I’m one of those folks who likes to check references for prospective employees. Yesterday was a perfect example of the ideal situation. On a scale of 1 to 10, I was at about an 8.5 on the enthusiasm scale when considering extending an offer to one candidate. Then I called his references. Wow. Talk about off the charts raving fans. These weren’t the “Yeah, Pete’s a great guy” kind of comments. I interview references. I ask questions that require specificity. After 3 reference calls my enthusiasm for hiring the candidate was at 9.5 or 10. That’s what great references can do.

Earlier in the week I had just the opposite experience. I was at about an 8 in enthusiasm for an engineering candidate. I called two references. One was pretty good, but there were a lot of caveats in his testimony. Then I called another reference and he provided quite a bit of detail about how this software engineer had struggled within their team. We decided to pass on extending an offer.

The reality is that even in a controlled interview loop with four members of our team, it’s impossible to know for certain. References can provide more color and insight than an interview alone can provide. Hiring good people is such an important element of success, I’m surprised how many people opt not to invest in checking references.