Interviewing the Referees as well as the Candidate

So too often, employers or hiring managers will conduct the final interviews, finalise their choice of candidate and then look to do the reference checks - almost as a final, but inconsequential hurdle. Or how good is it when you hear the interviewer say at the end of an interview, "ok, we're just going to call your referees". That's "job talk" for "you've got the job, unless ofcourse your referees tell us your an axe murderer!"

The problem here is that the decision maker has already invested a considerable amount of time by this stage, so they really don't want to find out anything bad. They would rather have the process compromised, than have to go back  to their second or third choice, or even back to the pool of candidates and have to invest additional time.

Conversely, those who view the reference check as a serious part of the recruitment process will often call the referees before narrowing the shortlist to a handful of candidates. By making the reference check like an interview, and talking to referees of 4 or 5 of the candidates, they approach this crucial step with a completely different mindset.

Ofcourse, this argument needs to be weighed up against the thought of needlessly bothering an applicant's referees, and also the fact that numerous phone calls is a time consuming task. I still think though that a different mindset needs to be adopted in the case of checking references, from what has been the traditional approach.

When talking with referees, it's not enough to ask them if they liked Tommy, or if Tommy was a good worker who always came to work on time. Just like a candidate interview, referees need to be asked a structured and standard list of probing questions. Questions should take into the account the required competencies of the new role, along with probes into the candidate's personal traits, such as: how they get along with others, general intelligence, how hard they work and their productivity, punctuality, and even their level of sophistication. If the candidate is going for a leadership role, I also suggest talking with their former team members, over whom they had direct management responsibility, thereby getting a better idea of their leadership abilities.

Reference checks help us to join the dots following our interviews and psychometric testing of candidates. They should be seen as an important tool in the selection process, not just as a rubber stamp of our "gut-feel"