Preparing your References to provide effective reference checks

Congratulations! The interview process has progressed to the point where the prospective employer is ready to do reference checks. You are still in the running for the position. This is no small feat. Depending on the position, you may be one of twenty-five to well over a hundred applicants. Reference checks can be critical and they are generally only done on a small group of 5 or less candidates. Depending on the institution, reference checks can come after 1st round zoom interviews and be a major factor in advancing one’s candidacy to a finalist status.

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As part of applying for an academic job (administrative or faculty), you were likely required to provide three to five references with full contact information. In some cases, the institution may ask you to divulge the relationship the reference has to you. I generally recommend you strategically identify references who can speak and give direct examples of things you would like to highlight. Do not pick a reference based on their position or friendship. Personally, I like to provide references who can present a 360 degree perspective of my work. For example, I often identify my current supervisor, someone I supervise or is a direct report to me, a peer, and depending on the position you are applying for, other references could be a community person who can speak your external activities, or someone who can address a specific area identified in the position description, or they could be a current or former student.

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Depending on the institution, some reference checkers will only contact references you provide. For other institutions, some will also include off-reference checks like colleagues or supervisors or someone who knows of your work at your current institution. This is why it is critical to have your current supervisor on your reference list. For some employers, if you do not list your current supervisor, this raises a red flag and it could inadvertently send a wrong message about your work experiences. At the same time, I realize some people do not want to identify their current supervisor, because they do not want them to know they are seeking another position elsewhere. While this is a concern, I believe transparency is the best policy and in my experience, all my past supervisors were very supportive. It is better for you to list your supervisor versus them finding out on their own.

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Prior to doing reference checks, prospective employers as a professional courtesy, usually contact the candidate to inform them that they will be contacting your references. In some cases, they ask you to let your references know to expect a call or email from the prospective employer. In other cases, it is a good idea to give your references a heads up to expect a communication from the search firm or prospective employer.

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Beyond giving your references a heads up to expect a communication to schedule a call, I highly recommend you prepare your references, so they can give you the best and most relevant reference check. How do you do this? Review the position description and reflect on the zoom or airport interview questions you were asked. This gives you a sense of what is important to the search committee. The reference checkers are likely to have some general questions, but they may also have some specific questions related to what is important for the search committee to inquire. Typical reference check questions are: 1) What can you tell me about John Doe?; 2) What are John Doe’s strengths?; 3) What could John Doe improve upon or work on? Or does John Doe have any weaknesses? Most reference check calls last around 15-30 minutes at most.

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Based on my experience, reference checks usually confer what the checkers already knew about you. However, once in a while, reference checks can reveal an area of concern or new insight, which could cast doubt or add value on whether your candidacy is advanced. This is why it is important to prepare your references. You can’t do much about off-reference checks, but you can convey to your references, what message you want them to share to the reference checker. Take advantage of this opportunity and don’t leave it to chance. In the past, I have given my references a one pager with bullet points of the things I believe are important to share with the caller. For example, I have used three principles underlying my leadership: 1) collaboration; 2) communication; and 3) empowerment. By providing these three principles, I ask my references to embed their responses around one or more of these three principles.

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In conclusion, do not take for granted that your references will give you a coherent and polished response to the checker’s questions. Help them formulate your reference’s responses and you are likely to come out of the process with a positive result.