Survey: Most companies reluctant to give useful reference information
October 9, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Background checks, In This Week's E-Newsletter, Latest News & Views, References
Some bad news for HR pros trying to gather as much info as they can about potential employees:
Most companies will only verify titles and employment dates, according to a recent About.com survey.
When asked how they respond to reference requests, here’s how the companies answered:
- 74% said the requests are forwarded to HR reps, who only release minimal information
- 11% said their companies didn’t have a formal policy
- 5% said HR staff will fill out a rating form another employer provides and speak with someone at the other company
- 4% said managers fill out the form and do the talking, and
- 4% said the usual response was “Other.”
Is there anything HR can do to get more help from candidates’ previous employers?
Some experts recommend having the hiring manager call the former supervisor directly. One boss talking to another may get a conversation going. However, they also must be trained so they don’t ask for anything that could lead to a bias claim if someone isn’t hired.
What about your organization? Have you figured out a way to make reference checks more valuable? Let us know your experience by leaving a comment below.
Tags: managers, reference checks
October 10th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I belong to a roundtable of other HR managers in my industry. We will give each other information on prior employees. To anyone else who calls, it’s the usual neutral reference.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I think it is important for companies to be honest when giving out reference information. I try to be as candid as I can with inquiring companies without doing anything to jeopardize the perspective candidate’s opportunity to be considered for the job. However, if our employee had poor attendance, I am not going to pretend he didn’t. If there were extenuating circumstance regarding the problem, I will try to let the inquiring company know about that. If the employee had poor attendance but was a wiz bang at his job once he got to work, I will usually say that too. I definitely don’t use a reference inquiry as an opportunity to slam a previous employee or to deliberately try to sabatoge their chances to get another job, but I do try to give truthful answers to questions that deal with job performance.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
We provide neutral responses unless we receive a signed form from the prospective employer with the former employee’s signature authorizing us to provide more information. Even then only HR is allowed to provide information.