I think contacting references can essentially create a bias.

6 Comments

1. AnonymousFebruary 19,2025 at 3:09PM UTC

   I'm struggling to follow your line of thought. At no point in my professional career have I ever provided a reference that would say anything but glowing things about me. And I provided everyone with concrete talking points of things I wanted them to cover so the reference stayed on track.

   Reference checks creating a bias? So lets remove that from the formula and then challenge the applicant to make up that gap in their interview skills. Then everyone on this board would be whining about the bias the interviewer applied! Or they were nervous, didn't expect the question, the interview process was too long, blah, blah, blah.

   Not sure reference checks are going away any time soon so let's be solutions-oriented and guide people to choosing better colleagues and professional contacts to tout their work.

2. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 20,2025 at 2:13AM UTC

   I have to imagine that the jobseekers who provided references to me (when we used to check references) that said less than glowing things about them also thought that they would be getting a great reference from that person.

   I haven't worked for a company that checks references in years - we do employment and education verification.

3. AnonymousFebruary 19,2025 at 6:43PM UTC

   What? The very nature of a reference is biased. It's a way to qualify you. I would never consider hiring anyone without references. Its the bare minimum of due diligence.

4. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 20,2025 at 2:14AM UTC

   I haven't worked for a company that checks references in many years - we do employment and education verification. And drug test.

5. AnonymousFebruary 20,2025 at 4:12PM UTC

   Aren't reference checks usually someone you *choose* who you are fairly confident will speak highly of you? Do you mean employment verification?

6. AnonymousFebruary 20,2025 at 4:23PM UTC

   That's why it's a best practice to just use the services of a verification company when someone reaches out for references. The company will only validate time at company, time in role they were in when they left and title. That's it.