Reference check questions worth asking.

01Before you ask anything

A reference is personal information about two people: the candidate and the referee. Before you contact anyone:

• Get the candidate’s consent, and have them nominate the referees. A referee the candidate didn’t put forward is a backdoor reference, and most candidates (and clients) will see it that way.
• Tell the referee who you are and why you’re asking: which agency, which candidate, what you’ll do with their answers and who will see them. Under the Privacy Act, people should know this when you collect information from them.
• Check the referee is who they say they are. A personal webmail address is worth a second look; a company address should match the employer the referee names.
• Confirm the relationship. A manager’s view of someone’s work is worth more than a colleague’s, and a colleague’s more than a friend’s.

02Confirm the basics

Start with facts the referee can answer quickly. If these don’t match the CV, you’ve learned the most important thing already.

1. In what capacity did you work with them, and for how long?
2. What was their job title, and when did they start and finish?
3. Did they report to you? If not, who did they report to?
4. What were they responsible for, day to day?
5. How big was the team, and the budget, they were accountable for?
6. Why did they leave?
7. Would you hire them again?

“Would you hire them again?” is the single most telling question on any reference. A pause, or a qualified yes, tells you to ask more.

03Performance and skills

1. What were they best at?
2. What is one thing they could have done better?
3. How would you rate the quality of their work, from 1 to 5? What would have made it a 5?
4. Can you give an example of a result they were directly responsible for?
5. How did they handle a deadline they couldn’t meet?
6. How quickly did they pick up something new?
7. How did they take feedback?

Ask for examples rather than adjectives. “Great communicator” tells you little; “she rewrote the board pack in a week and the chair asked for her by name” tells you a lot.

04Working with others

1. How would their team describe them?
2. Tell me about a disagreement they had at work. How was it resolved?
3. How did they work with people more senior than them? And more junior?
4. What kind of manager gets the best out of them?
5. Was there anyone they found it hard to work with, and why?

05Leadership and senior roles

For managers and executives, ask about judgement and the people around them as much as results.

1. How would you rate their judgement under pressure, from 1 to 5?
2. What did they do that most surprised you?
3. Tell me about a hard call they made. Would you have made the same one?
4. How did they build and keep their team? Did people leave to follow them?
5. How did they handle a decision they disagreed with?
6. Anything a future employer should know?

06Questions for specialist roles

Add two or three questions that only someone who saw the work could answer. For finance and accounting roles, for example:

1. How would you rate their technical accuracy and rigour, from 1 to 5?
2. How did they handle board or auditor scrutiny?
3. Which systems did they use, and how well?
4. Did you ever have to check or correct their work?
5. How did they handle month end, or year end, under pressure?

07Questions to leave out

Some questions put the client, your agency and the referee at risk, whatever the answer. Don’t ask about anything that touches an attribute protected by Australian anti-discrimination law, including:

• Age, or how many years they have left in them
• Health, injury, disability or sick leave taken
• Pregnancy, family plans or carer’s responsibilities
• Race, nationality, religion, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity
• Marital status, or their partner’s work
• Union membership or political views

If the role has a genuine requirement, such as lifting or night shifts, ask whether they could do the job as described, not about the person’s circumstances.

08Three sets you can send as they are

These are the three question sets Koho starts every agency with.

09Getting answers back

• Keep it short. Five good questions get answered; fifteen get put off until next week.
• Mix the formats. A 1 to 5 rating is quick to give and easy to compare; a written answer is where the detail is.
• Let them choose. Some referees will happily type answers tonight. Others would rather talk for ten minutes. Offer both.
• Remind, don’t chase. A polite reminder after three days and again after a week brings most answers in.
• Keep the record. Note who answered, when, and in what capacity, and keep the answers with the candidate’s file.