Reference checks are used to diminish ambiguity, obtain specific job-related information, further evaluate a candidate’s technical and other professional skills, and verify the accuracy of a candidate's background. The following are best practices at CIRES for checking references: 

Reference checks should be conducted at the appropriate point in the search process--that means, not until the finalists for the role have been identified. 

If you conduct HireVue interviews, which are considered screening interviews, please do not check references concurrently with those screenings. It is difficult to identify the true finalists for a role after screening interviews.   

We would like the hiring committee Chair to request professional references by contacting both your Central HR Recruiter and your CIRES Recruiter when your team has identified the true finalists for the role (usually 2-5 top candidates), and after these finalists have accepted your invitation to interview either virtually or in-person (these interviews are usually 45 to 60 minutes in length, involve the full hiring committee, and offer an opportunity for the candidate to both answer and ask questions).

If you have visa restrictions or urgent start dates, make sure that a candidate can meet the required start date before you invite them to interview or request references from their professional contacts. Please reach out to CIRES HR so that we can help you screen candidates for eligibility.   

We use Crosschq questionnaires to check references for University Staff positions. Crosschq is a digital reference check platform used throughout the University of Colorado Boulder campus to complete the professional reference check process. You can see a sample Crosschq survey here.  

Please remember that CIRES does not accept professional references from friends or from family members.  

While checking a candidate's references, please respect their confidentiality:

• Do not reach out to professional references directly, even if their names and contact information were included in a candidate's CV. 
• We need written permission from the candidate to contact each and every one of their references. 
• If they are identified as a finalist, candidates will be prompted to enter contact information for each referee and grant the committee permission to contact these references.  
• The hiring manager will have access to each finalist's reference reports. Please consider whether or not this information should be shared with other members of the hiring committee. In cases where the finalist will be the supervisor of one of the hiring committee members, or will be reporting to the selected candidate, it may be best practice not to share the full reports.  
• If you would like to follow up with any of the referees after reading the reference reports, please contact CIRES HR and the Central HR  Recruiter to notify them of your intention. 
• Maintain the highest level of confidentiality throughout the process and never reveal the content of a report to anyone outside the hiring committee. 

Reference check phone or video calls

• If you follow up with a referee after reading a Crosschq report, please introduce yourself and mention that they are a finalist for a role. Do not say that they have been selected, as you need to complete all reference checks before you can actually make an official selection.  
• It is best practice not to cold-call a professional reference. Please reach out to them by email first and make an appointment to hold the reference check call at a convenient time for the referee. Some applicants offer common office phone numbers for their references. Please don’t leave confidential information through voicemail. Please state your name and callback number and ask the person of interest to call you back. 
• Do not delegate the reference gathering process to anyone outside the hiring committee. If these are needed, the hiring chair should conduct the reference check calls. Reference check calls may happen as a follow-up to a questionnaire survey. 
• When speaking with a reference, do not discuss a specific rating of concern. We recommend a more general approach in order to receive a more candid reply: “We are seeing lower scores in the technical area of ”code writing" than we expected. Can you share your perspective about the candidate regarding this skill?"
• Consider whether performance problems reported by previous employers are in areas that might affect performance in the position you are filling and how long it has been since the performance issues were reported, as there may have been opportunity for growth since then. 
• Be sure there is a job-related reason for asking any and all questions.  
• Do not raise any questions that fall under the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) protected class information, such as questions regarding gender, race, color, national origin, age, disability, or religion.