Reference check questions for managers

An interview shows how a manager talks about managing. References show what it was like to work for them, which is the part of the job a new team feels first. The person the candidate reported to can tell you whether goals were met and which problems reached them early rather than as surprises. The people who reported to the candidate can tell you whether they knew what was expected, heard about problems in time to fix them and were treated fairly when work and credit were handed out.

Neither side sees the whole job. A direct report rarely knows how the candidate argued for budget, and a boss rarely sits in on a one-on-one. Ask each reference about what they saw and, where you can, ask both sides about the same events. Employment verification will confirm a title and dates. It will not tell you whether the candidate’s best people stayed.

Who to ask

• The manager they reported to in a recent role, who set their goals and saw what the candidate escalated.
• People who reported to them, ideally one the candidate hired and one they inherited, since a manager’s own hires often speak most warmly.
• A peer manager who shared a deadline, a budget or a difficult handoff with the candidate’s team.
• For a first-time manager, whoever gave them their first lead role, for how quickly they moved from doing the work to organizing it.

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.

Setting priorities

A team works on what its manager makes clear. The candidate’s own manager can judge whether priorities were well chosen, and the team can judge whether they were well explained.

1. When priorities changed above the candidate, how did they decide what their team would stop doing, and how did they tell the team?
2. When you joined the candidate’s team, how soon did you know what was expected of you, and how did you find out?

Feedback and fairness

Ask these of people who reported to the candidate. They know whether feedback came early, in private and with a way to improve, and whether assignments and credit were shared fairly.

1. Tell me about a piece of critical feedback the candidate gave you or a teammate. How was it delivered, and what changed afterward?
2. Who on the team grew the most while reporting to the candidate, and what did the candidate do that helped?
3. From 1 to 5, how fairly did the candidate hand out assignments, credit and opportunities, and what example is your rating based on? (rating)

Handling performance problems

Sooner or later every manager has someone who is not doing the job. How quickly the candidate acted, and how they treated the person while doing it, shows judgment and nerve.

1. Tell me about someone on the candidate’s team who was struggling. What did the candidate do first, and how did it end?
2. Did the candidate ever wait too long to deal with a problem on their team? What did the delay cost?
3. When a team member raised a concern about a colleague, how did the candidate respond, and did the person who raised it hear back?

Escalation and judgment

A manager sits between the people above and below them. Their own manager knows which problems arrived early, which arrived late and which never arrived.

1. Which problems did the candidate solve without involving you, and which did they bring to you? Did they draw that line in the right place?
2. Describe a decision the candidate made that their team disliked. How did they reach it, and how did they explain it?
3. How did the candidate argue for their team’s needs when headcount or budget was tight?

Hiring and keeping people

The team a manager builds outlasts the manager. Who they hired, who stayed and who left says a great deal about how they managed.

1. What is the best hire the candidate made while you worked together, and what did they see in that person?
2. How did turnover on the candidate’s team compare with similar teams, and what do you think drove it?

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.

Warning signs to follow up

• Managing people is the job, yet nobody who reported to the candidate appears on the reference list.
• Former direct reports describe the candidate warmly but cannot name one thing they learned from them.
• The candidate’s manager praises the team’s results but goes quiet when asked how they were reached.
• Stories in which every problem on the team traces back to someone the candidate inherited.
• Several strong people left the candidate’s team in a short time, and no reference can explain why.

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.