Reference Checking - The Final Frontier

After weeks of resume reviews, hours of interviews, and spending countless sleepless nights second-guessing yourself, you have finally decided on making an offer to a candidate who you feel can make a real difference to your firm.

Not so fast. You have one more critical hurtle to overcome . . . reference checking.

Hiring someone without doing a thorough and thoughtful reference check is foolhardy. There is probably no better way of improving the odds of making a truly successful hiring decision than by finding out as much as you can about a potential employee before you actually bring them on board.

That said, it has become harder than ever to get this important insight in today's litigious business environment. In all likelihood, you will find yourself getting little more than cursory verification of a person's dates of employment (if that!). Nonetheless, the costs associated with making a bad hire are so high that making the extra effort to get through to people who might be willing to give you some additional insight into a candidate's work related skills will be worth the time and energy expended on the project.

Start with the obvious

The easiest (and usually the least helpful) call to make is a general inquiry to the candidate's former employers. In most cases, you will speak with the HR department. These professionals have been well coached to say as little as possible. This is understandable. Firms can be sued for saying just about anything . . . good or bad . . . about a former employee. However, it is important to verify the dates of employment, job titles, and salary. You may be required to request this information in writing. If so, explain that the hiring decision is time-sensitive and a delay may result in your being unable to offer the position to the candidate. It might help expedite the situation. For the most part, you can consider these types of calls a success if you are able to get the "dates/duties/dollars" information in a timely matter.

It goes without saying that you must never call the candidate's present employer without their expressed (and written) permission. It does happen that the information you get does not match up with the data provided by the candidate. If so, speak with the candidate immediately to get clarification. It is just not time-efficient to proceed any further if this basic information cannot be properly reconciled. Once you have verified the employment history and associated data, you can move on to checking the names given to you by the potential new hire. Here is where the real story usually emerges.

The Name Game

Needless to say, the references supplied by the candidate will not be very helpful from an informational standpoint. You can be virtually certain that these people will give glowing assessments of the individual as that they have been selected for just that purpose by the candidate (although one entry level candidate gave his mother as a reference and when called, the best she could say was, "I'm sure he will straighten out when he gets a job!) The goal is to move beyond the given names.

Create a Reference Pyramid

You must call the names given by the candidate as they can provide a starting point for a more thorough investigation. During the course of the conversation in which you will ask the standard questions such as confirming dates of employment, the salary and the person's ability while on the job, steer the conversation in a way that will get additional names to speak with. For example, ask the reference who was the candidate's direct supervisor or even the name of a person they worked with or supervised on a project. It is often far more illuminating to speak with a person that the candidate supervised to get a feeling for their leadership and inter-personal abilities. In much the same way that you network to find a job, think of the candidate-supplied reference as the top of an expanding pyramid of names to contact. Try to get at least two additional people to speak with at every call. The common denominator to all the names will be people who have direct experience with the candidate . . . in any capacity.


What to Ask

In almost all cases, people will most likely be reticent to offer negative opinions. They don't want to stand in the way of a person moving on. Even if they genuinely dis-liked the person, they will no longer be working with them and in some cases, they can facilitate the departure by painting a more favorable portrait of their worst nemesis. Reassure anyone you speak with that their comments will be held in confidence and mean it. Ask questions that are work-related. Did they meet deadlines? Were they able to budget their time well? Did they go the extra mile when needed? Expect to hear some level of 'sour grapes' especially if the candidate's departure was unexpected. In fact, the more disappointed a company was to have the person leave, the more likely it is that the candidate was particularly valuable. It is worth considering the nature of the separation. Did the candidate act professionally, providing adequate notice? Be sure to factor in the emotional aspect of an employee's leaving as it can color both the candidate's version of the story as well as the prior employer's.

When to Ask

It is sometimes difficult for a person to be completely candid when in the work environment, so you may find it worthwhile to suggest speaking with a reference source after working hours or even in person. Face to face meetings are particularly valuable when filling a high level position in your company. If you are successful in organizing a one-on-one meeting, keep the conversation informal. Do not take notes or record the meeting no matter how tempting it might be to do so. It will profoundly diminish the candor that would otherwise be possible in such a setting.

Adding It All Up

You should not consider your job of reference checking complete until you have verified the 'hard data' (the dates/dollars/duties) and have spoken with at least two individuals (one person not provided by the candidate). The more senior level the position, the more people you should be speaking to. There are professional services that investigate aspects of a candidate's life beyond the workplace. In most cases, this is probably not necessary but for highly sensitive jobs, such services are probably money well spent. You should be cognizant to other issues such as bonding requirements that may require additional levels of inquiry as part of the pre-hiring process.

As mentioned before, it is not unusual to discover some negative commentary about a candidate. This type of information must be weighed in the context of its source and the situation. Red flags should go up when issues about honesty are raised and if egregious conduct is discovered. These types of discoveries mandate additional inquiry to get to the truth so you can make a reasoned hiring decision.

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