An important part of hiring is making reference calls, and this becomes more important the more senior the role you are hiring for. By the time of the reference call you have invested a lot in this final candidate and you want to make sure you give them the best chance of success in the role.
Often your recruiter will make reference calls but I make at least one call myself, ideally to a previous manager. Here are some of the questions I ask.
At the reference call stage I am excited by this candidate and do not need convincing; I find it’s helpful to make that clear to the referee.
I will always say something like “I am really enthusiastic about X, you don’t need to sell them, I just want to understand their areas for development and how I can best support them.”
This is not an interview, and ideally it’s not even a decision-point, unless you hear red flags or serious areas of concern that your interview process hasn’t uncovered. For more on how to structure a good interview, you can read my post on how to interview fairly.
This is one to ask in the middle; you might think this is one to throw in at the end but actually asking it in the middle opens up a lot more discussion and leaves room for you both to ask/share more.
I always ask the unlocking question, somewhere in the middle, but other than that I ask some combination of the other questions. These are questions I’ve gleaned from various sources (I can’t find the original reference for the unlocking quesiton, please let me know if you can!)
These are always interesting conversations and I have found them really useful as I onboard and get to know my new colleagues.
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