We can all agree: employment references shouldn't take three (or more) weeks and leave you with a chain of chasing emails in your outbox. But historically, they do.
You email a candidate's old employer, wait for a reply, chase again, and cross all your fingers that you hear back from them.
If you’re lucky and do get in touch with someone, you can move onto worrying about how they provide the reference. Because more often than not, along the way, sensitive information like National Insurance numbers and dates of birth end up passed around in email threads and shared inboxes. That’s not exactly how candidates want their data treated, and nor is it a great first impression for you.
That’s why Zinc built a better way.
Instead of relying entirely on a person at another company to reply, Zinc safely pulls employment data directly from government payroll systems. Starting with HMRC in the UK, and now live across seven other countries globally, candidates’ employment history can now be verified within seconds instead of weeks, without sensitive information ever passing through recruiter’s inboxes.
How instant employment verification works
It’s simple. All we need from your candidates is:
Their country of residence
Zinc works out which government system to use behind the scenes.
Their login details
Next, candidates log into or create an account on the relevant government site.
Whether it’s Spain’s Seguridad Social or India’s Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Zinc’s integration with government databases safely pulls employment reference data.
With no forms to fill in twice, no waiting on someone else's reply, and no manual copy-paste between documents on recruiters’ ends, a process that could take weeks is now completed safely in seconds.
Recruiters are equipped with clear reports that confirm the companies a candidate has worked for and the dates of their employment at each one.
What makes instant employment verification with Zinc safe?
Straight from the source
Traditional references depend on someone vouching for a candidate, whether that’s a former manager, an HR contact, or sometimes a referee the candidate has lined up themselves.
With increased public access to alarming AI tools and tricks, we’re seeing a spike in candidate fraud cases. Whether it's a friend posing as a former boss, a paid reference service willing to confirm whatever dates you ask for, or entirely fabricated documents with company branding, recruiters need to scan for signs they’d never have had to in the past.
Going straight to payroll data removes that risk entirely. The dates come from the same records used to pay tax and run payroll, so that there's no room for a friendly favour or a convenient shell company reference.
And if a regulator or auditor ever asks, you know exactly where the data came from.
Low risk of data breaches
If you follow the news, you probably know there are growing concerns about data breaches, especially for anyone handling sensitive information across the world.
Zinc's instant employment verification is built to avoid that exposure in the first place.
All candidate data is encrypted and when a candidate logs into a tax authority, Zinc never sees or stores those login credentials. Zinc works with Mistho, who manage the direct integration with each government portal through session-based verification. This means credentials only exist for the length of that one session and aren't retained by either Mistho or Zinc afterwards. Zinc only receives the employment and income data needed for the check itself.
All of this data is stored and processed within the UK and the European Economic Area, and any sub-processors are contractually required to do the same, so there's no unnecessary cross-border data transfer to worry about.
We take these measures because we care about your candidate’s safety.
Zinc acts as an extension of the government portal
Logging into a tax authority through Zinc is functionally the same as logging into that authority's account directly yourself. Zinc’s interface sits in front of a direct connection to the government's own site and Zinc never touches, stores, or processes the credentials passing through. It's also the quicker route by far, which is why we point candidates towards it.
That said, we understand some candidates would rather not log into a government portal at all through Zinc.
So we offer them an "I don't want to provide this" option at the bottom of the page for exactly that reason. It routes them into a traditional reference instead, which takes longer — one to two weeks on average — but the choice is always theirs.
In case you were wondering, here are some security standards that Zinc maintains:
- Login details stay encrypted throughout
- Credentials are used once, for a single session, and are never held in persistent storage (by Zinc or our verification partners)
- Zinc's systems go through penetration testing at least once a year
- Zinc holds ISO 27001 certification
What countries does Zinc offer instant employment verification in?
Zinc's instant employment verification currently covers eight countries:
- United Kingdom
- Spain
- India
- Brazil
- Netherlands
- Ireland
- Philippines
- Mexico
Wherever your candidate is based, the process is the same: your candidate tells Zinc their country of current residence, and Zinc automatically directs them to the right tax or social security body from there.
Good for candidates and recruiters alike
Referencing has historically been one of the biggest pains in the neck for recruiters and candidates.
Zinc's instant employment verification changes that on both sides. Recruiters get more accurate, verifiable results with far less admin, and candidates get to own their own data instead of it disappearing into someone else's inbox.
The future of referencing looks like accurate employment history, verified at the source, in seconds.
Ready to verify employment references quickly and safely? Book a demo and we'll walk you through how Zinc can help.
