The first-of-its-kind check helps businesses proactively manage risk
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way businesses work – particularly in the hiring process, with recruiters and talent acquisition team dealing with an influx of CVs that could have been made with technology.
Online employment checking provider, Referoo, have announced a new all-in-one comprehensive digital profile check – to ensure you’re hiring who you think you are.
In collaboration with due diligence and global risk insight firm, EDD Group, the Advanced Digital Profile Check uses millions of publicly available data points to check the credentials of a prospective employer, to ensure no warning signs are left unchecked.
“In a hiring world where AI is more prevalent, it's harder and harder to verify information... This is why we're seeing people move to more and more background checks for their compliance,” Referoo’s CMO, Luke Maddison (pictured above, left), told HRD.
“It's a really good way of balancing the CV, a reference check, other background checks - things like police checks, but then also looking into... publicly available information.”
(Photo provided by Referoo)
Described as the first check of its kind in Australia, it works by capturing publicly available information across the web, public forums, social media, and other digital platforms.
“We go far beyond simply Googling a name or skimming through a few social media posts,” Matt Winlaw (pictured above, right), CEO of EDD Group, said.
“We conduct deep social media analysis—assessing not just text, but also relationships and networks, images, videos, reels, emojis, and more. All of this content is reviewed and translated from 194 languages.”
Greater data collection in the hiring process
With TA teams increasingly worried about the use of AI within the hiring process – with candidates preparing for interviews with technology and using it to craft job-specific CVs – this new check is said to give employers greater peace of mind.
“It can identify red flags that some other background checks might miss, such as extremist affiliations, toxic behaviour, fake identities… to help spot potential risks and stop bad hires before they can harm your employees, clients or reputation,” Maddison noted.
“It has access to things like forums and news data... if you've been referenced in a newspaper article, for example, 10 years ago, it'll find that reference.”
The technology, Winlaw described, was developed to support compliance and risk assessment across a range of sectors – including national security and law enforcement but has practical applications for the broader corporate landscape.
“You can think of it as the ability to find the needle in the online haystack—quickly identifying critical information to support informed decision-making and mitigate risk.”
Ensuring thorough reference checking to support recruitment decisions
With demand for a greater employment checking solution growing, Maddison and Winlaw said they collaborated to answer the questions raised by recruitment managers.
“It’s exploding... The highest demand check we've seen in the past year is social media… not just here, but also internationally. This is your one-stop-shop for ensuring compliance within your recruitment tech stack,” Maddison outlined.
This was echoed by Winlaw, who noticed an increase in the number of harmful or dangerous online content being discovered too late.
“In both the USA and the UK, conducting these checks has become a standard part of due diligence for employers, contractors, and suppliers. We’re excited to bring this capability to the Australian market to help organisations proactively manage risk and make informed decisions,” he said.
