Recruiting the wrong person is costly to any business. Checking references is crucial for increasing your chances of finding the best candidate.
Before picking up the phone to contact a candidate’s references, take your time to properly outline the questions you will ask, and making a list is essential. This can vary depending on the person you will speak to, and be careful not to ask any questions relating to the candidate’s private life, sexual orientation or family status.
Starting the discussion with factual questions allows the person to feel at ease and to later give more accurate and detailed answers to more subjective questions, as opposed to using the latter from the get go.
Auditing matters
To begin with, it is important to learn about the person giving the reference: What is their position? What is their relationship in regards to the applicant? How long have they worked together? What projects have they collaborated on? Where they the one that had initially recruited the candidate?
The temptation to embellish reality is strong for many candidates. All the information in a candidate’s resume or that given during the interview must be validated: the job title, their responsibilities but also the length of the employment.
Next level questions
It is also of interest for the recruiter to learn about the candidate’s so-called “soft-skills”: leadership abilities, teamwork conduct, remaining professional under pressure, performing tasks quickly, following instructions, taking initiative, … Even if the candidate is honest, these skills are difficult to assess during interviews. Having the opportunity to talk to someone who has worked with the applicant is valuable information to you.
To get a better idea of the candidate, it’s important to ask references to support their answers with specific examples and relevant numbers. An employee’s speed levels or interpersonal skills may vary from one company to another.
Another factor to consider: the company’s values and organizational culture. A candidate may have been considered a little reserved by a former supervisor working in the world of advertising, while at an accounting firm, they may be delighted to welcome a new employee who will exercise restraint and discretion.
Before concluding
Would you hire this person again? That is THE most essential piece of information you will want to have, and this should not be overlooked. It may be difficult to ask, but it forces the listener to be sincere and gives an overall assessment of the candidate.
It is also interesting to ask the reference if there is something about the candidate that has not yet been discussed but perhaps should be. This is an excellent way to make sure that nothing important about the candidate, even something we didn’t think of, has been left out!