"You cannot allow the important decision that you're about to make get hijacked by somebody else's agenda."

Notable Moments

01:02 Being strategic when choosing references for job applications.

05:29 Use references to verify professional history objectively.

06:40 Subjective questions risk skewed, unobjective performance evaluations.

11:22 Proper interviewing prevents agenda-driven hiring mistakes.

13:56 Assess each hiring step's purpose and effectiveness.

For years, I relied heavily on job references to gauge a candidate's potential. It isn't an uncommon practice. Leaders schedule reference calls, then ask for insights into a candidate’s performance, strengths, and weaknesses. You name it, it gets asked.

The problem is that this rarely gives insight into the authentic performance of someone. Instead, you end up with subjective opinions, cherry-picked praises, generic answers, hidden agendas, and non-stop bias. Employers end up getting answers that are often anything but the truth.

In fact, it took countless mistakes before I understood that traditional reference checks weren’t telling me what I needed to know. It became clear that I needed to make a shift and stop depending on references to validate what I hoped to hear. I shifted to calling references for truth verification and relied more on a robust interviewing process. And guess what? The quality of my hires improved dramatically. We started finding candidates who truly fit our roles and culture.

If you’re in a challenging season of hiring, consider evaluating and evolving your process. It may be time to part with old ways and embrace new techniques. Revamping the way you use job references can help you build a stronger team, one honest step at a time!

Connect with Tim and his team:

Website: https://bestculturesolutions.ca/

LinkedIn: Best Culture Solutions, Inc

Instagram: @best.culture.solutions  

Email: [email protected]