the page to look for a specific Reference Check survey for the job, or you can browse through the scrollable list to find a suitable template.

By clicking on a template, you're able to preview the questions/modules from HiPeople's library that are part of the template.

Once you've found a template you'd like to use, simply hit the purple Select button to continue.

Once you've selected a template, you can review the Reference Check details/preferences for it. If they look good, you can simply keep the Use settings from the template toggle enabled, and click Finish setup at the bottom of the page.

If modifications are needed, untoggle the Use settings from the template option, and adjust what needs to change. (more information about each topics can be found in this guide, under step 2.d.)

After that, click Finish setup.

If you'd like to start building your Reference check survey from scratch, use the Create new template button.

Clicking on that button will take you to the Select content page:

You can explore the full question/modules list, diving deeper and exploring what a question/module looks like for the reference by clicking the Preview eye button next to each question/module.

Selecting modules is easy. Simply click the Add toggle for the questions/modules you'd like to include in your Reference Check survey.

When you select a question, the Ref. Types box appears. It's set to All types by default, but you can change it for each question or module to control which references see that content. For example, if you select Manager, only references the candidate added as a Manager will see the question.

We will automatically bring the questions/modules that you select to the top, in the order that you click/add them. However, you can reorder the questions by dragging and dropping them according to the order you'd like references to see.

In addition to our extensive range of questions/modules, you can add custom questions to the reference check. This lets you cover topics specific to the position or your organization.

You have the option to set up questions as:

If you choose to add free-text questions, click on Add free-text question. Once you do, if there's a job description pasted in the job description field for this job, we will analyze it and use AI to generate questions that are specific to the requirements and skills required for the job.

After AI analyzes it, we will show in yellow all the suggested questions that you can opt to add to your Reference Check survey.

To select a question, simply click on the question, and it will automatically be added in green at the top of the window.

You can now continue to add more custom questions by clicking on any of the other suggested ones, or add your own by typing the question in the Question text field. Once you type your question, click the Add question button.

Once all of your questions are added, click the X to exit the window.

To add a multiple-choice question, click Add multiple-choice question, then enter your question and its answer options. Three option fields appear by default. To add more, click Click to add answer option.

If references should be able to pick more than one answer, turn on Allow references to select multiple answers.

When you're done, click + Add question.

Once you've added all of your questions, reordered them and configured the reference type to answer each, click Next step at the bottom of the page.

On the next page, you're able to add questions relating to the skill level of the candidate. In order to do so, consider the most important competencies a candidate has to have to be successful for the particular job or in general at your organization.

Use the + Add skill question button to search the library of hundreds of skills. It's ideal to use this option first, as the skills used from this library help to build the benchmarking you see in the results.

You can use the search bar in the top right corner to look up skills and then select them so they turn green:

Then use the Add # skill(s) button in the bottom right corner to add them to the Reference Check:

If the skill you'd like to ask about isn't in the library, you can always create your own custom skill questions using the Create custom skill question button and typing the skill into the "Question" field. Then, click Create new skill.

The skill questions (both from the library and custom) will appear to the reference giver as both a scale and example question format. The scale section is a required field, and the example/free text section is optional.

Once you've added all of your skill questions, click the "Next step" button to proceed.

It's now time to set up the Reference Check details.

1. Notification timeline

2. Required references

Set how many references you'd like to collect and what type. The six available reference types are:

You can also edit the Target reference (optional) field to give candidates more specific guidance on who to invite, for example, their current manager or a peer from a specific previous role.

3. Reference Check language

The default language is English. You can add additional languages from the dropdown menu. The first language selected becomes the default, and referees can toggle between available languages when they open the HiPeople portal.

We currently support 9 languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Dutch.

4. Candidate self-reference

This feature asks candidates to complete a self-evaluation. It helps recruiters and hiring managers compare how candidates view themselves against how their referees describe them.

5. Job title verification

Toggle on Activate candidate job title verification if you want to ask referees to verify the job title the candidate held in their previous role. See this article for more details.

6. Job title verification

This option allows you to collect the month as well as the year that the candidate and reference worked together. By default, if this option isn't enabled, HiPeople will collect only the year.

Once all of the preferences are set up, click Next step.

In the preview step, you can make sure you've covered everything you want to in the reference check. In case you are not happy with what you see, you can always go back and make the necessary adjustments. If everything looks good, click the Confirm button at the bottom of the page.

One thing to note here is that some of HiPeople's modules are composed of multiple questions. If you don't like one particular question from a preset module, you'll need to go back and turn off the entire module, as it's not possible to turn off individual questions within a module.

Once you've hit Confirm, you will be prompted with two options:

After your selection is done, you will see a summary of the preferences. Simply scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save details.

That's it! Your job is ready, and you can start inviting candidates to complete the reference check.