Best Way to Check References for Potential Employees

Used properly, reference checks allow you to compensate for the shortcomings of the interview process. You will be able to get the advice of somebody who has experienced firsthand over a period of time what you have been trying to divine indirectly in a brief interview.

Unfortunately, though, interviewers and interviewees often fail to take full advantage of reference checks. Refer­ences are checked cursorily, if at all, and only so that if anyone asks, you can say, “Yeah, I checked references.”

Many reference checkers ask about the person’s (or com­pany’s) credentials only apologetically, or use a manner and tone of voice that conveys this message: “For God’s sake, please don’t tell me anything bad about this person (or company). We (I) want to make him (accept) an offer.” (Several companies have told me that they have never once turned down a candidate because of an adverse reference.) If you approach the reference check in that way, you might just as well save the money you’d spend on the phone call.

But you can learn something from a reference check, if you set out to do so and think about how to approach it. A reference check is an interview, and all of the principles that apply to getting good information in an interview apply as well to reference checks. That includes, importantly, establishing rapport with the person providing the reference. Since almost all reference checks are conducted by phone, establishing rapport is not so easy. How can you go about doing it?

First of all, when you check a reference, make sure you allow yourself time to do it right. Don’t make a call when you have only two minutes to talk. Similarly, ask the person if they have fifteen minutes to talk about the candidate (or job). If they “only have a minute,” ask when they have a little more time, schedule an appointment, and call back.

Second, take a few minutes to get to know the reference. Of course, when possible, it’s always best to talk with a reference who you, a friend, or co-worker of yours knows. It’s far less likely that a friend, or even an acquaintance, will lie (or shade the truth).

When you call, explain your objective in seeking a refer­ence in the same terms as we described the purpose of the ideal job interview in the introduction—to determine whether there is a good match between the individual and the company. In other words, you are not just looking for flaws. That means honest answers to your questions should benefit both the candidate and the company.

Employers should speak with people who actually worked with the candidate. It’s far easier for a reference to sing the praises or gloss over the defects of somebody with whom he has not worked. If the person you’re contacting has had no firsthand experience with the candidate, ask him who has—and call that person.

When you do speak to somebody with whom the candi­date worked, find out how much contact the person had with the candidate. If you are asking a senior officer about work performed by a relatively junior employee, you may find that the senior officer’s contact was extremely limited. In that case, the person to whom you should speak is the person who actually supervised the work.

Candidates who are checking references on a prospective employer (whether inquiring about the company or the specific person for whom you would be working) should apply the same principles as employers. Establish rapport, and make sure you are talking to people with firsthand experience. Try to establish whether the reference may be biased. Was she fired by the employer? Is she working for a competitor?

Once you have established a relationship with the refer­ence, your inquiry should focus on the decision criteria you have established and, particularly, those aspects of your crite­ria that remain in question after the interview. Ask tough questions, and don’t accept vague generalities as answers.

For example, the employer should ask what, specifically, were thought to be Joe’s strengths (other than that he was “a really nice guy”)? What, specifically, were the criticisms of Joe or his work? How many people had that difficulty with Joe? Don’t accept a glib statement that it was “just a personality conflict” with one person. What was Joe told in his last review? How does Joe rank with others in his group? If you knew what you know now about Joe, would you have hired him? While many references, understandably, will try to sugarcoat the information they are giving to you, few will actually lie.

A candidate should ask what working for the employer (or particular supervisor) was like. What aspects of the job or the supervisor would the reference change, if he could? Why did the reference leave the company (if he did)? If asked, what would the reference tell a close friend or family member about the job or supervisor?

Generally, the reference check should be performed by the person for whom the candidate will be working after interviews are completed and before a decision is made. Where you are checking something specific that would be a precondition to any offer (for example, whether a candidate has completed a particular course), you may wish to check the reference after the initial screening interview. And if a candidate is currently employed and his employer is unaware of his job search, you may want to make your hiring decision subject to a satisfactory reference check. In any case, be sure you’ve been authorized to check references before calling.