Reference Checks
topic on 7 shows · 13 statements across 12 episodes
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13 statements about Reference Checks, every show
Cool: Asking 'when I call your manager' prompts more honest interview answers
“When I call Sally, What is she going to say about, you know, your biggest strengths? And what is she going to say about your biggest development errors? And just shifting that from when, from if, like if I call versus when I call. People shift what they say. T…”
De Milliano: References are useless unless aligned with the hiring company
“My main view on reference is that I actually don't think they're that useful unless you can find someone who has more incentive to tell you the truth than to, like, have the back of the person they're giving the reference on and someone who really understands …”
Lemkin: 95% of startup hiring skips reference checks
“I would say 95% of the hiring I see out there, people don't do reference checks anymore, Lenny. And we can talk about when they work and when they don't, but no one does them.”
Parr: Ask references how an 8-out-of-10 candidate becomes a 10
“And so I say, what are they out of scale? One to 10. They always say an eight or nine. And I say, all right, how can they be a perfect tenant? Like what's missing? And then that's typically when they'll tell me like bad stuff. And I'm always looking for that b…”
Drumright: Asking for percentile rankings forces honesty during reference checks
“Where would you rank this person in the top percent of people you've worked with? Top one percent, top five percent, top 10%, top 15, top 20. But I generally find it's a forcing function for honesty because it's a binary question. Right, and it's harder to ski…”
Duboe: Conduct candidate reference checks early rather than as late formalities
“I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is doing references too late and kind of treating it as a formality. Doing them early on, I think is a great way to kind of filter.”
Hiring managers refusing to allow reverse reference checks are red flags
“And if a company says no, or a person says no. I think that actually says a bit more about them than, you know, anything else, if they're trying to kind of withhold that from you, because why would you? If I'm a great manager, I'm happy to have you talk to peo…”
Hiring managers should hide preferred candidate traits during reference checks
“The other way I like to do it is to provide contrast, to give the person an out, to not make it obvious to them that I have this ranking. And so I'll say things like when you think about this person and I I'll give you four different personas... And I won't te…”
Mehrotra: Coda ranks reference checks first, work exercises second, and standard interviews last
“But if I had to stack rank in, in interviewing, what do I look for? Reference check at the top, you know, work product and presentation next, and then all the interviews. If when they disagree, that's the order we judge it.”
Reid Hoffman: Reference checks tell you more than candidate interviews
“I believe reference checks can actually tell you more about a candidate than a one-on-one interview.”
Kate Noel: Reference checks should mandate contacts across multiple professional levels
“So for me, I feel like if we do have an opportunity to ask for referrals and we want something insightful to come from it, I like to give the task if it's applicable for people to give referrals at different levels. So instead of just saying, can you provide t…”
Marc Lore: Reference checks almost never change hiring decisions
“It's very, very, very rare, and I talked to people about this, that you'll actually change your mind from a reference. Like, I want to hire this person, let me check the references, and then you're like, no, now I'm not going to hire the person. Or, I don't th…”