How Do You Check a Job Candidate's References?

Name: Quality Business Plan by Dr. Paul Borosky
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The Definition

What Exactly Is a Reference Check?

Short Answer

A reference check is contacting a person a candidate actually worked for, to confirm the basic facts of their employment and learn how they really performed. It starts with the plain facts, such as dates and job title, then asks open questions that cannot be answered with a polite yes, such as whether the employer would hire the person again.

Reference check = verify dates and role + ask if they would rehire + ask what else you should know

Doctor Owl, in Plain English

“A letter tells you what the writer wanted you to read. Sometimes the writer is not who it says. Go and ask.”

How This Guide Works

Need the answer fast? Read the Short Answer above and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Dani, a raccoon with a hauling business from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, as she hires a driver on the strength of an unsigned letter. Her story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The math sits in one section, clearly marked.

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From Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest

Meet Dani Again: A Raccoon With a Glowing Letter

Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series teaches business through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face.

Today he sees Dumpster Dani, the raccoon who runs three hauling trucks. She needed a driver for truck two and hired a weasel with a clean cap and a letter saying he was the finest driver on the coast road. In his first week, he backed the truck into a gatepost and showed up an hour late to a job. Doctor Owl holds the letter up to the light and notices there is no name at the bottom.

Why It Matters

What Makes Small Businesses Skip Reference Checks?

Calling a past employer feels awkward. It feels like you are doubting the candidate. And a letter or a résumé line can make it seem as if someone else already vetted the candidate.

A written reference shows only what its author decided to share, and the author may not even be real. A short call or visit is the cheapest protection a small employer has. Skipping it can cost weeks of wages and real damage. A reference check is ten minutes against a bad hire’s month.

In the Fabled Forest

Dani finally walked down to the parcel shop the letter claimed was his last job. Tobias, the turtle who keeps the books there, checked the ledger. The weasel had driven for them once, two years earlier. The letter was not in Otto’s handwriting or Tobias’s. Nobody had ever come to ask whether one of those letters was true, he said. Dani was the first.

What to Ask

What Questions Should You Ask on a Reference Call?

Confirm the facts. When did they work there, and what was the job? If these are wrong, nothing else in the reference matters.
Would you hire them again? Listen to how fast the answer comes, not just what it is.
What should I know? An open question that invites the honest detail a letter leaves out.
Ask about the behaviors you care about. Use the same situations from your behavioral interview.
Talk to the right person. A direct supervisor, not a friend or a coworker the candidate chose.

In the Fabled Forest

For the next candidate, a badger, Dani climbed up to the quarry where he had worked four years. Would you hire him again? Tomorrow, said the foreman, an old ram. And what should I know? He’s slow on Mondays until about ten, the ram said. After that he outworks everybody.

Using the Answers

What Do You Do With What a Reference Tells You?

A good reference rarely says only good things. The useful detail is the honest one: what the person needs, where they struggle, what helps them do their best work. Use it to set the person up well from day one.

If the facts do not match, or the answers are slow and careful, take it seriously. Hesitation from a past employer is information. So is a reference who cannot be reached or does not seem to know the candidate.

In the Fabled Forest

Dani hired the badger at the same pay as her other drivers and gave him a short, flat run on Monday mornings. On his first Monday he took it easy until ten. Then he outworked everyone on the road.

The Numbers

What Does a Skipped Reference Check Cost?

This is the math section. Skip it if you only want the steps.

Here is what Dani’s first driver cost compared with ten minutes of checking.

	Hired on the letter	Hired after asking
Weekly pay	15 coins	15 coins
First week	A dented tailgate, an hour late to a job	Gentle Monday, then the best week on the road
Time spent checking	None	An afternoon’s walk to the quarry

Hired on the letter

Hired after asking

Weekly pay

15 coins

First week

A dented tailgate, an hour late to a job

Gentle Monday, then the best week on the road

Time spent checking

None

An afternoon’s walk to the quarry

Step 1: The direct cost. A week of wages, plus a tailgate repair, plus a late job that could cost a customer.

Step 2: The cost of checking. One call or one visit, and two questions.

Step 3: Your version. A week of pay + any damage + the cost of re-hiring. Compare that with ten minutes on the phone.

Illustrative numbers in forest coins, from the book. Use your own wages and costs.

Step by Step

How Do You Check a Candidate’s References?

Four steps, about ten minutes per reference.

Get names, not just letters.
Ask for direct supervisors and how to reach them.
Confirm the plain facts first.
Dates and job title. If those are off, stop there.
Ask the two open questions.
Would they rehire this person, and what else should you know?
Use what you learn.
Plan the new hire’s first weeks around the honest details.

In the Fabled Forest

Doctor Owl’s scroll for Dani had the habit on it in a few short words: read the letter, then go and ask. Under that, the two questions, plus a reminder to check the dates and the job.

Dani’s Full Story

Who Wrote the Letter?

This page gives you the short version. The book gives you the whole story: a flourish where a name should be, a dent the size of a dinner plate, a slow walk to the parcel shop, a turtle who had been waiting years for someone to ask, and an old ram eating lunch on a block of granite.

Every chapter of Human Resources for Small Businesses works the same way. One owner, one problem, one real idea you can use on Monday, plus a one-page worksheet to do it.

A Business Consultant’s View

What Do Business Consultants Listen For on a Reference Call?

Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA · Business Consultant

On a reference call, Dr. Paul listens for the pause. The answer to would you hire them again is usually yes, because most past employers are polite. What matters is whether the yes comes immediately or after a careful silence. He also listens for specifics. A supervisor who actually worked with the person will mention a project, a habit, a strength, or a quirk. A vague reference often means a distant one. He coaches owners to ask the open question, what should I know, and then stay quiet. Most references will fill the silence with the one detail that tells you how to manage the person well.