Agencies urged to standardize reference checks

Federal agencies should standardize the process for checking the references of potential hires and should train managers how to conduct effective checks, the Merit Systems Protection Board recommended in a new report.

The report, published last week by MSPB's Office of Policy Evaluation, calls on the Office of Personnel Management to develop guidelines for standardizing the procedure. In its Delegated Examining Operations Handbook, OPM advises agencies to verify information from job applicants, but does not suggest how, the report-- Reference Checking in Federal Hiring--stated.

Of those supervisors surveyed by MSPB, more than 75 percent who had hired professional or administrative employees checked their references and more than three fourths of that group said they believe the process predicts job performance to either a "very great" or "moderate" extent.

While most managers found the checks to be effective, the board found little consistency among agencies' procedures and noted that some agencies delegate the responsibility to human resources officials and some to supervisors themselves. Some agencies offer training upon request, while others offer no help. In some agencies, reference checks are used only to verify information included on the job applications; others use them to evaluate applicants' skills.

Agencies need not adopt standardized questions for the checks, MSPB said. A better approach would be to develop a new set of core questions for each vacancy, the report recommended.

Officials should check references when there are a handful of applicants left, the board said. Too many would be a strain on resources, but waiting until only one applicant is left does not provide comparative insight, the report stated. Reference checks should be completed for all employees under consideration at that time, in order to avoid unfairly targeted checking, MSPB added.

Questions should be open-ended to encourage references to provide further observation, the report suggested. It also advised beginning the interview with easier, factual questions to develop a rapport with the reference. Those questions should be followed by evaluative questions and finally by questions about developmental needs of the applicant, the board said.

MSPB recommended interviewing employers who have worked with the applicant for at least six months in the last five years.

The report also addressed managers' concerns about legal issues.

"A recurring misconception among those asked about reference checking is that discussing performance or job-related behavior of an employee is not legal," the report said.

All questions should relate to the job, MSPB noted. Personal questions are not legally defensible. The report advised staying away from questions about religious practices in particular. With that exception, reference checking can be done with "minimal risk of legal liability," the board said.