H.R. Alert

Employment Reference Checks

To ensure that you hire the right employee (the first time) it makes good sense to conduct reference checks on those you plan to hire. Otherwise you are hiring complete strangers. That can be a major mistake as some of you may know.

So why bother? Here are some of the reasons prudent employers conduct check references: 1) you hire employees based upon facts and not on a gut feel; 2) you verify gaps of employment; 3) it may prompt the need for a criminal or credit background check; 4) it demonstrates that you exercised caution and prudence in the hiring process; and finally, 5) you verify information needed in the hiring process.

The following are tips I have learned and used over the past twenty years:

Employment Reference Checking Tips:

• Use an application that contains a waiver granting the employer permission to contact the employee’s former employers
• Prepare a form that lists the questions you want answered with a space to write the answers.
• Confirm with the applicant the names and phone numbers of previous employers.
• Tell the applicant that you must have the opportunity to talk with at least four of his/her previous employers before a job offer is extended. If the applicant does not cooperate there is no job offer.
• Develop an approach or script to put the former employer at ease; refrain from using the word “reference”. Mention areas of commonality.
• Stay away from the human resources department; they are frightened of slander and defamation law suits and will not tell you anything.
• Call early in the morning (before 7:00 A.M.), during the lunch hour or after the close of business (after 6:00 P.M.).
• Do not call the applicant’s current employer unless the applicant has given you written permission.
• Offer to send the former employer a release or a copy of the job application with the waiver attached.
• Be cautious about the rehire question. If they answer no that could be construed as a form of defamation.
• Begin the conversation by introducing yourself and asking for their help.v
• If she/he does not have the time to talk schedule a telephonic appointment at some future date.
• If you encounter resistance offer one of the following:
1. Have the applicant sign a release
2. Send them a copy of the job application with the signed waiver
3. Remind them that it is not illegal to furnish an employment reference as long as 1) the information is factual, 2) the person on the phone has personal knowledge of the applicant’s performance and 3) the information is not provided in a malicious manner.
4. Ask them if there is someone else in the organization that can help you.
• Have the job applicant provide you with copies of:
  1. Past performance evaluations
  2. Citations of merit
  3. Professional licenses
  4. Undergraduate, graduate and law school classes and the grades they received
  5. Newspaper articles in which they were featured
  6. Awards they received
• Do not send the former employer a fax or e-mail with your request. You are giving them time to find an excuse not to talk to you.
• Listen carefully for the verbal clues from the former employer, e.g., periods of silence, sarcasm, long pauses, throat-clearing, hesitancy, humor, and anger.
• Probe when you hear shallow responses; politely ask for more details; repeat their response as you heard it; and ask direct questions.

When Should You Consider a Criminal, Credit or Driving Record Check?

• When the new hire will handle money, checks or any liquid assets
• When the new hire will be going into private residences
• When the new hire will be working with children under the age of 18
• When the new hire will be driving a company vehicle
• When the new hire will be working with your clients assets
• When the new hire will be working alone
• When the new hire is a man working alone with women only and vice a versa.

As always, if you have any questions, please call me at (415) 892-1497.

- Larry Levy

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