As an HR professional, nothing would make you happier than finding ideal candidates for your organization, right? Those who fit well in your company, understand the culture, and have a promising background. If only it was easy!
Going through tons of job applications to find the right candidates is truly a challenge. Especially because you don't have enough information to determine if they are really right or not. You go with the information the candidates provide about themselves, then perform background checks, and hope for the best.
All of this changes when you add reference checks into the mix. They add a whole new level of verification, which increases your chances of finding the right employees. Let’s look at what these checks can do and why they matter so much in the world of recruitment.
What Is the Purpose of Reference Checks?
Reference checks enable recruiters like you to learn the history of applicants, their skills, and find if they have the right temperament for the job. These checks help out in the following ways:
Mitigating Risks
It's not a fool-proof system, but past performances could indicate how a candidate would perform in the future and provide details about their skillset. However, possessing the required skills is just one of the many requirements.
Reference checks help identify candidates who are ideal for the company’s culture. They also show the working etiquette of candidates, which is a huge deciding factor in their recruitment. When all of this information is pieced together, you understand the candidate's ability to perform at their job and adapt to the new working environment. This can drastically increase your chances of making good hires.
Validating Candidate Information
Verifying the candidates' details from their current or previous co-workers and bosses is a part of the reference check. It tells you if the details provided by a candidate are accurate or not. Details about their roles and responsibilities get confirmed with such checks. You also get to know about the skills and training they’ve received in their previous jobs.
Helps Finding Culturally Fit Candidates
A company must maintain its culture to be and stay successful. This culture ensures that their employees are satisfied, productivity is at its peak, and the attrition rate stays low. However, it is difficult to find a candidate who aligns with the values and culture of the company.
Reference checks help you find a candidate who fits the company’s culture, believes in its core values, and has a similar work philosophy. When such candidates become your employees, your company continues to thrive.
How Do Reference Checks Help Companies?
Reference checks help companies know their candidates beyond their resumes and cover letters. Such checks can help you get details you may have overlooked during the preliminary interview.
Going this extra step establishes your seriousness about a particular candidate, which could lead them to be more honest about their background. This enables you to identify any red flags in them because now, you get to see the picture more clearly. If a candidate is not fit for the company in any way, it might negatively affect your overall productivity. Thanks to these checks, your company saves money by not investing in the wrong candidates.
Several HRs can tell you how reference checks prevented them from hiring a problematic candidate. One such HR, who has been handling corporate recruiting for over 24 years, says that her company almost hired a candidate for a general accounting position. While nothing seemed wrong at first, a reference check showed that the person was fired from the previous company for stealing money from his colleagues’ wallets. Can you imagine the problems that would have been created if they had hired him?
Reference checks have stopped HRs from hiring everyone from candidates who lied about their skills to candidates who are thieves and even sex offenders. Hiring such candidates won’t just negatively impact your company’s growth, but also pose a danger to your company and existing employees.
Best Practices To Do Reference Checks
To ensure that you get what you want from these checks, follow these practices.
Get the Set of Questions Ready Beforehand
You must be clear about what you want to know about a particular candidate before you begin the reference check. Keep the set of questions ready before the check. This helps you get every detail you want to evaluate. Modify your checking process based on the candidates and the kind of role they are applying for to get more relevant information.
Keep the Questions Direct and Open-ended
It’s also important to be mindful while framing your questions. A simple yes or no question would not help you get any insight about the applicant. The questions should be in such a way that the candidate has to give you detailed and well-thought-out answers. The goal here is to get an apt picture of the applicant and their skills.
Ask the Candidate to Give More References of People
You cannot control the references a candidate provides. They will likely give references of people who will show them in a positive light. To avoid such issues, ask the applicant to mention only those references whom they have worked with in the past and who aren’t related to them in any other capacity.
Another way to do it is by digging in a bit about the applicant yourself and finding out where they have worked previously. LinkedIn could be a good way to get in touch with previous employers.
Look at the Process from a Completely Neutral Perspective
Companies should be mindful of asking personal questions when checking references. Keep the information provided by the reference objective and factual. When you are evaluating the information, do not let any personal or subjective biases come in between.
Drawbacks Of Reference Checks
While this process lets you know a lot about the candidate, there are a few downsides to it as well.
Not Getting Detailed Information
Due to legal obligations, companies are restricted from sharing complete details about an employee. Most of the companies could only provide basic information like job description or salary scale. Many times, questions asked about a candidate's caliber are overlooked to avoid any defamation cases. So what you get at the end might be just surface-level information.
You’ve to Take Their Word for It
A reference check will give you information about the candidate's performance at their company. You’ll get access to the records of job performance but not their state of mind during those performances. It is very difficult to predict if the candidate will perform in the same way as they did previously. Their performance was influenced by the kind of project they worked on, their team, and the level of support provided by the company. It's not completely possible to get all of this information accurately just via reference checks.
Not Reliable at Times
Information given by past employers is based on their memory and biases of a particular candidate. These biases could be both negative and positive and may act as a hurdle in your way to correctly review an application.
Some candidates might only provide you with those references that are sure to give a positive review about them. Then there's always a possibility that you get fake references that create a false impression about the candidate.
Summing Up
Reference checks matter a lot. According to a survey conducted by SHRM, 92% of organizations still use reference checks as a screening and selection tool. These checks help in narrowing your list to have only those candidates who are a perfect fit. If your company has the capital and time to perform reference checks, then do it by all means – the advantages will be worth it. Or to save some company time, try greytHR’s Unite Marketplace. Here, you can get candidates’ background checks done quicker and take advantage of other services that simplify HR operations.
FAQs
How Important is a Reference Check?
Reference checks help recruiters identify the true potential of candidates and offer information about a candidate's skills. This process helps recruiters understand a candidate’s qualifications by talking to their former colleagues. It is done via asking questions on calls and emails.
Do Reference Checks Mean You Got the Job?
A reference check doesn't need to mean you’ve got the job. This part of recruitment is done to identify if you are the right fit for the company. It is possible that you are being seriously considered if they are contacting your references.
Do References Actually Get Checked?
This depends on the company. If the company is serious about getting the right candidate, they’ll make the effort to check the references of the candidate. These checks are important for companies as they help them know if the candidate is the right fit or not.
Should You Always Do Reference Checks?
Yes, you should always do reference checks. They give you important insights into a candidate’s past performance and reliability, helping you make better hiring decisions. Skipping this step can lead to hiring someone who isn’t the right fit for your company.
