Skill survey has been great. We now conduct reference checks at a much higher rate than we did before (nearly 100%). It's a critical part of our hiring process for managers, servers and bartenders and I can't imaging operating without it. Fun fact, we actually caught a manager who was providing fraudulent references by reviewing the IP addresses. I was very thankful for that feature at the time.

1. Skill survey makes it easy to conduct reference checks. Before we had it, we did this by phone. We probably only completed checks about 25% of the time and they were awkward to conduct. 2. I love the fact that there is a percentile score for performance. This makes it easy to see how candidates stack up against industry specific data. 3. I love the strengths and weaknesses section. This is one of the most valuable sections for us. Not only is it helpful in making a decision to hire, I've often come back to these before writing annual performance reviews. 4. I really love how easy it is to execute the process. One email address and a few clicks and the whole process basically unfolds which is amazing.

One wish would be for the system to solicit more written commentary from the reference providers. I can understand that this would create a larger barrier for participation, and I'm not dissatisfied in what we currently receive, but more specific detail is always better. Maybe 1 written section per evaluation category? In addition, I filled out a review on a competing reference check for one of our former employees and was interested to see that I was not able to provide all top scores for the employee. The system forced me to downgrade at least one of my answers. As a reference check provider, this forced me to find an area where I honestly felt the employee was lacking and I ended up delivering a more honest answer. To my knowledge, SkillSurvey does not have this feature and this might create overly positive reviews.

I liked SkillSurvey, and found that the process of checking a reference and making sure that the references were legitimate was as clean as it could be, barring the comments I had above. Their team also sends emails concerning current events and how they might affect business, as well as just check-in messages to see how we're doing with the product, which are nice personal touches.

I found SkillSurvey to be a really easy-to-use product. Our staffing firm deals with a sensitive clientele, so we need to make sure that we have people checked by references before they are put into the field. SkillSurvey helped us to easily tell if someone had completed their references themselves (as it tracks the IP address from which the form was submitted) and it also helps us to message people who have not yet submitted references through the website, eliminating the extra step of going into an email program and sending a reminder that way. The ease of viewing the results from the reference, and the metrics/questions that they have in these reports (as well as the ability to choose which form you send out) really helps to get relevant and readable results.

I think the areas of improvement for this software would be: technological optimization and a better instruction system for the candidate on sending out their reference request links. First, optimization: the website is always slower to load, and this was a problem specific to this particular site. The main page will take 3 or so seconds to load where other, different sites take a second or so, and while this isn't a deal-breaking factor for me, it's certainly annoying when you're trying to sift through multiple different files at once. Second, Instructions: the current procedure that candidates follow when they send their reference links seems to be fine, but I've received complaints from some people that their references aren't back only because they thought they had sent their references but instead had only saved them in the SkillSurvey system, never having sent them out to their references. As well, I received a complaint from someone who felt that the messages that SkillSurvey auto-generates from candidates when they are sending to their references were an infringement on her privacy, as they are written in the first person. Even though there is an option to view the message that will be sent out before a candidate sends it, I think it could be a good idea to add more visibility, maybe even a warning message, concerning what the candidate is about to send out.

I took a survey on behalf of a candidate for a position. Responses were a 7-step never / always scale. Any candidate will offer favorable referrences, so what is the point of asking me if my former coworker is "Always" responsible? The person I was describing is a wonderful and highly competent person, an asset to any organization, but I don't feel the survey I took would give any hiring manager an accurate view of her skills.

Very easy for the survey-taker to respond.

Would not give an accurate or useful view of the candidate being considered.

Having a small HR staff the time we're able to dedicate to reference checking was limited. This product allows us to receive better feedback more quickly. It hasn't completely replaced making an old fashioned phone call but it has cut down on the need to do so every time.

Given that the references individual responses are not linked back to them personally I've found that I usually receive more candid responses. As silly as it sounds, I've avoided potentially bad hires based on feedback from candidate's hand picked references through this system. As a small HR department it's difficult to invest a ton of time calling references, waiting on call backs, playing phone tag, exchanging voicemails, etc. only to receive dates of employment. The survey's can be customized and you can include your own questions, including space for verbatim answers. The reports are easy to read. The few times I've had issues their support staff have handled them promptly. Somewhat pricey but not difficult to justify when you weigh out the benefit. Integrated with our ATS (The Applicant Manager).

Won't completely replace contacting references. Sometimes references will leave feedback that needs additional explanation, which is next to impossible to get given the anonymity for references. Some references have become offended, though very few, that the system "pesters" them or are upset at the simple fact that we're asking them to fill out a survey rather than calling them - as if it were disrespectful of their time somehow. Those cases are by FAR the minority though.

Meaningful information to select the best candidates

We have been using SkillSurvey for over 2 years for all new hire reference screenings. The system is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. It has saved me, as an HR department of 1, countless hours trying to reach multiple references via phone and getting only dates of hire and titles. It takes only a few minutes for me to enter a candidates information and select the appropriate survey based on position applied for. Because the applicant signs a release, we have found that the responses from references are candid and constructive. With the unlimited package we selected this year, I have begun using the SkillSurvey system earlier on in the hiring process on more candidates--not just the final candidates. This provides us with specific feedback early on and provides a great tool we use in the interview process-the Hiring Manager report. The Hiring Manager report provides not only the survey results but also suggested questions for the applicant based on the results of the reference screen. It has enabled us to ask applicants questions specifically aimed at their areas for improvement. Thanks to SkillSurvey the quality of our new hires has improved-we have meaningful information on the candidate that better equips us to choose the best candidate.

The only con is the price-- as a non-profit the cost is a bit high. However, I have thus far been able to make the case for its value to both my department and agency as a whole.

It is one of the best tools given to the Recruiters/Talent Management team. The SkillSurvey Team delivers what they promise, often saving thousands of dollars with what would otherwise be a bad hire.

It is easy to use and has offered a different way to look at candidates. We find that references feel confident in sharing their opinions about candidates because they know their response is confidential, giving much better insight into their fit to the position and the fit to our organization as well. The analytics are spot on and can quickly identify a candidate that may pose issues later on, saving money and time with a potentially bad hire.

Honestly, I can't think of a negative with the software. It has served us well.

My favorite feature of SkillSurvey is that it is so easy to enter an applicant and send them emails outlining what they will need to do to complete the Reference Check. We rarely have questions on how to enter references so I appreciate the reduced amount of work due to not having to explain how to use the site. I also really love that we were able to set the system up to send out emails once we have filed a candidate as 'Hired'. Our email that goes out advertises our $50 referral bonus for referring other subs and I think this is a great way to remind our subs of the bonus!

My least favorite feature of SkillSurvey is that there is not a way (at least that I have found) to reactivate someone's SkillSurvey profile after it has been cancelled. This would be very helpful when someone had already entered insufficient references, but fell off during the onboarding process. If this was a possibility, we could save the sub the time and frustration of having to re-enter all of their references.

My overall experience with SkillSurvey is that it is easy to use and highly functional and achieves the desired results.

What I like about this software is that it removed the antiquated way of calling individual references for each candidate, which can become burdensome when dealing with multiple recruitments and positions needing to be filled.

I don't really have any cons. The software works great!

SkillSurvey has provided us with great insight regarding candidates potential strengths as well as possible areas for development. The behavior-based questions provide invaluable information about soft skills such as being a good listener, getting along with co-workers, etc.

SkillSurvey is extremely easy to use. The confidentiality included in this method of obtaining consistent information from references has provided another tool that can be used to assess the fit of each candidate for the job and the specific group of employees that he/she will be working with.

There are quite a few job titles to chose from but there are some cases where I could have used titles that were more specific.

Completed a lot of reference checks in a short amount of time, gained some valuable insight that helped facilitate decisions. Easy to get the contact info when we needed to follow up for more info. Also easy to tell if someone falsified info.

Reduces internal recruiting or HR time in conducting reference interviews, also eliminates the hassle of chasing contacts down.

Some confusing features like their statistics, also a lot of the canned reference reports do not include technology or recent / current skillsets and could use an update.

Overall very positive experience with SkillSurvey, I would recommened them to any company looking to improve and streamline their reference checking process

The software is very user friendly, and saves amble time in the reference checking process. They have built hundred of pre-determined surveys to be used for references. The ability to have a database of prospective candidates is also a huge bonus. Customer support and

They can improve the ability to edit each survey or add custom questions. Having the surveys pre-built is very nice but editing them to add one question is clunky.

I like that it's easy to enter a reference into the system and monitor how many people have responded and the questions that are asked and covered

I wish when you finalized a report that it immediately opened the advanced report, I always look at that version so I wish that it automatically added more information into the report when you hit finalize. Instead I have to do that, close the window and re-open the advanced report.

Saving time, offering easy to use solution that can be accessed 24/7 by users.

Saves time of making phone calls and sending emails to references and candidates. Text feature. Easy for Reference to complete.

I don't seem to file candidates. I know this can provide data for the future, but I never find the time to go back and file them away.

We mainly use SkillSurvey to receive reference reports for candidates, but we also use SkillSurvey Source for our recruiting needs.

This tool is allows my organization to receive candid and thoughtful reviews of a candidate while also maintaining the privacy of the reference. The reporting gives valuable insight into a candidate and we have made many of our selections based on the candidate's SkillSurvey reference report.

I honestly cannot think of anything. I am a very satisfied customer.

I've been using it for a little over 1/2 a year. It's been easy to learn and explain to our applicants.

It's great and easy to use. It's very accessible and user friendly.

With some surveys the report doesnt show up when finalizing the survey so you have to go back into it. (This certainly could just be user error or a setting that I'm not aware of).

The skills surveys have been very helpful as one aspect of the recruitment process.

What I like most is how quickly referrals sources respond to the surveys. In almost all instances, its less than 2 days from the time I send the link to the candidate to when the completed surveys are received.

The jobs that I recruit for are very specific to the golf industry, and I need to fit the skills surveys to the jobs.

I love that it integrates with greenhouse.

Sometimes hard to navigate when looking specifically at candidates profiles.

SkillSurvey has saved our recruiting team a tremendous amount of time by automating a very manual process. The system is easy to use, user-friendly and adds a lot of value.

Nothing - we are been utilizing all of it's features!

We re-sell the product to our background screening clients, and it provides an effective "glue" for our business.

The breadth of questionnaires available.

I would like more flexibility when the applicant has trouble providing references that will respond.

Very positive creates more freedom for the recruitment team to connect and find new talent. Complete-time saver and have used for 40 companies across our platform.

No more tracking down people's references and trying to ask them questions about previous employees.

The need for 3 Managers sometimes can be frustrating if its for new hires. Wouldnt say that isnt even a real issue since you can work around it.

Reference checks can take so much time for hiring managers and HR. SkillSurvey is not only quick and easy to use, but it also requires the candidates to do some of the work - such as inputting references' names and contact information. Unless a traditional phone interview is needed or required, this can allow you to save tons of time when trying to collect references.

When a candidate has a reference check email sent, it can sometimes be too vague and generic to clearly tell the person what the position is or who the employer may be. This can sometimes cause some confusion for references if they were not expecting outreach or they know someone is applying for various jobs at the same time.

It is user friendly and is easy to help other navigate

The multiple emails that are received. Especially, after sending one out.

How easy it is to send over links via email or text - very up to date!

Would love to have easier access to file them after they have been completed.

It has been phenomenal from the first interaction with [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] . The customer support is fantastic.

User friendly. Fast Results.

I would like to be able to customize some of the surveys.

Overall, it has been a tremendous help over the past six months. Would continue to use and recommend.

efficient, time-saving and comprehensive

it does not have all of the functionality that we would want/need; does not integrate to our HRIS (all manual entry)