How to check references: a step-by-step guide for employers

A reference check is the one step in hiring where you hear from people who watched the candidate work. Done well, it confirms what the candidate told you, fills the gaps an interview cannot reach and, now and then, raises a question you are glad to have asked before an offer rather than after.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management describes three jobs for a reference check: verifying what applicants told you elsewhere in the process, predicting how they will do by comparing their experience with what the job needs, and surfacing background the other steps missed. The eight steps below cover all three, for one hire or for fifty.

Step 1: decide where references fit

Check references after the final interview and before the offer, for every finalist you would be glad to hire. Earlier, you ask busy references about people you will not hire. Later, a concern is harder to act on: withdrawing an offer is a bigger step than not making one.

Whichever point you choose, use it for every candidate for the role. Checking one finalist before the last interview and another after it means the two are judged on different evidence.

Step 2: get consent and the list of references

Ask the candidate for permission before you contact anyone, and record when and how they gave it. The Public Service Commission of Canada recommends getting consent before contacting referees, and the reason is practical: many candidates have not told their current employer they are looking, and an unexpected call can cost them that job.

Ask for references by role, not by number. "Three references" gets you the three people easiest to ask. "A current or recent supervisor, a peer and, for a lead role, someone you supervised" gets you people who can answer your questions. Collect each reference’s name, title, organization, phone, email and how they know the candidate.

Step 3: decide how many references, and who

Three is the usual standard. OPM’s guidance on reference checking recommends a minimum of three contacts, and the Public Service Commission of Canada advises contacting at least two or three referees, starting with recent immediate supervisors.

• A recent direct supervisor carries the most weight: they assigned the work and saw how it was done.
• A peer sees how the candidate works when no manager is in the room.
• Someone the candidate supervised, for any role that leads people.
• For front-line and shift work, a shift lead, charge nurse or scheduler who directed the candidate’s day-to-day work counts as a supervisor, title or not.

Step 4: write the questions from the job

Pick the three to five things the job needs most and write two questions for each: one that asks for a rating and one that asks for an example. OPM notes that structure, such as basing questions on the job and asking every reference the same ones, makes a reference check more useful.

Start from the reference check question bank, or from a set written for the role, such as the questions for registered nurses or for caregivers.

Step 5: send the requests, by phone or online

A call lets you follow up in the moment. OPM estimates a structured telephone reference check takes about twenty minutes per contact, plus the time it takes to reach each person. A written request from a link takes the scheduling out: every reference gets the same questions at once and answers when they have ten minutes.

Either way, tell each reference who you are, which role the candidate is up for, how long it will take and when you need the answers. Send a reminder after two or three working days. How long does a reference check take? covers the timeline and what to do when a reference goes quiet.

Step 6: write down what was said

Record each answer as close to word for word as you can, with the date, the reference’s name and their relationship to the candidate. The Public Service Commission of Canada advises notes as close to verbatim as possible, and with reason: a summary written that evening records what you remember, not what the reference said.

Written answers solve this by default. For calls, use the same note sheet for every reference; the reference check form template includes one.

Step 7: weigh the answers

• Examples outweigh adjectives. "Reliable" means little; "covered three open shifts the week we were short" means a lot.
• Look for patterns. One lukewarm comment is a question. The same concern from two references who worked with the candidate at different times is a pattern.
• A policy is not a verdict. Many employers will only confirm dates and job title. That tells you about the employer, not the candidate.
• Weigh the witness. A peer who saw one project and a supervisor of three years are not equal sources on the same question.

Reference check red flags covers which signals deserve a follow-up and how to check a concern fairly before it decides a hire.

Step 8: decide, close the loop and keep the record

Thank every reference; you may need them again. Tell the candidate where things stand without passing on what any reference said.

Then keep the record. The EEOC’s recordkeeping rule at 29 CFR 1602.14 requires the employers it covers to keep personnel and employment records for one year from the date the record was made or the personnel action was taken, whichever is later, and to keep relevant records until any discrimination charge or lawsuit is finally resolved. Your own policy or state law may require longer.

If someone else runs the checks for you

When your own staff contact references, you are collecting the answers yourself rather than buying a report about the candidate, and the consent that matters most is the candidate’s permission to contact them.

Hand the calls to an outside firm and the rules can change. In a 1999 advisory opinion, FTC staff said reference checks run by a third party were investigative consumer reports under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which brings extra obligations, including written notice to the candidate. Ask your counsel how the FCRA applies to any service that contacts references for you.

Questions to leave out

Ask only about the work. Before an offer, the EEOC’s guidance says an employer may not ask a third party, such as a former employer, any question it could not ask the applicant directly. That rules out questions about health, medical leave, workers’ compensation, age, religion, national origin, pregnancy and family plans. The question bank has the full list.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the requirements that apply to your organization, and in your state, with your counsel or HR policy office.