The Right Way to Check References
Checking references can be an amazing tool to differentiate between equally qualified applicants, by allowing you more insight into who would best fit the role.
Sadly, checking those references is often left late in the recruitment process – if done at all.
For employers, it can be very difficult, or even close to impossible, to tell what the candidate is like to work with on a day-to-day basis through formal interviews alone. So, any help to discover whether they would fit in with your company’s culture and ethos is a powerful weapon to use.
Since the pandemic there has been a national rise in unemployment, and consequently a huge rise in jobseekers across the UK. As a result, candidates face an oversaturated market with a low number of job vacancies, so there can be huge pressure to try and stand out from the crowd to land a job.
Unfortunately, a knock-on effect of this pressure can often lead to candidates vastly exaggerating their abilities and credentials in the hope of securing an interview with your company. That’s why it’s getting increasingly important to check references to weed out the applicants who have deliberately lied or exaggerated their experience and qualifications.
Not only does this waste valuable time and money but it can also be very damaging for your company’s narrative and image – it could also potentially affect present and future relationships with clients, or partnerships with fellow organisations.
Luckily help is at hand, allowing you to avoid this scenario with a few simple steps!
- When is the best time to start checking?
We suggest you begin checking after the first stage of the interview process. Once you’ve gathered the best applications, the reference checks should be next on your to-do list. Not only is this an excellent way to find out who has exaggerated the truth but also to get a valuable second opinion on the candidate.
Hearing from a previous employer can often give you a true reflection of what makes them tick and whether they are a good fit for your company’s culture. This is especially useful when you have to choose between several candidates with similar qualifications and experiences.
- What’s the best way to do it?
While a written reference is useful due to having a timestamp and being able to reference back to any information given, a phone-call can give a more truthful picture of the applicant.
Of course, this can have issues, such as it can be time-consuming to organise prior to the phone call, but you can also arrange that the applicant helps to set the time with their previous organisation to discuss their work.
- Who’s the best person to speak to?
Their line-manager is the ideal person you would want to speak to, as they will have a true reflection of the candidate personality and work ethic.
They might try to pass you off to HR, but if you are persistent, you should be able to get to the line manager who will be much more likely to give you an honest review of the applicant, their nature, as well as their successes and downfalls within their previous role.
You should strongly avoid any personal references as you are almost certain to get tainted, biased feedback, from someone who has potentially never seen them in a work environment.
If you find they have had no previous work, then contact someone who has worked with them either through volunteering or on an extracurricular basis, such as a previous tutor.
- What should you ask?
The following questions should give you a much more rounded impression of the candidate:
- Dates of employment
- Job title and main responsibilities
- Attendance record and number of days sick leave taken
- Were they were reliable, honest, hardworking etc
- Any disciplinary actions taken against them
- If there are any reasons why they should not be employed
- Stay Legal!
It’s important to understand that you should always have your candidate’s permission to contact referees.
A lot of jobseekers will not want you to contact their employer if they are still in their current employ, so make sure to ask for permission and understand the do’s and don’ts when undertaking references and background checks to stay legal.
Of course, when you work with an expert recruitment agency like Annesley Gandon, we do our own screening and due diligence checks before presenting a candidate, so whilst you still have to undertake your own reference checks, you can be assured that the groundwork for a good reference has already been laid.
If you need any further advice or help with your recruitment needs, please get in touch with us here!
