Client: Jesper Östlund, Talent Acquisition Specialist
Company: Norion Bank
Industry: Bank & Finance
“At Norion Bank, reference checking has always been a crucial part of our recruitment process. It's how we ensure the right person ends up in the right role. But the traditional way, calling each reference, was simply too time-consuming. That’s time we’d rather spend on value-adding parts of the process, like meeting candidates,” says Jesper Östlund, Talent Acquisition Specialist at Norion Bank.
Another major challenge was the inconsistency of insights. “The feedback we received through phone interviews was hard to compare and often lacked structure, which made it difficult to draw reliable conclusions.”
Jesper explains: “My role spans both the operational and strategic sides of recruitment and employer branding. We’ve made a conscious effort to leverage digital tools to improve quality and increase efficiency throughout our hiring process.”
With Teamtailor as their ATS, it was crucial that any new tool fit into their existing workflow.
"With the Refapp integration, we can initiate the reference check directly from Teamtailor with a single click. We get a clean, professional report back, usually within 24 hours".
Norion Bank has used Refapp for several years, but the introduction of Refapp Insights took things to the next level. “The ready-made question templates tailored to specific roles give us a strong foundation, and we can easily add custom questions relevant to each position.”
Jesper also highlights the value of asking about counterproductive behaviors during reference checks:
"These questions help us make safer decisions and reduce the risk of bringing harmful behaviors into the organization."
“I was initially skeptical about digital reference checking, especially whether we’d get the same depth without a phone call. But we were pleasantly surprised. The responses are honest and insightful. The rating scales make it easy to compare candidates, and the open text answers add even more depth,” Jesper explains.
Getting started was quick, and the process is now fully integrated:
"Today, we send reference checks directly through Refapp, and everything flows seamlessly. It’s easy for us, for the candidates, and for the references.”
”One of the most impactful features Norion Bank has adopted is Refapp Insights’ benchmarking functionality.
“It’s been a game-changer. Instead of trying to interpret scores on our own, we now get clear, data-driven context. We can instantly see how a candidate compares to others and understand what a score actually means, regardless of who’s reading the report. It takes the guesswork out of the process and brings real confidence to our hiring decisions
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Norion Bank Group is a business-oriented Nordic financing bank. Through its brands – Norion Bank, Walley, and Collector – the group offers tailored financial services that meet distinct customer needs across three key segments: mid-sized companies and real estate firms, merchants, and private individuals.
As a specialist in financing solutions, Norion Bank Group serves as a leading complement to traditional large banks, with the vision of becoming the foremost Nordic financing bank within its selected segments.
Norion Bank’s offering includes corporate and real estate loans, as well as factoring services for mid-sized companies and real estate firms. Through the Walley brand, the group provides flexible payment and checkout solutions for merchants and consumers. The Collector brand offers personal loans and credit cards for private individuals, as well as savings accounts for both individuals and businesses.
Norion Bank Group (formerly Collector Bank) was founded in 1999 and has offices in Gothenburg, Stockholm, Helsingborg, Oslo, and Helsinki. Operations are conducted through Norion Bank AB (publ), which is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.