How to conduct reference checks that actually work

Stop cold e-mailing referees and asking them to fill out a generic reference check forms!

This has happened three times to me in the past month: I get a cold e-mail from an unknown HR person asking me to fill out a tedious, generic form by a certain date about someone who nominated me as a referee.

There’s no “This is our recruitment process, but we’d love your help”, “Would you prefer a phone call?” or “When are you reasonably able to do this?”. Sometimes not even a “Thank you” or a simple “Hi Sean”, just a cold, generic and uninspired template e-mail.

And often, no meaningful information about the role either – which makes it impossible to tailor feedback in a way that will most help them assess the candidate’s fit.

Approaching it in this way risks coming across as:

• Discourteous to the referee – as a human with a name, but also as someone who has other things going on in their life beyond this reference check and deadline
• Caring more about what’s easy for the HR procedure than what suits the referee (i.e. sending a form instead of offering a phone call)
• Just going through the motions to tick the box in a procedure, rather than making a meaningful enquiry about the candidate’s fit for the role

Yes, the candidate has (usually) asked the person to act as a referee for them. So in that sense it’s a favour to the candidate.

But the hiring organisation has chosen a referee check as part of its process, because it sees value in it. Hence – it’s also in the organisation’s interests to garner the referee’s wholehearted participation.

A far better approach would involve:

1. Approaching a referee in a friendly and human tone, to ask if they’d mind helping out. And – if so – would they prefer to provide their responses by return e-mail or in a conversation
2. Tailoring and focussing the reference-checking questions based on the given role. And, if you’re down to the final candidate, tailor it to the specific fit between that candidate and that role.

For bonus points:

1. If the referee is genuinely indifferent, opt for a phone call, because this allows you to clarify and capture any nuance in their responses
2. If you’re the hiring manager, do it yourself instead of letting HR do it. Getting HR to do it is easy, but you’re the one who will will experience the greatest pain from the wrong choice. It really sucks to get the fit wrong – especially for the candidate, but also for the hiring manager. So do it yourself – this is a chance for you to explore any residual areas of concern regarding the candidate’s fit, rather than relying on secondhand information

Getting reference checks right is just the start

A well-run reference check won’t rescue a weak process upstream. Our free Guide to Recruitment covers all five stages – from defining the role to onboarding your new hire – with 40 practical, science-backed tips for finding the right person, not just the available one.