The Right Way to Check Someone’s References

You think you’ve found the right candidate to fill your open position and now it’s time to check references. What’s the best way to get the information you need? Should you ask each person the same questions? What do you read—if anything—into the tone of their voice? And how do you overcome the fact that so many companies only allow you to talk to HR and confirm the most basic information?

Rebecca Knight is a journalist who writes about all things related to the changing nature of careers and the workplace. Her essays and reported stories have been featured in The Boston Globe, Business Insider, The New York Times, BBC, and The Christian Science Monitor. She was shortlisted as a Reuters Institute Fellow at Oxford University in 2023. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade as an editor and reporter at the Financial Times in New York, London, and Boston.

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