When the reference call is worth making

Most reference calls are not worth making. The format is too polished, the sample is too selected, and the questions are too easy to deflect. You ask whether you would hire someone again. They say yes. You thank them. You have learned nothing you did not already know.

The reference call is worth making when it is structured differently.

The first thing to change is who you speak to. Candidates provide references. That is the problem. Anyone who has navigated this process knows to offer names that will give strong endorsements. The more useful calls are to people the candidate did not put forward: former colleagues who were not hand-picked, people who saw them under pressure, people who watched them make a difficult decision and know how it played out.

The second thing to change is what you ask. The useful questions are not evaluative. They do not ask the reference to rate the candidate. They ask the reference to describe situations. What was the hardest thing they dealt with during this period? What did they do that worked less well than they expected? What did the people around them think at the time? Description is harder to manage than assessment. Stories are harder to spin than verdicts.

The third thing to change is the framing. A reference is not a test the candidate is trying to pass. It is a conversation with someone who has information you need. When you treat it that way, and when the reference understands that their job is to help you make a good decision rather than to endorse someone they like, the quality of what you learn changes.

One practical note: references taken by the search firm are not a substitute for references taken by the hiring organisation. They serve different purposes. A search firm's reference is about establishing whether the candidate is credible and whether the information they have provided is accurate. The hiring organisation's reference is about fit: whether this specific person, with this specific history, belongs in this specific role. Both matter. Neither replaces the other.