Crafting Effective Reference Check Questions

In the constantly changing world of hiring, reference checks serve as a crucial step in evaluating any potential candidate’s suitability for a role in either our business or our home. How effective this process is rests on the quality of the questions that we ask. Creating thoughtful and strategic questions to ask these candidates’ references is so important for obtaining these crucial insights that tell us about their work ethic, capabilities, and how well they will overall fit into our organization or our home. 

So where do we start? Begin with the fundamental questions you need to verify their reference. Ask questions about their work history, the roles they have held, and any responsibilities they have had in these roles. For example, “Can you confirm the candidate’s job title and the dates they worked for you?”, “What were their responsibilities in this role?”, etc. This will set the foundation for your understanding of the candidate’s professional background.

Next, we should then explore their work performance. Here we will dig a little deeper into the candidate’s performance by asking about specific examples and achievements. For example, we can ask questions like “Can you give me some examples of when the candidate may have gone above and beyond?”, or “Was the candidate punctual?”, “How reliable were they?”. This allows assessment of the candidate’s abilities in real-world situations and understanding of how they performed in their previous workplace.

Now we can start asking the questions that tell us if a candidate would work well with your company and others! We do this by asking questions that give us insight into their teamwork, communication, and interpersonal skills. For example, “How would you describe the candidate’s style when working with co-workers and superiors?”, “How do they deal with conflict that may arise in the workplace?”, “How easy was your communication with each other?”, etc. These questions are crucial to ensure the candidate will contribute to keeping a positive workspace.

We should then ask questions about their adaptability and problem-solving skills. We should ask questions that measure their ability to adapt, learn, and thrive in new situations. For example, “Did you find the candidate to be adaptable? Do you have any examples?”, and “How did they handle any challenges outside of their typical responsibilities?”. In any work environment change is a possibility, so how a candidate reacts to an evolving work environment is important information to have!

If the candidate is expected to take on a leadership or mentorship role, it is also important to investigate if they possess these traits and how they use them. We should ask about their ability to lead and inspire others, asking questions like “Did they take on any leadership or mentorship roles or responsibilities? How did they perform in this capacity?”. This will give us a clearer picture of their potential to contribute as a leader or a mentor if it may be needed.

We can round it off by asking questions to determine if a candidate will be the right cultural fit. This simply means that they will align with our values and work culture. To determine this, we ask questions like, “Did the candidate contribute to keeping or creating a positive work environment?” or “How well would you say the candidate fit in with your family/organization?”. This helps tell us what a candidate’s overall compatibility is when working with us. After all, if we are going to be working with and interacting with this person daily, we will need to make sure that it will be a good fit!

So, we can see that creating effective reference check questions requires foresight and a strategic approach. This is all done with the intention of extracting valuable insights about a candidate that may not be seen on the surface in either their resume or interview. By tailoring our questions to address specific aspects of a candidate’s professional career we can get a clearer understanding of their potential or lack thereof. Keep in mind the subtle art of reference checking comes down to asking the right questions to reveal the information needed to make accurate and meaningful decisions about any prospective employees. It’s not uncommon for questions to be initially asked to a reference via email or a questionnaire. After carefully evaluating the information received to ensure we gather and create the correct perspective on any candidates, it may be warranted to move to the step of actually speaking to their references by phone. This will allow for follow-up questions and expansions on answers. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask any questions that you feel are important to help you get a better overall perception of a candidate. Just be sure that when asking the question you have a goal in mind, and ask the question in such a way that you will get the information you need to feel safe and secure in your hiring decision.