由于大公司的全面“无参考”政策趋势，对求职者的参考检查可能是人力资源和招聘员工有效执行的最困难的任务之一。但背景调查也是招聘经理在决定团队未来成员时最有价值的工具之一。

在本文中，我们将讨论为什么 HR 不应该放弃参考检查求职者以及如何在面对当今挑战时有效地进行参考检查。

为什么 HR 不应该放弃参考检查

参考检查是人力资源人员可用的最有价值的职前筛选工具之一。如果成功完成，参考调查可以提供有关个人实践技能、职业道德和性格的信息。

甚至背景调查也无法与参考调查的结果相匹配。例如，背景调查会根据候选人的刑事定罪、机动车违规或对其教育或工作经历的不诚实情况来确定候选人是否合格。

此外，参考检查可以做面对面面试做不到的事情。求职者可能在与高管的非结构化面试中表现良好——甚至是正式的小组面试——但求职者在给定职位上的表现的最佳指标是该求职者过去的表现。参考资料可以提供这种洞察力。

最后，在今天的文凭工厂丑闻、承认在简历上撒谎的候选人数量增加以及专有信息和客户数据的高风险之间，在通过之前彻底验证候选人的凭据从未如此重要招聘过程。

如何进行参考检查 - 并获得有意义的结果

保持一致和公平。

应对每个候选人进行参考检查。请记住，您的组织可能与候选人以前的雇主不同，因此应考虑上下文。适用于面试候选人的歧视法也适用于参考资料检查。

使用既定标准。

每个候选人的参考检查过程也应该相同。标准允许招聘人员轻松地将一名候选人与另一名候选人进行比较。它还允许您确定是否需要对流程进行调整以取得更好的结果并保护您的公司免受歧视诉讼。

与专业人士交谈。

优先联系专业人士。在过去五到七年内每天与候选人互动的主管通常是首选。询问特定于工作职位的开放式、行为相关的问题。如果回答是一般性的并且不是非常具有描述性，请考虑参考可能没有对候选人说的可能对招聘决定很重要的内容。

要求更多。

如果推荐人在多次尝试后都没有回应，或者推荐人由于其无推荐人公司的政策而无法提供有意义的反馈，请向候选人寻求另一份推荐人，以尽可能多地获得有关候选人专业经验的反馈。候选人对其以前雇主的政策不承担任何责任，并且可能愿意为您提供其他参考资料。

找到解决办法。

如果您仍然不成功，请考虑其他方式来了解候选人。如果主管无法与您沟通有关您的潜在员工的信息，也许候选人可以为您提供一位可以做到的过去同事或同事。此外，如果您有共同的专业关系，请询问您所在行业的其他人，他们也可能通过过去的工作经验、专业协会或 LinkedIn 了解候选人。

在当今的专业环境中，推荐人检查可能具有挑战性，但它们仍然是 HR 和招聘经理应该用来确定求职者质量的宝贵工具。不要放弃！

 hardest tasks for HR and recruiting staff to effectively perform. But reference checks are also one of the most valuable tools hiring managers have when making a decision about a future member of their team.

In this article, we will discuss why HR should not give up on reference checking job candidates and how to effectively perform a reference check in the face of today’s challenges.

Why HR Shouldn’t Give Up On Reference Checks

Reference checks are one of the most valuable pre-employment screening tools available to HR staff. If successfully completed, a reference check can provide information about an individual’s practical skills, their work ethic and their character.

Even background checks cannot match the results of a reference check. Background checks determine whether a candidate is qualified based on their criminal convictions, motor vehicle violations or dishonesty about their education or work history, for example.

Additionally, a reference check does what a face-to-face interview can’t. A job candidate may perform well in an unstructured interview with an executive - or even a formal panel interview - but the best indicator of how a job candidate will perform in a given position is how that candidate has performed in the past. References can provide that insight.

Finally, between today’s diploma mill scandals, the increase in the number of candidates who admit to lying on their resumes and the high-stakes of proprietary information and client data, it has never been more important to thoroughly verify a candidate’s credentials before moving them through the hiring process.

How to Perform a Reference Check - and Get Meaningful Results

Be consistent and fair.

A reference check should be conducted on each candidate. Keep in mind your organization may be different than the candidate’s previous employer, so context should be considered. Discrimination laws that apply to interviewing a candidate also apply to reference checking.

Use established standards.

The reference checking process should also be the same for each candidate. Standards allow hiring staff to easily compare one candidate to another. It also allows you to determine whether adjustments to the process need to be made to achieve better results and protects your company from discrimination lawsuits.

Talk to professional connections.

Prioritize connecting with professionals. Supervisors who interacted with the candidate daily within the last five to seven years are often preferred. Ask open-ended, behavioral-related questions specific to the job position. If responses are general and not very descriptive, consider what the reference may not be saying about the candidate that could be important to the hiring decision.

Ask for more.

If a reference doesn’t respond after several attempts or a reference is unable to give meaningful feedback due to their no-reference company’s policy, ask the candidate for another reference to get as much feedback about a candidate’s professional experience as possible. The candidate is not responsible for their previous employer’s policies and will likely be willing to help you with another reference.

Find a work-around.

If you are still unsuccessful, consider alternative ways to learn about a candidate. If a supervisor can’t communicate with you about your potential employee, perhaps the candidate can provide you with a past colleague or co-worker who can. Also, if you have professional connections in common, ask others in your industry who may also know the candidate through past work experience, professional associations or LinkedIn.

Reference checks can be challenging in today’s professional environment, but they continue to be a valuable tool HR and hiring managers should use to determine the quality of a job candidate. Don’t give up!