My field is small enough that I will know someone one who knows an applicant. I am not afraid to call a Professor from the grad school to get there opinion. In my 20 years of hiring, a few people were helped by that (I was borderline on hiring vs. just leaving the position vacant), and one person was hurt. (The person never finished the Doctorate because we found out they fudged the data).

I alway check references, but they might not be the people you list.

I have worked for at least two (large) companies who never checked my references. Some places do and some don't, though I wonder if it's becoming less common to check.

I work for a small employer and we always call, but we ask the job candidate to provide info for contacts even if they are already on the application materials.

Some do, some don't; I've had 3 jobs where my references weren't checked and the in the remaining, they were.

Anonymous wrote:There are companies the specialze in doing just this -- they outource the work abroad and have them do all the calling.

I've gotten these calls. There are four or five questions, all highly scripted. The qustions are not given o open ended answers at all. In both cases I thought the candidates had outstanding and unique abilities worthy of special mention. Tried doing so to these interviewers and I may as well have been speaking to a door. I felt this was definitely just a check the box exercise.

Hiring people, what do you do when a reference doesn't return the call or isn't at the listed number anymore?

I applied for a bunch of fed jobs months ago and have started getting interviews, but I just found out today that one of my references left her job recently and isn't at the number I gave out. Going forward, I'll offer an updated list, but I'm worried about the places where I already interviewed.

Once someone has been interviewed, yeah, we check all references. It can help narrow down two or three finalists, it can give you a little more insight into the candidate's personality, and what the references says and doesn't say can be quite enlightening.

There are companies the specialze in doing just this -- they outource the work abroad and have them do all the calling.

I work for an independent school that doesn't check all references, and I wish they would. If they had, they wouldn't have hired a few toxic colleagues (like the one who was fired from her last two jobs).

Most usually do as a final decision point prior to sending out an offer letter. However, personally - I find the practice useless. Of course the references you list would say something nice, that's why you list them. I really don't see what the value add is and I feel like its normally done just to "check the box".

Some do, some don't. You just don't know which.

I do but only after interviewing you to see if you're a viable candidate. Only once have I not hired someone because of what a reference said.

Anonymous wrote:I work in HR and we do. Every company I've ever worked at has checked references.

Yes. Unless you ask them not to.

I work in HR and we do. Every company I've ever worked at has checked references.

Just wondering because my friend, who works in HR, said they rarely actually contact listed references. Can anyone else speak to that? TIA.