Reference check questions for executives

The outline of an executive’s record is easy to find: titles, dates and the organization’s results while they were there. What the outline leaves out is how much of the result was the candidate’s doing. People who sat in the room can fill that in: the board member who approved their plans, the peer who negotiated with them over budget and the leader who reported to them and carried out their decisions.

Senior references are busy and careful with their words, and some are the candidate’s friends. Ask for decisions rather than adjectives, ask what each reference saw firsthand, and give them room to describe a failure.

Who to ask

• A board member or the chief executive they reported to, who set their goals, judged their results and heard their bad news.
• A peer on the leadership team, such as the head of finance or operations, who competed with them for resources and shared hard decisions.
• A leader who reported to them directly, for how the candidate built a team, delegated and made decisions others had to carry out.
• An outside party who depended on them, such as a major customer, a lender or an investor, when the role faces outward.

Questions to ask, by competency

Choose the competencies that matter most for the position and two or three questions from each. Ask every reference the same set, and when an answer is a rating, ask for the example behind it.

Strategy and judgment

At this level a handful of decisions shape years of results. Ask about specific calls, what the candidate knew when they made them and how they played out.

1. What was the most consequential decision you saw the candidate make? What did they know at the time, and how did it turn out?
2. Tell me about a strategy of the candidate’s that did not work. When did they recognize it was failing, and what did they do next?
3. How did the candidate weigh this year’s results against longer-term investments when the two pulled in different directions?

Building a leadership team

Executives work through the leaders they hire, develop and remove. The team they leave behind is part of their record.

1. Which leaders did the candidate hire or promote, and how have those people done since?
2. Tell me about a senior person the candidate moved out of a role. How did they reach the decision, and how did they carry it out?
3. On a scale of 1 to 5, how strong was the leadership team the candidate left compared with the one they inherited, and why? (rating)

Results in context

Revenue, costs and growth move for reasons outside any one leader’s control. References can separate what the candidate drove from what the market or a predecessor handed them.

1. What state was the candidate’s area in when they took it over, and what had changed by the time they left?
2. Of the results credited to the candidate, which came mostly from their own decisions, and which from conditions they did not control?

Candor with the board

Boards and chief executives depend on senior leaders to bring problems early and in full. One late surprise can undo years of trust.

1. When the candidate had bad news for the board, how did they present it, and did you hear it from them before anyone else?
2. How did the candidate behave in board or executive meetings when they disagreed with the direction being set?
3. When the candidate missed a commitment to you or the board, how did they explain it, and what did they change?

Integrity under pressure

Senior leaders set what an organization treats as acceptable. Ask how the candidate behaved when results, money or reputation were at stake.

1. Describe a time when hitting a target and doing the right thing pulled the candidate in different directions. What did they choose?
2. When a concern was raised about one of the candidate’s own senior leaders, did they handle it as they would have for a junior employee?

Close the reference

End every reference the same way: ask whether they would hire or work with the candidate again and why, what support would help the candidate do their best work, and whether there is anything else you should know. The general question bank explains why the first of these matters most.

Checks a reference does not replace

• Titles, dates and degrees, with the employers and schools themselves rather than the references.
• Board seats and other outside roles the candidate lists, with the organizations concerned.
• Checks a third party runs for you. If a screening company runs background or reference checks on your behalf, the FTC’s guidance for employers explains what the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires, and investigative reports carry additional obligations.

Warning signs to follow up

• No reference from the candidate’s most recent role, only from roles some years back.
• A board member or chief executive who praises the candidate’s vision but cannot describe a decision they made.
• Results the candidate claims that references credit to the market, a predecessor or a team the candidate did not build.
• Much of the leadership team the candidate inherited left soon after they arrived, and no reference can say why.
• Every reference is an investor, business partner or longtime friend, with no one independent on the list.

One warning sign is a reason to ask another question, not a verdict. Reference check red flags covers how to check a concern fairly.

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 candidate directly. Leave out health, medical leave, age, family plans and other protected characteristics. What to leave out 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.