How to Do an Employment Reference Check
Checking an applicant's references is one of the key factors in deciding whether they are suitable for future employment with your company. All employers hire applicants with the intent of recruiting the best and the brightest talent who have the potential to take their company to new heights. What better way to ensure that an applicant will work at a high level than to check the applicant's previous performance at his/her former employer.
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Things You'll Need
- Applicant's personal Information (name, date of birth)
- Applicant's former employer's information (numbers, company name)
- Consent to release form
- Telephone
- Fax machine
- Employment performance questionnaire
Instructions
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Steps to checking employee references
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1
Inform prospective employees that you intend to check their references before making a decision to hire. Notifying applicants of your intentions ahead of time saves the company money and legal hassles.
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2
Ask each applicant to sign a consent to release form which allows you to ask in-depth questions of their former employers or other references. Be sure that you include provisions in the consent to release form that restrict an applicant from filing frivolous lawsuits against you and their former employer(s).
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3
Contact the applicant's former employer(s) to verify basic information, such as dates of employment, job title, and job duties. If the information provided by the prospective employee is inconsistent with information provided by the applicant's former employer, this could be a sign that the employee is dishonest and may signal that hiring him/her may not be the best decision. Inform the employer that you will be faxing some documentation to them for completion.
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4
Fax the necessary documentation to the applicant's former employer(s). This information should include your company's data, the applicant's consent to release form and an employee performance questionnaire. Request that the questionnaire be completed and faxed back to you within a specific time frame. Caution the applicant's former employer to use legally acceptable language when providing information about the applicant.
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5
Review the applicant's employee performance questionnaire once it is returned. Determine whether the applicant is suitable for future employment with your company based on their credentials and references.
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Tips & Warnings
* Ask direct questions when preparing an employee performance questionnaire. "How often is he/she late in a 1-month time period or 7-day time period" is an example of a direct question.
* Never promise the applicant anything until references are checked.
* Place more emphasis on negative or neutral comments than positive comments. It is easy to find someone to say something positive about a person; be sure to ask the applicant's former employer about the nature of their relationship. If the applicant's former employer answers the question by stating that they had close friendship, it may indicate that the reference will not be objective.
* Request a pay stub from the applicant's former employer to verify compensation.
* Be sure to check with your state's confidentiality laws to ensure that the proper steps are taken to disclose information about applicants.
