Efficient, High-Quality Hiring: AHA Cut Reference Check Time by 80% with Refapp

Customer case Emelie Dahl

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A High-Volume, High-Impact Hiring Environment

Australian Healthcare Associates (AHA) is Australia’s largest specialist consultancy in health and human services. With over 30 years of experience partnering with federal and state governments, AHA delivers high-impact evaluations, reviews, and large-scale program administration to improve health and social outcomes nationwide.

Copy of Refapp kundcase (15)Tamara Small, HR Coordinator at AHA, manages recruitment, onboarding, and HR administration across the organisation:

“We aim to hire great people, look after them, pay them well and give them interesting and challenging work, enabling them to thrive.”

  • Diverse recruitment needs:
    AHA hires for a wide range of roles, including consultants, administrative staff, nurses, pharmacists, and IT professionals.
  • Fluctuating hiring volumes:
    Recruitment efforts vary in scale, sometimes involving large campaigns to onboard up to 40 new employees across multiple states.

Manual Reference Checking Became a Full-Time Task

Before Refapp, the reference checking process was slow and labor-intensive.

“Our biggest challenge was that we typically contacted referees by phone,” Tamara shares.

“Bulk recruiting meant attempting up to 80 phone calls and contacting two referees for each candidate. This was incredibly time-consuming, as we often found that we played ‘phone tag’ with referees." 

Why AHA Chose Refapp

Tamara highlights several key reasons for choosing Refapp:

  • Integration with Workable, AHA’s recruitment system
  • Customisable templates and automation
  • Email and SMS outreach
  • Automated reminders
  • Option for referees to request a phone call and propose times
  • Ease of use for all parties

Fast Implementation and Workable Integration

“We received excellent support from our Refapp representative during implementation (and after),” Tamara says. “We were able to get up and running almost immediately, and setting up the integration with Workable was straightforward.”

Now, when a candidate moves to the reference check stage in Workable, it signals HR to initiate the process via Refapp.

“Everyone involved in the hiring process is notified when the report is complete and can access this directly via Workable or Refapp.”

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Scaling Recruitment Without Losing Quality

“With the templates configured, the reference check process is initiated with the click of a button,” Tamara explains.

“We no longer need to make multiple contact attempts to the candidate and referee; the system drives this for us based on the requirements we set, and we can monitor progress. It’s less resource-intensive than our previous approach, and very time-effective."

"Importantly, there’s been no compromise on quality, correspondence to candidates and referees is professional and personalised, and the integrity of the check is upheld through verification measures and fraudulent activity alerts.”

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Significant Time Saved on Reference Checks

“Previously, we spent a lot of time trying to reach busy referees, and when doing this up to 80 times, it became a full-time task. In these instances, Refapp has saved us days of work and HR resources.”

She adds, “the system has also eliminated the need for us to record referee details and contact attempts in a separate spreadsheet.”

Turnaround time has improved as well:
“The average turnaround time for references is approximately 1–2 days. With our previous method, the turnaround time varied, at times this could take up to a week, sometimes longer.”

Refapp Supporting Compliance and Privacy

“Part of our HR policy is to have a minimum of two reference checks for each employee. Refapp enables us to customise the number of referees the candidate is required to submit and will notify us once both referees have completed the check”, Tamara explains.

“For some roles, we’re required to ask referees certain questions relating to child safety, Refapp has the option to mark questions as mandatory, thereby requiring a response.”

On the data protection side, “we can control who has access at both a system and reference check project level, and we can also set the parameters for how long data is stored.”

Positive Feedback from Candidates and Referees

“The system is incredibly user-friendly, and we find that candidates and referees complete their part without any issue or need for guidance from HR. A major benefit to the referee experience is that they’re not being called and interrupted at different times of the day, they have flexibility over when they complete the online form or alternatively, request a phone call at a time convenient to them.”

Result: “We’d absolutely recommend Refapp”

  • Significant time savings:
    Hours previously spent calling referees are freed up, streamlining the recruitment process.
  • Scalable solution:
    Supports both single and high-volume recruitment, ensuring efficient reference checks across all roles.
  • Reliable and high-quality:
    Enables consistent, timely, and high-standard reference checks as the organisation grows - with structured data that supports confident and safe recruitments.
  • Easy to use with reliable support: 
    Ensuring a smooth experience for candidates and referees while reducing the workload for HR.

“Our experience with Refapp has been overwhelmingly positive. We’d confidently recommend it to other organisations looking to streamline recruitment and reduce the burden on HR teams and hiring managers.”

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