Hiring an employee takes a lot of work before and after you’ve found a candidate. One of the steps in the hiring process is checking references. This is oddly one step that some companies skip, but they never should. Checking references can be very informative when hiring a new employee. Read on to learn more.
Key Takeaways
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Reference checks are considered a step in the hiring process, but not everyone does them.
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Reference checks can be very valuable tools if you become skilled at asking questions about their performance and initiative.
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There are certain questions you can’t ask in a reference check to avoid the impression of discrimination.
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Asking the right questions takes skill and a bit of practice.
What Is a Reference Check?
A reference check involves contacting previous employers, supervisors, schools, and people listed by the candidate to learn more about them. People who don’t like to do reference checks say that they don’t provide a lot of information because the candidate picks who to name as references. Proponents of reference checks say that they can be very beneficial if you know how to ask the right questions.
If it’s all about the right questions, let’s dive in.
Reference Check Questions
To make the most of a reference check, you’ll want to go beyond the obvious questions and learn to ask questions that give more information on the candidate, their skills, and the tasks they’ve performed. But there are also some important questions that you need to shy away from when performing a reference check.
What Can You Ask in a Reference Check?
One thing that scares some people away from doing reference checks is that there are questions you definitely need to avoid; much like when you’re performing an interview for a job applicant, you cannot ask any questions about race, religion, age, gender, and sexual orientation. It is illegal to discriminate against anyone based on these factors, so these questions must also be avoided in reference checks.
If you can’t ask those questions, then what can you ask? It’s completely expected that you will ask the reference how long they’ve known the candidate, how they know them, what their work ethic is like, what jobs they’ve done, how they performed the jobs, and how was their ability to learn.
To dive even deeper, it’s a good idea to have them tell you about a time the employee did something. Perhaps you want to know how the employee took the initiative. How they lead a team, or how they dealt with a stressful work situation.
Topics to Avoid in a Reference Check
It takes a little while to get the hang of reference checks, so it pays to go over the topics you should avoid. Try to steer clear of all questions that reference the following.
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Age
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Race
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Religion
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Gender
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Sexual orientation
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Disabilities and health
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Criminal history
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Credit and salary
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Marital status, family, and children
While you may be looking into some of these areas, like criminal history or salary, as part of your background check on the candidate, this is a reference check, and these questions should be avoided here.
Sample Reference Check Questions
Now that you understand what topics to avoid, the following real-work reference check questions can help you prepare.
What is your relationship with the candidate?
How long have you known them, and in what capacity did you interact with them?
What did they do for work when you knew them?
Can you explain what their day-to-day work schedule was like and detail their duties?
How would you assess their ability to learn new tasks?
Can you tell me about a time they took the initiative and led the team?
How have they dealt with challenging work situations in the past?
Were they a leader or a follower in their work dynamic?
Would you call them self-motivated?
What would you say are their biggest strengths?
Can you give me any advice on the best management approach for this candidate?
Is there anything else you can say about this candidate?
One thing to keep in mind when you’re contacting a reference, they might be withholding some information for legal reasons. If an employee was fired, it’s likely that the company’s HR or attorneys have said that you cannot speak to that specific incident.
They’re trying to protect themselves from a lawsuit. If a reference is hesitant to say anything about someone, you might have to do some reading between the lines.
Reference Check FAQ
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Do I need to check the references for all applicants?
No, you don’t need to check the references for all applicants. That said, if you have a handful of final applicants, they need to be treated the same. That means if you’re checking the references for one, you should check them for all. It’s important that you don’t discriminate or even give the impression that you’re discriminating.
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Do I need written consent to call references?
No, there is no law that requires you to have written authorization. In effect, the applicant has given you the references to call and their contact information, so that serves as consent.
While there shouldn’t be an issue on the part of the applicant, there might be issues on the other side of the equation. Some companies do not allow their employees to give reference checks, especially if the applicant has been fired.
It’s best to reach out to them to ask if they will schedule a reference check meeting with you, that way they can make sure it’s approved by the company before they dive into answering questions.
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Is it illegal for companies to give negative reference information?
No, it’s not illegal for companies to give negative information. But they will probably avoid going into specifics to protect themselves, especially if the applicant was fired. Be prepared for the reference to give you a glowing reference or not too much information.
That’s why it’s important to ask open-ended questions that give you insight into their working habits, their initiative, and their ability to learn on the job.
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Who can I contact for a reference source?
Usually, you will contact the references that the applicant has given you. You will likely be given the names of past managers, employers, co-workers, and friends or family as personal references. If you talk to someone and feel that they’re the wrong individual, you can ask if they know someone else that you should speak to.
Author
Kristin Kizer
Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.
