The reference check is broken. Here’s how we fixed it.

Here’s how reference checks usually work: the candidate gives you three names. Those three people are, unsurprisingly, the three people most likely to say something glowing. You call them, they say glowing things, you tick the box.

That’s not verification. That’s a curated testimonial reel. The whole point of a reference — an outside view of how someone actually works — is lost the moment the candidate controls who you talk to.

Independent sourcing changes everything

Shapi sources references the way a journalist would: we decide who to contact based on your real work history, reach out ourselves, and keep what each person says confidential from you. You never see who said what, and you can’t pre-coach the answers.

Then our AI reads across all of them at once. Where three referees independently mention the same strength, that’s a verified signal. Where two disagree, we surface it honestly rather than hide it — because an honest flag is more credible than a suspiciously perfect record.

The output is a single cross-checked report that travels with the candidate. One verification, reused everywhere — instead of every employer redoing the same broken phone calls.