Solving the Reference Checking Puzzle, Part II
By: George Lenard
Know who to ask and what to ask when it comes time to check references.
When it comes to checking references, what is most important is that your procedure be well-prepared, thorough, and consistent. Find something that works for you, and stick with it. (For more on reference-checking, also see last month's column.)
Be organized and persistent, and devote sufficient resources to the task
Early in the hiring process, contact several references for each applicant.Accordingly, you will often be in the midst of communicating with multiple references on multiple applicants at the same time.
Telephone calls are the most effective means of getting useful information - and sometimes also the most frustrating. Those contacted are often not particularly eager to return reference calls because of their own busy agendas, so be persistent. Stay well-organized and carefully document reference checking efforts. From my lawyer's viewpoint, a documented reference-checking dead end can be as valuable defensively as specific information obtained, as it shows you made reasonable efforts. Thorough phone logs, including date and time of all messages left, can be invaluable.
Who should conduct reference checks?
Some experts feel quite strongly that human resources departments should not conduct reference checks. Instead, they feel this task should be performed by someone involved in managing or supervising the operation with the opening.
Operations-level contacts are believed more likely to yield useful information because they will be less intimidating to the reference, and there may be a natural camaraderie between managers when talking to their counterparts in another company. This person may also be better prepared to discuss and understand specific job requirements and the corresponding skills and experience desired.
While operations-level managers may be best suited to handle more extensive conversations, verification of basic information about the employee is a very suitable task for human resources, or an outsourced firm.
Undoubtedly, many will insist that the entire task is a crucial human resources function and that no one else is qualified to do it. At a minimum, keeping reference checking as an HR function provides clear benefits in terms of standardization of the process and centralized review of the information gathered, which can be important from an equal employment opportunity law perspective.
In the end, the best answer will vary depending on the company. You may wish to experiment a bit with both approaches.
Should you outsource reference checking?
You may realize significant savings and benefits from outsourcing reference checking, particularly if the volume of this work is more than incidental or occasional, but not enough to occupy a full-time employee. On the other hand, if you conclude the advantages of manager-to-manager contacts as described above are significant enough, outsourcing is clearly not an option.
If you outsource reference checking, be sure to follow the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which governs third-party investigations. It has fairly detailed consent and disclosure requirements.
Who to contact
For each reference, it is important to identify and the document depth of their personal knowledge about the applicant. Preferably, references should have supervised, observed, received, and/or reviewed the applicant's work.
Current employers. Often, the best applicants are still employed and their employers are unaware they are job hunting. They therefore prefer to avoid such contacts.
Former employers. In most cases, you will need to contact previous employers or personal references. Depending on how much time has passed, the trail may be quite cold on previous employers. Some "detective work" may be required to track down owners of defunct small businesses or former supervisors who have themselves moved on. Good Internet research skills can be helpful for this.
Temporary workers. Another situation that may require "detective work" is if the applicant worked at the previous company as a temporary, independent contractor, or other contingent worker. The previous employer named may indicate that they have no record of any such employee. Before concluding that the applicant provided fraudulent information, ask the employer if the contingent worker situation is a possible explanation and confront the applicant with this response.
Managers, not HR. Since human resource departments develop restrictive policies on responding to reference requests, they are the least likely source for detailed, qualitative information. Instead, tap them for basic employment verification.
Named references. References provided by the applicant can be expected to provide favorable information. Still, go ahead and contact them. You can then dig deeper by ending with a request for the names of others to contact about the applicant. In particular, someone no longer with that company may speak more freely.
Take glowing recommendations from references named by the applicant with a grain of salt. However, this group may also provide more details about the applicant's duties and training than you would obtain from an HR contact.
Unnamed references. Sometimes the best references are people you know who work or worked for a previous employer of the applicant, including some of your current employees.
Questions to ask
Asking good questions, in the right sequence, will help yield the maximum useful information. Legally, it is desirable to ask the same basic questions about all applicants, to the extent possible, recognizing that you will get farther down your checklist with some references than with others.
Start with the easiest questions, the "verification" ones. Then move from these basics into more detailed objective facts drawn from the application or resume, or from your job requirements. Verification of the nature of work performed is something many references may be quite comfortable with, provided you hold off on seeking evaluative judgments.
Sometimes resumes can overstate past experiences, even without meaning to. Taking an example from my experience hiring legal secretaries, a resume might say the applicant "prepared pleadings." I want to know whether she typed pleadings from an attorney's dictation (which would more modestly be described as "legal transcription"), or independently created them from scratch (normally attorney or paralegal work). If the latter, I might be impressed, but would be concerned she would not be happy, since I would not be assigning her such independent work. On the other hand, if I was looking for someone to do such higher-level work, I'd like to know how often she did it (once or twice may be enough for some applicants to feel comfortable putting a task on a resume).
Next you can move into more evaluative questions by starting with positives, like "what were her strong points as an employee"? Refusal or hesitation to respond to such questions may be a strong "red flag."
Experts also suggest seeking evaluative information by asking references to rate performance on a 1-to-10 scale and/or asking if they would hire the applicant again. Alternatively, try a simple thumbs-up or down on whether performance was "satisfactory."
Follow up questions should seek specific examples to support generalizations.
Some other specific areas for questions to save for later in the conversation:
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Attendance and punctuality
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Communication skills
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Interpersonal skills (getting along with supervisors, coworkers, customers)
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Leadership skills
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Working independently
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Creativity
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Initiative (self-starter)
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Overall work ethic (hard worker)
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Pay and benefits
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Reason for leaving
In closing, ask an open-ended question like: "Is there anything else that would help me make a hiring decision?"
Of course, often you will not get all the way through your list, but have it prepared anyway. You might get lucky. Don't forget to take good notes.
