Article
What "vetted" should mean, and what we check
Most recruiters say their candidates are vetted. The word only means something when you know what was checked.
JiveTalent team · 26 October 2026
"Vetted" can describe anything from a full assessment to a glance at a profile. When you're hiring someone you'll work with every day, ask what the word covers. Here's what it covers when we use it.
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1. It starts with your brief
Screening is only as good as the yardstick. Before we look at anyone, we agree a written brief with you: what the role must deliver, the first tasks, the tools, the hours and the overlap with your day. Every later check measures candidates against that brief, not against a generic idea of a good hire.
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2. Experience that matches the work
We read work histories for evidence of the tasks your role involves. A candidate who has run month-end close for a small business is a different prospect from one who has watched someone else do it. We ask candidates to walk us through specific pieces of work, and what they personally owned.
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3. A test built from the job
Every candidate we put forward has taken a practical task drawn from your brief. A support candidate answers the kind of tickets your customers send. A developer works with code. A bookkeeper works in the platform you use. The point is to see the work itself.
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4. Remote working habits
Working well from a distance takes skills an office hides: writing clearly, flagging problems early, keeping people informed without a reminder. We look at how candidates communicate through the process itself: how they write, how they ask questions and how reliably they follow up.
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5. Interviews and checks
Structured interviews use the same questions for each candidate on a role, so answers can be compared. We also check background and references before anyone is introduced to you.
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6. You make the final call
Screening narrows the field, and the decision stays with you. You receive our notes on each candidate, interview the ones you choose, and decide.
Questions to ask any recruiter
Whoever you hire through, ask: Was the test based on our work? Were references checked, and by whom? What did the candidates who weren't put forward get wrong? Clear answers are a good sign that "vetted" means something.
See how a search runs
Our How it works page walks through each stage of a search, start to finish.