How to check references so they tell you something

The standard reference check goes like this. You email someone the candidate chose. They confirm the dates were right and say the candidate was a pleasure to work with. You hire the candidate.

Nothing was learned. The candidate picked a referee who would say something nice, which is what anyone would do, and you asked questions that only had nice answers.

A reference check can be genuinely useful, but only if you change what you ask and when you ask it.

Decide what you are checking for

Three different things get bundled together, and they need different approaches:

Did this happen? Were they there, in that role, for those dates. Factual, easy, and the only part most checks actually accomplish.

What are they like to work with? Communication, reliability, how they behave when something goes wrong. The part worth your time.

Is there something disqualifying? Rare, and you will usually hear it in what is *not* said rather than in an allegation. Many employers have policies forbidding anything beyond confirming dates, so absence of praise is not evidence of a problem.

Be clear which you are doing. Asking open questions about working style to an HR department that only confirms dates wastes both your afternoons.

Ask about situations, not qualities

"Was she a good communicator?" invites yes. Nobody says no.

Ask about specific situations instead, because specifics are hard to invent and easy to recall:

• "What were they actually responsible for day to day?" Catches inflated scope immediately — not through dishonesty usually, just drift between how a CV reads and what happened.
• "Tell me about a time something went wrong on their watch. What did they do?" The single most useful question. Everyone has one. A referee who cannot produce one did not work closely with them.
• "What did they need most support with?" Better than "what are their weaknesses", which gets the rehearsed answer about perfectionism. This one sounds supportive and gets a straight reply.
• "Who did they work best with, and who did they find harder?" Tells you about the environment they thrive in, which is more useful than a verdict.
• "What would you have them do differently in the next role?" Forward-looking, so it does not feel like criticism.
• "Would you work with them again?" Ask last. Listen to the pause more than the answer.

Say what the job is first

Give the referee one or two sentences about the role before asking anything. A reference is only meaningful against a context — somebody who was wrong for a chaotic startup may be exactly right for a structured team, and the referee can tell you that if they know what you are asking about.

It also changes the conversation from an assessment to a consultation, and people are far more forthcoming when they are helping rather than judging.

Timing, and the thing people get wrong

Check after a conditional offer, not before. Contacting a current employer before there is an offer can cost someone their job. Always ask permission, always confirm whether the current employer can be approached, and take no for an answer.

Two is usually enough. One direct manager and one peer or report. A peer often tells you more than a manager, because they saw the day-to-day.

Fifteen minutes on the phone beats any form. Written references are uniformly positive and tell you nothing. On a call you hear hesitation, and hesitation is data.

Ask for one referee they did not nominate. "Is there someone else who managed you at that company I could also speak to?" Not always possible, and informative when it is refused without explanation.

What an evasive answer means

Sometimes nothing. Many large employers genuinely forbid saying anything beyond dates and title. Know which situation you are in before reading into it — ask directly: *"Are you able to speak freely, or is there a policy?"*

Real evasion sounds different: long pauses before ordinary questions, redirecting to the company rather than the person, "I'd rather not comment on that" to something routine. One instance means little. A pattern across two referees is worth pausing on.

What to do with it: do not drop the candidate on a vibe. Go back to them. "I spoke to your previous manager and got the impression the last few months were difficult — can you tell me about that?" Most of the time there is a reasonable explanation, and how someone handles being asked is itself useful.

The legal line

Short version: ask about the job, not about the person's life.

Nothing about health, disability, pregnancy, age, religion, or family circumstances. Nothing about sickness absence records in most jurisdictions. Stick to performance, conduct and responsibilities. This is not only a legal matter — it is the difference between a reference check and gossip.

Verifying the referee is real

The weakness nobody mentions: the referee is a name and an email the candidate supplied. Fake references are not common, but they are easy.

Minimum check: use a work email address, not a personal one, and confirm the domain matches the company. If a referee insists on a personal address, ask why — there are legitimate reasons, including that they have left, and it is reasonable to ask.

On this site, a candidate can have a former employer confirm they worked somewhere, and the confirmation goes to a work address at that company's domain rather than wherever the candidate says. The referee answers in one click and can equally say they cannot confirm it — both answers are recorded, and neither is held against the candidate automatically. It is not a character reference and does not pretend to be. It answers the factual question, which is the one most likely to be wrong.

What references cannot do

They cannot tell you whether someone will be good at a job they have not done. They are weak evidence about performance in a different context, and they are systematically biased toward the positive because the candidate chose who to ask.

Use them to confirm facts, to catch the rare serious problem, and to understand how to manage someone well. Do not use them as the deciding vote — that is what the interview and a paid trial task are for.

Post a role when you are ready, or verify your company first so candidates can see who they are applying to.