If You Don’t Check References, Don’t Complain About Poor Hires

2004-03-15   email this article to a friend.

I\'ve been in business for over 24 years, and have probably had close to 100 different employees work for me in professional roles. Yet I can count on two hands the number of reference calls I\'ve received -- and most of those were from other employment agencies. Not a single reference check that I have fielded was, in my opinion, a quality effort displaying any real skill or intent to draw out critical information about the candidate.

For some reason, employers in Montana almost never check references before they hire. The very few that do tend to do a superficial and ineffective job. Rather than asking penetrating queries that reach beyond the applicant\'s \"resume facade,\" they generally ask softball questions that lead the reference into responding with broad generalities and only positive comments.

I think what is often happening is that the caller is going through a reference check ritual and nothing more. The company is so anxious to hire the individual that they ask leading questions that yield the answers they want to hear -- even to the point of putting words in the former employer\'s mouth. Worse yet, they\'ll expect the reference to lead the conversation, by throwing out some non-directed, generalized question like \"so, tell me what kind of employee Mary Smith was.\" If there are any shortcomings or performance concerns, the caller really doesn\'t want to know about them, if that’s the kind of question they’re posing.

The state Job Service does not check references. But sad to say, the calls I\'ve gotten from other private employment services around the state were no better quality than the reference checks described above. A private agency should be able to sell its services, in part, on the assurance that they have \"thoroughly checked references\" on all their referrals. From my experience, these calls have been anything but thorough. I was left with the impression that the caller was simply going down a list, marking off the references so the claim could be made, \"all her references were checked.\" (This is not the way we check references at Career concepts!)

Let\'s set back to the basics for a moment. Why should employers or human resource managers check references? As a formality or the confirmation of a hiring decision already made? Or is the purpose of checking references to ferret out information about the candidate -- pro or con -- that can only be revealed by candid conversations with people who have observed, first hand, the performance and behavioral patterns of the candidate in the work place? If your answer is \"formality,\" read no further, because the advice I\'m about to give won\'t be of use to you. But if you really want to uncover as much pertinent information on a candidate as you can, as a vital part of the pre-hire evaluation process, then the following tips may be of great value.

(1) Develop standardized questions for a given position you are
filling, so each candidate\'s reference data can be readily compared
with the others\'.

(2) Concentrate on calling former employers who have a direct
knowledge of the candidate\'s skills and work habits. -- even if that
employer is not listed by the applicant as a reference. Avoid talking
with co-workers who, in many cases, are just personal friends of the
applicant.

(3) Approach the reference in a friendly manner, and assure them of confidentiality. Explain that getting candid and complete answers are in the candidate’s own best interests. Acknowledge that they are probably a great person, but the question you are trying to answer is if they are well-fitted to your particular position. It would be tragic to hire them to a position that doesn\'t suit them. That\'s why candid reference information is so important.

(4) Start with simple, easy to answer questions to warm the reference up, e.g., verification of employment dates, wage rate, job title, etc.

(5) Often a good way to ramp things up is to then refer to the candidate\'s resume or employment application, and read the description given of their job responsibilities with the company. Ask if the statements are accurate and complete, or if there is anything they would like to add or correct.

(6) Then move into questions that require more subjective analysis on the part of the reference. To increase the reference\'s comfort level, I like to use \"softeners\" that make them feel better about giving you an honest answer. Here are some examples of probing questions softened with an introductory sentence:

\"There is no such thing as a perfect employee, just as there is no such thing as a perfect job. Relative to her work for you, in what areas would you say Mary Smith\'s performance was less than perfect?\"

\"I\'ve never seen a work place situation where all employees got along equally well. In Mary Smith\'s case, what kind of co-workers did she have a certain amount of difficulty with?\"

\"Even the best employees can sometimes respond poorly to certain styles of management. What kind of manager might bring out a poor performance on the part of Mary Smith?\"

\"Different things demotivate different people. What did you observe were demotivating factors with Mary Smith?\" How was she able to overcome them?

Nobody has a perfect attendance record. What factors contributed to
Mary Smith\'s missing or being late to work? On average, how many times a month was she absent, or did she come in late or leave early?\"

You get the idea. Try out your own softeners. You\'ll find that they often loosen up a reluctant reference and allow you to delve deeper with follow-up questions.

What do you do if a key reference is putting you off and will not return your calls? My suggestion is a voice mail message or even a written letter that puts the monkey on the employer\'s back. Let him/her know that you have several job candidates in mind, and Mary Smith will have to be eliminated from consideration if you can\'t get a reference from him. That usually prompts a response.

From what I\'ve just described, it sounds like effective reference checking can be hard work. It can. But it’s well worth it, when you consider the time, cost and grief you visit on yourself whenever you hire the wrong person. My advice? Regardless of the position, check references every time .