We can never learn or know too much about the people we interview to join our team and organization. People know more about themselves than we can ever know.
The same is true for the organization where they currently work. Those who work directly with the candidate know the person’s real strengths and weaknesses better than any interview process could hope to reveal.
To make better selections, good leaders go to great lengths to increase the odds of their assessments. To gain a better understanding of who people are and what skills and talents they might bring to the team, leaders turn to references to gain a deeper view. While references are usually selected by candidates because of their positive views, even advocates reveal important truths when asked the right questions.
Talking directly with people who have worked with and know this person well can provide invaluable intelligence that even a robust interview process can’t replicate. Asking references how the candidate responds to pressure and stress, how they have overcome challenges, and what would likely be the reason for their failure in any future role will often elicit insights important to making a quality decision.
When feasible, good leaders take the idea of references one step further. They use the collective networks of their entire organization to see if someone knows a current or former peer of the candidate who might confirm what it is like to work with them.
Confirming what we think we know about the candidate is what these unofficial references do. They also provide insight into whether the organization is pleased the candidate is leaving or has left, as most people are pushed out of an organization for a good reason. Raising any red flags we need to consider is how our network relationships add the most value.
Unfortunately, leaders and teams must make hiring decisions based on only a thin slice of the full picture. No wonder the track record for successful hires —those we would hire again two years later — is only slightly above a coin toss.
Learning how others who have worked with the candidate see them is essential to increasing the odds of great selections. The collected networks of the entire organization can lend a hand.
