There’s no doubt it’s harder than ever to get good job references. The pressures of living in a litigious society have stifled the sharing of important information. There is nothing unethical, unfair, or illegal about sharing valid reference information about a former employee, but fear of legal action is a powerful thing. Today’s column is not about being a reference giver, however. It’s about being a tenacious reference-getter.

Though there is a perceived risk that someone who is given a weak or negative reference will sue the reference giver, the incidence of such actions is actually quite low. In contrast, the risk that a candidate for employment will provide inaccurate information that inflates previous pay, overestimates their contribution, and expands their importance is very high. This is why you must work hard to get the references you need, even if some of the reference givers seem reluctant.

Do not waste your reference giver’s time with confirming dates of employment, previous pay, or other specific data related to employment. Chances are, the reference will not have immediate access to that information and will not remember it. Instead, contact the HR department of each previous employer and confirm the data you were given by the applicant. HR departments will rarely offer anything other than a confirm-or-deny response, but that’s all you need from them. Once you complete this call, you are ready to call your references.

Addressing the employment details first with HR serves to disencumber the reference call, because the experience of being asked and answering questions makes most people uncomfortable. You want to be free to have a conversation with the reference and create a climate in which they are more likely to provide the information you need.

There are a handful of questions that you should ask every time you talk to a reference. These can be modified to suit the specifics of the job for which you are hiring, or you can add your own.

1. What were the responsibilities this candidate had while they were employed by you? Always start with this question. It’s an easy one to answer, it’s nonjudgmental, and it allows the reference giver to gather their thoughts about the candidate – with whom they might not have worked in some time.

2. Is the candidate more independent or more of a team player? This is another good question to ask early in the interview, because unless the reference has strong opinions about whether one or the other is ‘better’, it is a nonjudgmental question. The answer, however, is important to you, though if you don’t know whether the role for which you are hiring requires independence, teamwork, or both, the answer will be meaningless.

3. How did the candidate get along with peers? How did they get along with subordinates? How did they get along with management? If you just ask “how did the candidate get along with people,” you won’t uncover any potentially interesting patterns with regard to authority, competitiveness, or power. So look for relationship behavior clues by asking the question in three parts.

4. How would you describe the candidate’s performance related to  ________________.  Fill in the blank with a characteristic that is important to the role for which the candidate is being considered. You may ask this question as many times as you have specific characteristics to explore.

5. How would you describe this candidate’s dependability? Look for responses to both their attendance and their ability to get things done. If the reference only answers to one of those issues, prompt for the other.

6. Did the candidate meet their business objectives, and can you describe a specific accomplishment? The reason you are asking this as a two-part question is that it is too easy for the reference to say, “oh, yes, yes, they met their objectives.” If the reference has to think about specifics, they will provide you with a less superficial answer.

7. How did the candidate respond to your efforts to suggest or assist with professional or personal development? And what types of professional or personal development were recommended during their employment? You are looking for whether or not the candidate is likely to be open to input from you and whether they value opportunities for improvement. There’s nothing more difficult than hiring someone who isn’t open to learning or changing.

8. How would you describe this candidate’s strengths? If the reference only offers you one strong quality, prompt for a second, or even a third if you think the call is going well enough to dig a little deeper.

9. How would you describe your management style, and how did the candidate respond to your style? This question is most helpful when you have asked it of multiple references for the same candidate. Comparing the answers can provide a fairly holistic picture of how a candidate responds to being managed.

10. Why did the candidate leave your employment? Many times the answer given by a reference will differ slightly from the answer given by the candidate, but when you compare them you can see that they are two perspectives of the same issue, or that the candidate was possibly unwilling to tell their former employer the whole truth. Don’t assume dishonesty if the answers are different. Look for how the two parties could genuinely believe what they believe. But clearly, if an employer says the candidate was fired or asked to find alternate employment, and the candidate hasn’t told you this, it’s a red flag.

11. Now take a moment to describe the position for which you are considering the candidate. What you will describe will be the basic responsibilities and the key expected outcomes of the job. Think about this carefully before you call – too often people don’t know how to describe a job succinctly, and the description drags on. Once you have described the position, ask: Do you think the candidate is a good fit for the job I have described? Make sure you probe their answer to understand why or why not if they don’t offer the reasoning behind their answer.

12. Would you hire this candidate again? Everyone sort of expects this question, and if they are giving a negative reference, they are probably dreading it. But your conversation so far will have made it much easier for them to answer honestly. Make sure you probe for why or why not if they don’t offer that information.

13. Based on the information I shared with you, should I hire this candidate?  This is always an interesting question to ask. Some references won’t answer just because they don’t like to speculate in that way. But there’s no harm in asking it, and the answers can be quite insightful.

14. Is there anything I haven’t asked that you think I should have?

Set aside enough time to make reference calls, and make sure that you are relaxed and in comfortable control of the discussion. There is nothing more awkward – speaking from the perspective of someone who has given numerous references – than being called and asked for a reference, only to find out the caller is unprepared to manage the conversation!

Don’t let one great reference tempt you into not calling the others. Reference checks are most valuable when you can compare and contrast the responses, and it is highly likely that the references have had different experiences, even if the differences are subtle.

There are few things more important than the quality of the individuals you hire. Most hiring managers understand the importance of careful resume review, good interviews, and background checks. But the process can not be considered complete without reference checks, because the reference check is generally the only avenue you have to investigate and confirm the candidate’s claims.

(c) 2007, Andrea M. Hill