Most reference calls confirm what you already know. These 12 questions, organised by competency, turn a 20-minute call into the most useful evidence you collect before making an offer.
Here is how most reference calls go. The founder calls, asks if the candidate was reliable and a good communicator, gets two or three warm "yes, absolutely" responses, and hangs up feeling confirmed. They already wanted to hire this person. Now they feel like they did their due diligence.
They did not. They got three coached positive reviews from people the candidate personally selected.
The problem is not that references lie. It is that they are primed. The candidate told them the call was coming, probably told them what role it is for, and chose the three people most likely to describe them warmly. You are not getting a neutral assessment. You are getting a curated one.
The solution is not to stop checking references. It is to ask different questions. Questions that require specific evidence, not impressions. Questions that make it easier for a referee to be honest without feeling disloyal. Questions that would surface something important even when the reference likes the candidate.
The most useful frame for a reference call is this: you are conducting a structured interview with someone who worked closely with your candidate. That means going in with a list of competencies you care about and a set of questions that will produce evidence, not impressions.
If you built a scorecard before you started interviewing (which you should have), pull it out before your reference calls. Your three to four competencies become the organising categories for your questions. Any evidence you get from a reference should map directly onto the same scoring framework your interviewers used. That makes the reference call useful data, not anecdote.
How to Structure Your 20-Minute Reference Call
One practical step before you call: tell the candidate you will be checking references and ask them to brief their referees that you will be in touch. This removes the awkwardness of a cold call and, more usefully, means referees are expecting a substantive conversation rather than a quick confirmation.
These are the questions I use across Valuable Recruitment searches when the reference call is the final gate before an offer. They are organised into four categories: performance, working style, development areas, and rehire intent. Use three questions per category and you will fill 20 minutes with evidence that actually informs a decision.
12 Reference Check Questions by Category
| Category | Question | What you're learning |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | In what specific areas did [candidate] consistently exceed your expectations? | Where they are genuinely strong, not just adequate |
| Performance | What was their single most significant contribution while working with you? | Whether they can point to real, specific output |
| Performance | How would you describe the quality and consistency of their work? Were there patterns in where it was strongest or where it fell short? | Whether their output is reliable or highly variable |
| Working style | How did they handle situations where the direction was unclear or the answer was not obvious? | Comfort with ambiguity, a core startup requirement |
| Working style | Tell me about a time they had a disagreement with a colleague or pushback on their work. How did they handle it? | Conflict style, ego, coachability |
| Working style | What kind of manager and work environment brought out their best? And what kind of environment was a poor match for them? | Whether your company structure fits them |
| Development areas | What is the area where you think they have the most room to grow? | Honest weakness without framing it as a fatal flaw |
| Development areas | Were there any situations where their performance or approach concerned you? | Specific incidents that were out of pattern |
| Development areas | If you could give them one piece of feedback they have not fully acted on yet, what would it be? | Recurring development need that feedback hasn't shifted |
| Rehire intent | Would you hire this person again if you had a role that fits their skills? | The single most predictive reference question |
| Rehire intent | Is there anything about this role (describe it briefly) that you think might be a stretch for them right now? | A structured way to invite honest concern |
| Rehire intent | Is there anything I have not asked about that you think I should know? | Gives the referee an opening to share something important |
The difference between a useful reference call and a pointless one usually comes down to specificity. Generic questions get generic answers. Specific questions require the referee to produce evidence, and evidence is what you are after.
Weak (gets you nothing)
"Was [candidate] a good communicator?"Strong (gets you evidence)
"Tell me about a time they had to present a difficult finding to a senior stakeholder. How did they handle it and what was the response?"Weak (gets you nothing)
"Did they take initiative?"Strong (gets you evidence)
"What is an example of something they identified and fixed that was not part of their job description?"Weak (gets you nothing)
"How were they to work with?"Strong (gets you evidence)
"Describe a time they had a real disagreement with someone on the team. What happened and how did they handle it?"Any time you get a vague answer, follow up with: "Can you give me a specific example of that?" If the referee cannot, that is data too.
Experienced recruiters know that the most useful information in a reference call often comes from how something is said, not what is said. A few signals to pay close attention to:
Reference call red flags
If you only have five minutes and can ask one question, ask this:
"Would you hire this person again?"
Then, no matter what they say, follow with: "What would make you hesitate?"
Research consistently shows this is the most predictive single reference question. The reason is not the yes or no. It is what happens after the follow-up. A referee who says "absolutely, no hesitation" and then offers a genuine, specific development area is giving you useful information. A referee who says "yes definitely" and immediately changes the subject or becomes vague is also giving you useful information.
The hesitation question gives referees permission to be honest without feeling disloyal. Most referees want to give you something real. They just need a graceful way in.
Reference checks work best when they map to the same competencies your interviewers scored. HireLikeaPro generates a custom scorecard with competencies and scoring guidance in 2 minutes.
A few practical things that make a real difference:
Before you call
For senior hires, consider a back-channel reference as well. This means identifying someone in your network who worked with the candidate and calling them independently, without the candidate knowing. Back-channel references are often more candid because there is no social pressure from having been specifically selected.
Important: In most jurisdictions you can conduct a back-channel reference check, but be aware of local data protection requirements around what you can act on from unverified sources. When in doubt, treat back-channel information as directional, and verify through your formal process.
HireLikeaPro generates your job description, interview scorecard, and structured interview questions in under 2 minutes. Free forever.
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