You have whittled down several hundred candidates to one, and have extended an offer.
You have done a lot of work to get to this point, but you are not done.
Checking your potential hire's references is vital to ensuring that you do not allow a problem individual to wreak havoc on your organization.
There are several mistakes hiring managers routinely make when checking references.
Avoiding these simple mistakes gives you a leg up over the competition.
One problem hiring managers are encountering more often in the course of checking references is that human resources departments are unwilling to talk frankly to hiring managers about past employees' performance due to the risk of libel lawsuits.
These departments generally only confirm time of employment and a few other details.
One key piece of information that these otherwise-reticent departments usually do provide, however, is whether the former employee is "eligible for rehire.
" If the employee is not eligible for rehire, this should raise a red flag.
If possible, ask candidates to provide a specific, non-HR reference from their former company.
Former supervisors that no longer work for the company are especially good references, as they do not usually have to worry about contravening company policy by talking to a hiring manager.
Finding a person that is willing and able to talk frankly about a past employee is only half the battle.
Even when an excellent reference is located, hiring managers often do not take full advantage of the opportunity to ask probing questions about the candidate.
Do not simply ask about job competence; there are plenty of people who are good at what they do but may have other, unrevealed problems.
Ask about how the candidate works in groups, if there was a problem with absenteeism and how the candidate deals with management.
Also, probe for positive and negative personality traits that may serve the candidate affect his or her new role, such as inquisitiveness, organization, perseverance and agreeableness.
Once you have a good amount of information, cross-check it with another person in a different role, such as co-worker or subordinate, and see how their reports match up.
Although most references are genuine, a healthy skepticism is necessary to avoid getting duped.
Many job seekers go as far as to recruit friends and family members to provide fake references.
If the reference is listed as working at a company, check to ensure that the company actually exists.
If it does, call the human resources department of that company to confirm the named individual actually works there.
One other method that may uncover a fake reference is phone number validation.
If a supposed work reference turns up a residential phone line or cell number, make sure to investigate further in case the reference turns out to be illegitimate.
Checking references is an essential component of hiring that is often treated as a perfunctory exercise.
Organizations are afraid to drop a candidate on which they have expended so much effort, but following sound reference checking strategies has a long term payoff, so organizations neglect it at their own peril.