Reference Checks: Do You Need Them? 🤔

For reference checks to be effective, they should provide consistent insights into a candidate’s suitability, so best practice is to ask standardised questions 📋.

However, mixed research shows referees themselves can be unreliable, providing different ratings for the same person. Unfortunately, evidence also suggests references have limited ability to predict future job performance 🔮—success in a past role may not translate to the new job. Plus, candidates are selecting referees who they (should!) be confident will speak positively on their behalf.

Employers are much better off relying on a great selection process, ideally including not just interview questions but also pre-employment testing, to offer a clearer picture of how the candidate might perform.  

But all of that said, reference checks can add value as a final step in a fair and effective hiring process. While rare, a negative reference should never be ignored and can provide valuable insight. For larger employers, reference checks add a compliance step to rely on, should things go wrong.

I’m a big fan of automated software (I personally have used RefApp and recommend it!) to outsource this step and save on 💸 and time ⏳, while ensuring consistency.