Reference Checking: Listen to the Words Not Spoken

03/07/07

If you're going to get useful information when checking the references a job candidate supplies, you may need to be cagey. As you know, many references are full of praise and aren't forthcoming with damaging information. Helping a poor performer on to a new position makes them feel better. But people nonetheless signal their feelings in other ways. Here's one manager's story:

"Not long ago, I was in on hiring a person who seemed to have the right attitude and skills. Two of her three references had nothing but good things to say about her, but the third was not forthcoming and at one point said, 'She did the best she could.'

"We hired her. We let her go four months later. Her skills were poor and she could deflect criticism better than anyone I've ever seen. We had no one to blame but ourselves. The third reference all but said, 'Don't hire her.'

"After that, I got smart. Another person supplied three references in applying for an important job. One heaped lavish praise way too thickly, and the other two were bland. And all of them seemed eager to get off the phone. I knew they were trying to tell me something without actually saying it. I heeded their hidden warnings and hired someone else."

If people do you a favor in this manner, you owe it to the profession to return it when it's necessary. This manager concludes.

"Someone called me about a recent graduate who'd done some freelance work for me. The person, while doing an adequate job in the end, had a cavalier attitude about work - he'd miss deadlines and meetings, and he acted as if he didn't have to please me."

"At first I was completely neutral in my comments, sticking to facts and offering zero enthusiasm. The other person wasn't getting my message, so I pointed out three or four deficiencies. The guy proceeded to excuse every fault I mentioned as things 'college students do.' He wanted, clearly, to hire him."

"I don't know for sure, of course, but I'm guessing he's sorry now he didn't heed my tone of voice."