Category: Post Interview

Reference checking is an area where many managers may fall short:

• references are not checked thoroughly enough, or not at all
• many references are friends or past coworkers who won’t (or can’t) tell you the truth
• typical reference checking calls are useless because the reference is not objective and knows not to say anything negative
• you might just be directed to HR, who (wanting to avoid legal troubles) will only provide dates hired and departed.

How can you avoid these common pitfalls with your next hire?

Assuming everything went well during the second interview, this is a great time to discuss the candidate’s references. Stress that your rigorous hiring methods do not let weak candidates become employees. To ensure that what is on the resume is the truth, reference checks are taken seriously – this is important to A-players.

Even if there were only a few areas from the Gap Report that caused minor concern, the resume deep dive did not uncover any surprises, and the hiring manager is prepared to make an offer the same day, reference checks (and potentially a background check) still need to be executed.

Tip: A best practice is to ask the candidate to call her references to let them know to expect a call, and to be candid on that call. One more level of candidate commitment is to have her schedule the reference This can save a lot of phone tag on the reference checker’s part.

The candidate should give at least 3 references, and the best are former managers, though it is understandable if the current manager is not provided. If you can’t get the current manager, try to contact someone who has left the company who was at a higher level than the candidate, who may know about her performance.

See it as a red flag if former managers are not provided by the candidate. You need to speak with the person who approved the paycheck. That person will know if the candidate was worth what he was paid.

Again, asking the candidate to contact her references, and having those references reach out to the person doing the hiring, will make this process easier and show the commitment of the candidate. Ideally, the candidate will schedule a time when the call will take place. This eliminates the frustrating task of playing phone tag with references. This is in the candidate’s best interest because it reduces the time to receive an offer.

I admit that this request may not be “normal” or expected by the candidate, but if she is excited about the job, she will arrange this for you. (A word of caution: some meek personalities may cringe at the thought. If it is too uncomfortable, you could lose the candidate, so don’t push too hard on these types of people.)

Some larger companies will have an HR person do the reference checks, but I disagree. Reference checking should not simply be a formality. The hiring manager needs to make the best decision possible, thus more firsthand information is important.

The manager will live with the consequences of hiring a Mis-fit, so she should ask the questions of a peer manager of the other company. Manager-to-manager and peer-to-peer conversations yield the best information.

There are the questions you should always ask, and there are the questions to be asked in areas of concern that have not been resolved in the interviews. Though some hiring managers will prefer to communicate via email, you will gain much more insight from speaking with someone on the phone.

Start the conversation with:

• “I’m sure you want Joe to succeed, so I just want to make sure I really understand him.”

This will give the manager a chance to open up.

Here are some good questions to ask:

• In what capacity did you work with Joe?
• What were his biggest strengths or value to the group?
• Would you say that Joe was in the top 25% in job performance as compared to his peers?
• If you were managing Joe today, what area(s) would you think he could improve most?
• In the interview, Joe told me the story about ___. Can you tell me what happened from your perspective?
• Joe seems to be (character trait). Do I have a correct impression of this?
• Where do you think the candidate could improve? And, would you hire/like to work with the candidate again?

In reference checks, it is important what is said, but it is also very important what is not said. The candidate gave you the references, so they should be stellar. If you are expecting to hear very positive comments, neutral responses or lack of comment would be a sign that you should not ignore.

Also listen for the tone of voice. If there is not excitement in the conversation, you should try to determine why.

Word of caution: I know at this point in the process you want this to be over. You’ve gone through the many steps to this point, and you’ve gotten your team to agree on a candidate. It is human nature to overlook a few issues. Just remind yourself that a finding out a significant issue will save you 10x the aggravation if you hire a Mis-fit.

There have been many cases where a candidate was not hired due to a poor reference, and the company that gave the less than stellar reference could be sued. A successful lawsuit would only be for defamation of character – knowingly giving false information. People don’t win cases when the facts were correct, or one’s opinion was given.

If the candidate gave permission to check the reference, the former employer is on even safer ground. For more articles on this topic (legality of reference checks, and a primer on defamation), visit PerfectHireBlueprint.com/Resources.

As a precaution, many HR departments of larger companies ask that either the reference gives only employment verification and the dates of employment, or that all inquiries are sent to HR to respond. This does not help the case of an employee who has a fantastic record of performance, so it seems that some companies may have gone too far.

All states have different laws, and employers need to be aware of these laws. The interviewer has no risk in asking, but the reference could get his company in trouble for not disclosing some types of information.

Be aware also of a false good reference. This takes more skill to detect, but I know of cases where a company did not want to fire an employee, but they made it difficult for the employee, hoping that he would leave. This is true of administrative staff and also higher level employees.

A reference check should be welcomed by that employer because it indicates that the candidate is seriously looking for a new job. A glowing report that is unwarranted could possibly pass the problem on to the new company.

The best reference to check may be one that was not provided by the candidate. If someone in your company knows someone in the candidate’s current or prior company who is not on the candidate’s reference list, try to talk to that person in a casual way to get candid information and opinion.

To download a list of recommended questions, click here.

Congratulations, you’ve followed an effective process to get the right candidates into interviews, interviewed well, checked all the data you can find on the candidate, made an offer, and it was accepted. You should feel good about yourself – you are done, right? Wrong. You are not done until the candidate shows up for work and gets through Day 1.

We haven’t had a hot hiring market for a while, but if you make an offer to the perfect candidate, you need to ensure that she will show up. Here’s how to make sure she comes aboard:

1. Make a competitive offer that the candidate will happily accept. It may include an unexpected bonus just to get the candidate excited about the job. Tell her that you fought for more incentives, as a way to motivate her.

2. Now ask – “With this offer, are you motivated to come onboard?  Is there anything preventing you from accepting this offer right now and starting here ASAP?” If there is anything other than excitement, dig further.  “Are you waiting for other offers?”  If yes, ask, “What are you hoping for from the other offer?”

3. Who is making the decision? “Is this decision yours alone? Does anyone else have a say in this decision?” Even if she says no, ask, “What will your spouse think of this decision? Will your spouse be fully supportive?” If there is hesitation, you don’t have a deal yet.

4. If #2 is not a solid answer, walk the candidate through this process:

a. “What will your spouse say?”

b. “Why are you accepting this offer? Is it a better opportunity than your current job or any other opportunity? Be ready to tell your spouse why this job is a better fit. Do you think the reasons are convincing? Why is this transition good for your family?”

c. Is there anyone else who will influence this decision? Walk through b. above again for this person.

5. Now ask if currently employed – “When you give your notice for your current position, what reaction do you expect?”

a. “Will they be happy for you?”

b. “Will they want you to stay more than 2 weeks?” or  “Will they be unhappy and walk you to the door?”

c. “Will they counter-offer with, ‘What will it take for you to stay?’” (This question will expose whether you are being used to get a raise at the current position.)

i. “If they do, what will you do?”

ii. “If you decide to stay,

1. do you think your wanting to leave will shake the trust they have in you? If so, do you think that may put a target on your back?”

2. “Will the reasons that you want to leave now change? Will you want to leave only a few months from now when nothing really changes?”

iii. I recommend that you go in and tell them, “I’m giving my notice today. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and this is an opportunity that is great for me. I’ve put a lot of thought into this and my mind is made up.

iv. If they push further, tell them, “There is nothing you can say that will convince me to stay. I am excited for the transition and so is my family. Please don’t try to jump through hoops to keep me. It may be flattering to me, but the basic reasons for leaving will not change.”

1. The candidate is saving them all the work that it would take to counter offer.

a. (By the way, if the old company counter offers, the candidate will look to you to sweeten the deal. Nip that in the bud. That is why you tell them up front that you fought for them and gave them a very good, motivating offer.  She is less likely to come back asking for more if she feels you’ve already fought for her.)

2. If she rejected the counter offer, more bad feelings would result. Terms like ungrateful and manipulative may be used.

6. To test the eagerness of the candidate, ask – “Would you like some pre-work that you can do before you arrive to ensure you hit the ground running?”

a. If she answers yes, you should feel pretty good that she will show up.

b. If she answers no, pause and let her fill in the dead air. She’ll either reconsider or answer why she will not have time to look at it before she starts.

c. Either way, this question will give you more comfort depending on the answer.

7. To really seal the deal, send flowers to the house with a note, “Welcome to our family, you’ll make us even better.”

a. If there was any doubt in her mind, her guilt and/or her spouse’s will prevent any reconsideration.

b. This gives the spouse confidence that the new company cares and that the right choice was made.

c. An alternative (or supplement) would be to send some company clothing that can help them envision being part of the team.

And you thought you were done when you gave an offer!

Follow this process, and your star prospects will show up eager to contribute immediately.