How does your company handle the reference checking part of the hiring process? This is different in every company. While most firms check references in some way or another, we’ve found that nearly 20% of hiring managers don’t bother checking references at all. This is often due to the hiring manager’s belief that the process is “rigged” in the candidate’s favor. Many times these managers will have someone else make the reference calls; they will then look at them askew for this same reason. It is my belief that you could be missing vital information if you hire without references.

Good managers use the reference check process to learn more about their candidates, not only to assist them in making the final selection, but to learn more about what makes their selected new hire “tick.” Knowing how previous supervisors have motivated and inspired their employee can be a great help down the road in getting a new hire to perform at his or her best.

There are three types of references that are most commonly used, and those include the trade reference—a contact with a former boss, colleague, or report of the candidate—the written “letter of reference” which is a holdover from the academic roots of many hiring managers, and the third-party reference, a service from firms who specialize in verifying dates of employment and so forth. While all of these have some value, your success in the reference will be because you had the right goals for the process.

Although each situation will be different because of specific custom questions, you’ll want to come away from the reference check process with much more information about your prospective hire. This would include past performance and behavior, including the candidate’s work patterns—consistencies as well as inconsistencies—their interpersonal relations and people abilities, their professional competence in your specific skill area, their strengths and weaknesses, and feedback from others on the environments in which the person is most and least effective.

Picking up the phone and calling a listed reference is an easy one for most hiring managers. It could be as simple as making contact with an old friend about thoughts on a former employee. But, be careful, this can be dangerous for your organization if there is no official permission granted for you to make that call. It must be timed correctly. Never make a “discreet” inquiry concerning a candidate without thinking about the potential for leakage. Done too early, could there be any damage to this person by this unauthorized reference? A simple whisper concerning someone who is “in the market” can cause that individual a great deal of downstream difficulty. Always make certain that the H/R department has this candidate signed-off for permission to reference check.

Written letters of reference are without much merit in industry unless they are followed up with additional information gleaned through correspondence or directly via phone. It absolutely amazes me that some companies are satisfied with a written letter of reference. As my past experience as shown, absolutely anyone can provide letters of reference. Think about some of the things that you have written in earlier letters and you’ll recognize why phone contact is the way to go.

With third party references, quality varies tremendously. All recruiters will provide references upon request, but most often these are of the light industry trade reference variety. The search firm will go deeper with your prodding, providing several pages of detail from numerous sources and adding their own editorial opinion to the mix as well. But you’ll need to give them advice on the questions you’d like asked, and how deep to go. Generally, any recruiter—contingency or retained—who has earned your company’s trust is not going to provide references that are manipulated. However, even when you have these references in your hands, it often pays to do some follow-up of your own. At the minimum, suggest a few special questions that need to be asked by your recruiter in order to clarify any concerns.

Another type of third party reference that you can have conducted would be the in-depth personal background check, and while there are plenty of Internet companies that offer this service, only a few of them are trusted and stand out. Take your H/R department’s advice on this one! Most often, companies seek validation of employment dates and salaries, qualifications, and education. These are certainly very legit areas of need when making hiring decisions.

Threat of reference checking
An interesting read is a book by Dr. Bradford Smart called “The Smart Interviewer.” While Dr. Smart’s book makes the interviewing process a bit too scientific in my opinion, it does have a great section on the reference checking process. Smart believes, and I would concur, that the real effect of the reference checking process comes at the moment of truth in the interview—when you candidly tell the candidate that they can expect to be referenced-checked—and that this will occur as a matter of course. Smart calls this idea the TORC process, which stands for “threat of a reference check.”

TORC has the effect of getting your interview conversations on the straight and narrow. Salesman suddenly think twice about those inflated sales numbers, and prospective employees of all levels carefully monitor the dates and job titles that they discuss with you that day. It can also add a refreshing twist to the salary discussion that comes before an offer, because when a prospective employee knows that the new company will verify earnings with the previous employer, the “current earnings” question becomes a non-issue. Whether the company intends to do so or not is really not as important as the fact that the candidate is reminded of this possibility at a strategic time.

One great interview question, recommended by Smart—our firm has used this question for several years with great success—is: “What is your best guess about what your supervisor thought at the time were your strengths, weaker points, and overall performance?” Coming after the reminder of TORC, it puts your candidates in a very open frame of mind.

Reference call checklist
Before making contact with your final candidate’s references, think about these things. First off, does the H/R department know that you are checking references and do they have a signed statement from the candidate saying that it is OK to do so? One of the most unethical things you can do to someone who has responded favorably to an opening at your end—but who is still employed elsewhere—is to conduct an unauthorized “back door” reference. You know what I mean, to call a person you know who works with that individual, and ask about him or her “in confidence.”

Secondly, have you gone back to your colleagues and supervisor regarding this candidate to determine whether there are special questions that must be asked in order to clarify or diminish any objections from their viewpoint? There might be something that’s very important to the regulatory team but which you wouldn’t have even considered asking about in a reference.

Also, make sure you have an agenda that will get you in an out of the conversation with what you need in less than 15 minutes, because at that stage, most references will grow very weary and in some organizations you are asking them to provide an unauthorized personal reference. Many companies do not allow their managers to give references. While this is the “company line” in many organizations, most managers will close their door and spend a few minutes with you by phone. But you’ve got to be brief!

One of the most valuable parts of the telephone reference gathering process is to listen for the subtle change in tone or wording that comes when someone is trying to say something that they can’t really discuss openly. They may even be doing this subconsciously. This can relay volumes about how that person really feels. Don’t simply gather notes like words on paper. Listen to what that person is really saying.

In many life sciences companies, managers have well-developed antennae for the hiring process. They can spot a good hire in a short period of time. These folks hire by a combination of gut feeling and instinct. The best managers, however, combine that gut instinct with outside information gathered through the reference checking process. It doesn’t hurt to sharpen this particular tool in the manager’s toolbox!