What is a reference check?

When you get an offer from a company, you go through a background check and a reference check.

In this article we work out what they are and how they actually go.

You look for work, you interview, and a company decides to hire you. You, in turn, can see that the company seems sound. They send you an offer and you sign it.
An offer is a kind of employment contract and an invitation to come and work.

Once the offer is signed, a background check follows, so the company can see what their future employee has been involved in — or has not been involved in. That means criminal records and a light check of previous employers.

A reference check is a check of your references — asking people about you.
In practice a reference check is a pointless exercise and, broadly speaking, a waste of time for both the company and the new employee.

Why? As the future employee, you supply several contacts — former colleagues or managers. Only ever give contacts you are completely sure of, because these people will be called and asked about you and about how you worked in a team.

Only give the contacts of people you are completely sure of.
Do not give the contacts of people with whom you had difficult working or personal relationships. And before you give a contact, call that person and ask whether they are willing to act as a reference.

Do help other people, colleagues you have worked with before, because if you know you can say something positive and speak well of them, then do.

Do not give the contacts of people who are not on your side, who might work against you or speak of you without much warmth.
A reference check is a waste of time because the person being checked can supply almost any contact, present them as whoever they like and say this was my manager — when in reality it might just be someone from LinkedIn.

As the future employee you can control the whole process. Some people do exactly that and give the contact of someone who never worked at the company at all, because all sorts of things can happen inside a company. They give a friend who speaks good English, and that friend gives the reference as though they were a manager or a colleague.

There is another form of check: by email. No calls at all — you give the email of a colleague you used to work with and they send over a dozen questions.

People usually forward those questions on and you fill them in yourself, so as not to take up their time.

Now let's go through the questions a reference check asks. It usually goes like this:
"Hello. We're calling from ABC regarding a reference check for our prospective employee, John Smith, who worked with you. Do you have a couple of minutes?"
"Of course. What are your questions?"
"How did you work together? How would you assess this person? Which project did you work on? What is he like? What does he find difficult? Which problems did he solve? How does he get on with other employees? How did he handle hard problems? What effect did he have on moving the product forward? What are his weaknesses? What are his strengths? How does he get on with managers? How does he get on with people reporting to him? Could you describe him in a few words? Anything you would like to add?"

The questions vary widely and you cannot really prepare for them, but they are not difficult.

It is an entirely ordinary conversation when you give a reference for someone.
If you are acting as someone's reference, do not be sparing with your good words.
Help the other person join a new team with a good reputation.

They may also ask what you would recommend the person improve, or which areas they should develop in. In none of these questions do you need to say he was bad at this and good at that.
If you have been asked to be a reference, help that person walk into the company with a good reputation.

Two questions come up particularly often. The first: tell us about this person's weaknesses. As the person helping, you obviously should not talk about how disorganised and unpunctual they are.
Try to help.

When you are asked about weaknesses, you can turn the question into a joke — say how badly they sing karaoke, or that their dancing leaves something to be desired. The second question: what would you like to see them improve?

Turn the question into a joke, so that your answer does not follow the person into their new job.
For instance: "I'd recommend he work on his parking, because he can take up two spaces at once."
That will not affect a working relationship in the slightest.
If you can turn these questions into a joke, do.

It lifts the mood and helps bring the call to a quicker close.