Cracking the ex-files: conventional wisdom says that former employers won't give references. It's not so. The trick lies in whom you ask, and how you ask them

Workforce, Sept, 2003 by Joe Mullich

DAVE DIBBLE HEARD a long and uncomfortable pause on the other end of the phone line. He understood the hesitation. He was, after all, seeking a vital piece of information from someone he had never met. But it wasn't as if Dibble, director of human resources for Presidion Corp., one of the nation's largest professional employer organizations, was a private eye or investigative reporter chasing down a controversial story. He merely wanted a reference for a job applicant named Ben who was seeking a mid-level accounting position. From the hemming and hawing, Dibble could tell that Ben's former supervisor wished he hadn't picked up the phone.

"I'm really sorry," the supervisor said. "I can't tell you anything more than his job title and dates of employment. Company policy."

Dibble said he understood, and verified that Ben had been a staff accountant from May 1999 to June 2003. "Before I let you go," Dibble said. "do you mind if I ask just one more thing?"

"Yeah, okay," the supervisor said.

"This is an important job, and it would really help me out if you could just give me an inkling of Ben's work performance. If you were going to rate what kind of employee he was on a scale of 1 to 10, would you give him an 8, 9 or 10?"

The supervisor thought for a flash and said, "No question. He was a 9." Without prompting, he gave a couple of reasons for the high rating. And within a few minutes, he and Dibble were gabbing like old pals.

When people are comfortable, they talk.

Recalling the conversation, Dibble says that he rarely encounters resistance when he asks references to rate job candidates on a 1-to-10 scale. "References are comfortable because I've defined the playing field and, after all, it's just a number."

Most hiring managers have taken a spin on the reference-checking merry-go-round. In the morning, they might sidestep a call from someone wanting a reference on a former employee by saying that company lawyers prevent them from commenting on job performance. Then, in the afternoon, the same manager will be the one trying to break through the "stone wall of silence" to check the references of a prospective employee.

Given the high level of resistance, probing into the background of applicants may seem like an inefficient use of time. But as Lester Rosen, president of Employment Screening Resources in Novato, California, points out, a thorough background check is one of the best ways to catch falsified credentials and avoid the "parade of horribles" of a bad hire--poor productivity, employee theft and workplace violence.

EXPECT SUCCESS

Many managers, knowing their own policy against giving references, simply won't make such calls when they are hiring. Or, at best, they expect roadblocks which often turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. "If you start off saying to a reference, 'Listen I know you're not supposed to tell me this,' then he's not going to tell you," Dibble says.

He and other experts say they get into the proper mind-set by remembering all the good that comes from background checking. Just letting prospective employees know that you check references discourages applicants with criminal backgrounds or falsified credentials. Besides, if a former employer will verify, nothing more than dales of employment, even that can reveal gaps in work history that might indicate a criminal record or other problems.

The most useful references normally come from by passing the human resources department and going straight to the applicant's former supervisor. But the way in which that supervisor is approached could have a big influence on whether he opens up. "If you sound like you're reading a script and being mechanical they'll respond in the same way," says Kevin Klimas, president of Clarifacts, a pre-employment screening service based in Phoenix. "You need to loosen tip, be friendly and plead to human nature."

Before calling a former employer, determine what information is directly relevant to the position being filled and stick to appropriate questions. "People basically want to do what's right," says Chuck Pappalardo, managing director of Trilogy Venture Search, an executive recruitment firm in San Francisco. "If you ask good questions and demonstrate that you are being smart about uncovering information for the benefit of the applicant and the hiring company, you are more likely to get assistance." Don't push references past their willingness to help, though. "I'll say, 'I don't want to offend you or make you uncomfortable, but you would want me to be just as diligent if I were doing the search for you," Pappalardo says. "So I ask them to help me out to the level they are comfortable."

Oftentimes, a reference will be put at ease with an appeal for objective information such as a 1-to-10 scale or a description of the duties of the applicant's former job. "I always ask if they would hire the employee again," says Scott Testa, COO for Mindbridge Software, a technology firm in Philadelphia. "Most people will tell you that. I listen not just to what they say, but how I hey say it. Do they hesitate? Backpedal?"