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Take References When recruiting in Print and Packaging

It is common for employers to reluctant or at best non-committal about taking up references. There are a number of reasons for this, some justified, others founded in myth and some just plain missing the point.

At a simple level employers are sometimes so enamoured with the candidate they are convinced of their "rightness" and don’t see the point in taking up the reference. However in the excitement of finding someone who appears just right it is easy to overlook small faults, which would normally betray larger issues. In this case if the candidate is as good as you think the reference will only reinforce it whilst that final check could save you from a costly mistake.

Where a candidate has been headhunted it is easy to assume that the disgruntled former employer will have nothing good to say about the candidate. Clearly they will not divulge anything that they consider commercially sensitive.

The other issue is that generally employers are more and more aware of the law and so written references are becoming ever more bland with the general sense that they are not worth the paper they are written on.

In the face of all of this negative sentiment we continue to encourage employers to take up references because, handled properly, they are a valuable tool in the recruitment process.

How to take up references

Rule number one is call. Don’t write for a reference unless you expect and are happy with a standard template that tells you little more than the dates employed the jobs title and absenteeism figures.

The real value in a reference is in using it to verify information given by the candidate during interview. Intrinsically this confirms the honesty of the candidate and can be used check on things like particular awards won, project involvement and scope of responsibility. For senior candidates you may look for issues during their tenure that may give an indication of the management style.

There are always concerns regarding the honesty of former employers in these situations but realistically anything the say that is untrue leaves them liable to prosecution so would be extremely reckless behaviour. (See side bar on the legal implications of references)

Of course if you launch straight into probing questions the conversation is likely to be a short one. It is always wise to start off with simple in offensive questions such as confirm dates of employment, job title etc before moving slowly onto more specific questions. We have a number of clients who are extremely good at this and often get extremely thorough information on candidates.

In the event that the reference does turn up some negative or unexpected information the candidate should have the opportunity of addressing or answering the point; it could be a simple mis-understanding or and issue seen from different perspectives. However if there are gross discrepancies you really must satisfy yourself of the candidate’s general honesty before employing them.

Clearly references are not fool proof but the extra effort of a few phone calls at the end of the process are definitely worth it after the effort that goes into recruiting the right candidate.