Running a Reference Check: A Guide for Hiring Managers

Updated August 16, 2024

If you’ve ever chosen the wrong person for a key role, don’t worry. It’s happens. But we all know the value of finding great employees and their impact on the success of your business. Part of successfully vetting candidates is checking references during the hiring process. How do you do it well to make hiring easy for your team? Let’s dig into how you can streamline your reference checks to help make great hires from here on out.

What is a reference check?

A common part of the hiring process is to check references to gain additional insight into a candidate’s skills, experience, and qualifications. You’ve probably had your references checked or been a reference at some stage in your career. It’s typically a hiring manager, HR, or the talent acquisition team reaching out to a candidate’s list of references such as former colleagues, managers, or other professional connections. They can help you learn more about the applicant or reveal more about their culture fit for your company.

What’s the Difference Between a Reference Check and a Background Check?

A reference check is like getting insights or a second opinion from someone who knows the candidate well. It’s a chance to hear about their work habits, work styles, collaboration, EQ, and how they might fit into your team culture. On the other hand, a background check is more like a fact-finding mission based on things like their ID, birth date, or social security number. They’re designed to dig into a candidate’s past to verify criminal records, education, or credit—and make sure they’re who they say they are.

Why Can a Reference Check Be Important?

Reference checks provide a first-hand account of how a candidate functions in the workplace. While you primarily base your hiring decisions on interviews, resumes, and cover letters, a reference check can help provide more context for each candidate. They can validate your decisions—or encourage you to consider other options.

While their resume and interview can provide you with helpful information about their qualifications, these application materials may not give you the full picture of their workplace performance. Gathering the perspectives of their employers, team members, or supervisors can provide you with a holistic understanding of their skill level and how they communicate. This can help you envision how they’d perform in their role and fit in with your current team. If you work with a staffing agency, chances are they’ll complete the reference checks for you or streamline the hiring process to make it smooth and easy for you to complete them.

References may not be appropriate for all candidates or roles. They may also simply not be an option for a new graduate or someone shifting careers or relocating to a new part of the world. It’s up to you to know what you need to feel confident in your hiring decisions.

Benefits of Doing Reference Checks

Adding reference checks to your hiring process can have a direct impact on the quality of the candidates you hire. Think of them as another perspective on how that candidate performed in a previous job or the impact they;ve had before working with you. These would include things like:

Verifying qualifications: Checking in with a candidate’s references can help you clarify any questions you had after the interview about how they work or past performance.
Assessing culture fit: Getting an understanding of how a candidate interacts in the workplace can help you determine if they’re a good match for your company culture.

However, how you complete a reference check can influence the information you receive. So, how can you make sure it’s being done thoroughly and accurately without becoming too time-consuming?

Some Best Practices for Checking References

It’s helpful to have a standardized process for checking references. This ensures that you’re providing a consistent hiring process for your candidates across the organization. It also streamlines the process and enables you to have productive conversations with each reference.

Here are a few best practices to consider for the process.

1. Explain to Candidates That You Check References

Be upfront with candidates by sharing that reference checks are part of your hiring process. Some employers don’t check references, so letting each candidate know that you do so can expedite the process—giving them time to prepare a list and advise their contacts that you’ll be reaching out. A candidate will rarely want their current employer to know they’re looking for another job. By advising the applicants that you’ll be needing references to make an offer, they have the opportunity to consider whose names to share with you and find out how they best prefer to be contacted (phone, email, etc.).

2. Follow Up on Interview Responses

To ask more effective questions, think about the information you gathered during your interview. For example, if a candidate mentioned working on a specific project, you could ask their reference about the outcome, communication skills, or a process they implemented. If you’re speaking to a former colleague, inquire about how the candidate collaborates across teams or their work style. If the reference is someone who knows the candidate from their volunteer work or public service, you can learn more about how they partner with others or build coalition.

It can also be helpful to ask open-ended questions since this encourages the reference to speak freely about the candidate’s skills and expertise. If the candidate mentioned their leadership skills, you could ask the manager to share an example of the time they displayed those skills along with vision, strategy, and influence. This is all to try to get great qualitative information about the candidate.

3. Use a Standard Format

Creating a process that you use for every candidate can make it easier for you to standardize the reference check process. It also gives you a consistent way to document the responses of each reference, helping you stay organized. You could include basic information about the candidate and any core questions you ask to every reference. You can also add a custom section to document the unique questions you create based on each candidate’s application details.

Example Reference Check Questions

While each role’s requirements and the candidate’s application materials will warrant different questions, here are a few questions to get started:

How do you know the candidate?
Describe the candidate’s primary responsibilities.
Tell me about the candidate’s strengths or areas for improvement.
Can you tell me about a time when the candidate overcame a challenge or had to hear negative feedback?
Where might the candidate need support when transitioning to this role?

If the role requires specific expertise or certifications, be sure to include questions addressing how they used those skills in past roles.

4 Flags to Watch For

Typically, candidates provide references from people they’ve had a good working relationship with and can honestly support their applications. However, there are a few warning signs that you may come across during the reference check process:

Negative references: If a candidate’s reference doesn’t have positive feedback, you may want to take a step back and reassess.
References that are too good to be true: A good reference provides a holistic, balanced view of a candidate.
General answers that could apply to anyone: If the contact doesn’t have much to say or is vague, they may not be sharing the full story.
Inconsistencies in an application: Getting contradictory information from a candidate and their reference can indicate something’s not quite right.

If any of these situations occur, consider the information in the full context of the application. You may decide to proceed with other candidates or schedule a follow-up conversation to learn more.

If you’d like to discuss ways to streamline your hiring process with experts in staffing and recruiting, please get in touch with our Insight Global team today.