While working as a Recruitment Manager one of my favourite questions to ask prospective ‘recruiter candidates’ was, what is your take on Reference checks – are they time savers or time wasters?
The answer was generally the cookie cutter response that the prospective recruiter thinks you want to hear, ‘oh yes, they are imperative to validate a candidate’s work experience and ethics’ or sometimes, to my surprise, they would answer with, ‘absolute waste of time, send out an email from a 3rd party and be done with it!’
It’s interesting because like everything in life, you get out, what you put in. I’ve certainly wasted my own time treating it as ‘just another step’ in the recruitment journey, particularly when you are in a rush to deliver results. But over the years I’ve found that it can be a valuable tool in a recruiter’s belt when used well. Here are a couple of useful ways that have improved my experiences with reference checks.
1. Bring the Reference Check to the front of your prospective candidate’s mind.
In the best-selling recruitment book by Bradford Smart, Topgrading – recommends to bring in the reference check process before your first interview with the candidate.
It can be done in the initial phone call to set up interview or in follow up email (or ideally both) but you want to be able to walk into the first interview with the names of the two most recent supervisors.
In the interview, when you ask the old favourite, ‘what is an area of development that you are working on?’ Then you ask the question again but from supervisor position, i.e.
“Now I note that you’ve mentioned that at your last role as a Business Development Manager for Johnson Mining, Michael Boston was your supervisor. When I call Michael as part of the reference checking process, what will Michael say your greatest weakness was?”
Now I’ve done this a few times and I can tell you for some candidates it’s like you’ve slapped them in the face with a wet fish. It certainly sobers the room up.
2. Due your due diligence
Yes I know that you can get the name of their best mate at work who is going to give them a glowing reference. It is certainly up to you the recruiter/hiring manager to do your due diligence and validate the information…
A quick LinkedIn search should reveal everything. If something doesn’t add up – it is up to you to be direct with the candidate. If something seems off, it probably is and you need to get to the bottom of it so you can make an informed decision as to whether you want to proceed with this person. If they can misrepresent a reference check – what else are they willing to cover up?
3. Customise that old reference check template for the role and the individual
Yes that’s right, don’t just ask the same 6 questions every time without thought or regard for the role and the individual that you’ve just had a one on one hour long interview with.
Think about what concerns you had in the interview and ask the questions to the person who managed that individual.
While you are at it also take some time to consider – what are the three (3) most important attribute/skill/experiences you need in this role and tailor a couple of questions according to this. It doesn’t mean scraping your tried and tested reference check template, it does mean adding on a couple of questions for each candidate.
The Takeaway
You will only get the opportunity to talk to the ex boss of your potential new employer once. This is a gem of an opportunity to peep under the covers and get to know some insider knowledge that you will otherwise be blind to.
By adding no more than 1 hour to your recruitment process you might just find you save thousands of dollars in the wrong recruit in the months to come. Future you will be very glad you took the time to verify and reference check when you had the chance.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on reference checks – time waster or time saver?
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