Reference Check for Employment
Checking references of potential employees is one of the painful parts of hiring. Admit it: You probably do a poor job of it. If you are like most employers you will check references last, after you have already convinced yourself to hire the candidate. Everyone you talk to says nice things about the potential employee and rarely provides you insights on whether you have a 10x quality talent or just another mediocre worker. Here are some hacks to help you identify the best hires quickly in the hiring process.
Contents
Steps
Quick Reject Hack
Try this hack to quickly identify people not worth deep referencing.
- Get the office phone numbers or emails of the list of references you want to check. Call them at night when you know they will not be answering the phone.
- Leave the following voice mail or email for each person on the list: "I'm considering hiring John and I know you have worked with him in the past. I know you are an exceptionally busy person and I don't want you to spend unnecessary time on a reference check. So please only return this call if you think John is one of the most exceptional people you have ever worked with. My number is 212-555-1212. Thanks for listening."
- Track the percentage of people who call you back. If several people fail to call you back, you can safely decide that you should not proceed with hiring this candidate.
Ask the Hard Questions
- Start off asking the standard easy questions that any reference check should have:
- When did Mike work at your company and what did he do?
- What were Mike's largest accomplishments at the company?
- How did he get along with other people on the team?
- Continue asking more standard questions, but be sure to ask the "obvious" things that you think you already know about:
- Did Mike report directly to you for his entire time at the company? Whom else did he report to?
- To the best of your knowledge did Mike leave your company of his own volition? Or was he asked to leave?
- How would Mike perform in your boss's role?
- Proceed into hard questions. This can be uncomfortable and should typically be reserved for later in the call when you have hopefully developed some rapport with the person you are calling. While these questions may one squirm a bit, they have the highest odds of exposing crucial information you need before you make your hiring decision:
- Mike seems great to us, but everyone has weaknesses. What are his?
- What were some of the setbacks Mike encountered at your company? How did he handle them?
- If I hire Mike and you hear later that I ended up firing him, without knowing any more, why would you guess I let him go?
- Mike is proud of what he accomplished on the Alaska project. Can you describe to me exactly what his role on that project was? And what the role of others on the team were?
Tips
- Referencing typically happens at the end of the process when you are fatigued from interviewing multiple candidates. You simply aren't ready to hear bad information about the person you want to hire. Confirmation bias kicks in and you make a bad hire because you weren't looking closely enough for the signs. Before you hire, mentally prepare yourself to not make a decision until after furious referencing.
- Spend a large amount of time referencing. It's hard, but it is the best signal of quality in the hiring process. It is impossible to tell if someone is a 10x talent in a 2 hour interview, but it is possible with 6 hours of deep referencing.
- Use LinkedIn, Facebook or other social networks to call people who weren't provided on the "approved list" of references from the candidate. Everyone on the "approved list" will likely say good things. That is why they are on the list.
Warnings
- Never, ever outsource referencing to a recruiter. Recruiters incentive is to close the deal and make the hire. They are more likely than you to fall for the positive biases inherent in referencing.
- Asking hard questions and calling people not on the approved list of references may raise eyebrows. Be sure not to push it so hard you harm the relationships or reputation of the candidate you are trying to recruit.
