References are important for HR professionals

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This is according to Maryanne Tiedemann, general manager at Network Recruitment Johannesburg. "There is often juicy information that the referee does not mention but that you can pick up if you read between the lines. It's imperative that the person taking the reference probes the referee thoroughly and 'connects the dots' to follow information to its logical conclusion to get the full picture."

Legitimacy and credibility

This starts with checking the names of the references provided - are they really former employers or managers, or a friend doing a favour? Sometimes candidates provide friends' or family's names as references, so the legitimacy and credibility of references must be established at the outset.

To do this, she advises contacting the HR departments of all the previous employers listed and verifying the candidate's designations, dates of employment, reason for leaving and the managers they reported to. "References listed with just a cellphone number should send up red flags immediately. These names must be confirmed with the HR department of the company concerned to guarantee their authenticity. If there is a discrepancy between the reference name on the CV and that provided by the HR department, the candidate should be contacted directly and asked about the discrepancy and for the correct reference name," Tiedemann says.

Former roles and duties

Next, the CV should be scrutinised and close attention paid to the candidate's former roles, duties and responsibilities. This enables the reference taker to identify inconsistencies between the information provided on the CV and that being verbalised as part of the reference. This is important in identifying possible embellishments or fabrications. Employment dates on references are also valuable clues to determine discrepancies if there is misleading information on a candidates CV.

Although written references are acceptable, these too should be verified. "Due to the importance of background checks and the risk of receiving fraudulent documentation, the referee should be contacted to validate the contents of their reference," she adds.

When taking references, it's important that specific information that does not allow for opinions and biases is requested. If at any point something is unclear, the referee should be asked to clarify their statement. "References have a major impact on an individual's career, so assumptions should never be made. A good habit to adopt is to read the referee's answers back to them to avoid any miscommunication," Tiedemann concludes.