Add More Rigor to Your Reference Calls With These 25 Questions

When approached with craft and care, reference calls can be a massively influential piece of the hiring decision.

There’s heaps of advice out there on how to prepare for interviewing a candidate — tips for structuring the process, thoughts on the right set of questions to ask, and advice on distilling down the feedback across the hiring panel. It is an undoubtedly essential process to get right.

But, oddly, when it comes time to pick up the phone to call up references, far too many hiring managers treat this as a check-the-box activity, farming the process out to their recruiting partner — or perhaps even skipping over it entirely when they’re in a rush.

There are plenty of well-reasoned theories for why folks take a haphazard approach here. Reference checks are the very last step in most interview loops, likely after rounds of time-sucking interviews, before the rush of making an offer. After a painstaking hiring process, sorting through dozens (or even hundreds) of options, there’s a candidate who the hiring panel is excited about. So folks go into the reference check looking to just confirm a decision they’ve already mostly made — after all, a negative reference could derail the entire process, and send it back to square one. Somewhat subconsciously, hiring managers ask soft-balled questions of the reference, who delivers the perfunctory, expected answers, and the cycle repeats until the offer is made.

When was the last time you heard something on a reference call that stopped you in your tracks or truly changed your mind?

Alternatively, even hiring managers who go into the reference phase with their minds not fully made up may still find that the process leaves much to be desired. These references were probably hand-picked by the candidate, and aren’t likely to be fully candid while parroting back all the strengths the candidate already told you about at length during the interview process. The hiring manager learns very little that’s new, and the whole reference process feels like wasted time.

After a few hiring cycles where reference calls play out this way, it’s not surprising that hiring managers start to write them off. But it’s an enormous mistake.

When approached with craft and care, reference calls can be a massively influential piece of the hiring decision. After all, you’ve spent — at maximum — a couple of hours with the candidate (along with perhaps reviewing some work samples or a practical exercise). Here’s your chance to speak to folks who have spent months, or even years, working closely with the candidate every single day. They’ve seen them at their absolute best — and possibly at their worst, too.

To help add more rigor to references, we put out a call to startup leaders and operators in our community for their favorite questions to ask during reference calls, assembling our favorites into a comprehensive guide for hiring managers.

Across the board, the experienced leaders we’ve spoken to agree that reference checks are a massively underrated component of the hiring process. It’s an essential tool in a leader’s tool belt — when approached the right way. The questions that follow skip the softballs and dig beneath the surface to uncover a more holistic picture of the candidate you’re considering hiring.

Looking to quickly access all the questions (plus some extra bonus questions)? We’ve assembled them into a handy guide for your next reference call Download the PDF below.

QUESTIONS FOR ASSESSING HOW THEY STACK UP

1. How does this person compare to the best you’ve ever seen in the role?

While this question is asking about the candidate’s chops, it’s also laying the groundwork for how much stock to take in the reference, too. “I first want to get a sense if the reference is a reliable judge by asking how they've worked both with this individual, as well as others in similar roles. If they've only worked with one Head of RevOps, then asking them to compare to others won't yield great data,” says Sean Twersky, Head of Business Operations at EvenUp.

Similarly, Stacy Tumarkin, CFO at Kubecost, asks: How many people have you worked with in [candidate’s] role/level? How would you rank [candidate] among their peers?

And Nadia Singer, Chief People Officer at Figma, prefers this variation: What is something that [candidate] is better at than anyone else you've worked with in this role?

2. On a scale of 1 - 100, how would you rank this person?

Asking references to rate a candidate on a scale of 1-10 is a bit more common, but Twersky makes the case for a wider scale. “I’ve found 1-100 more insightful as you'll usually get a low 90's response, allowing you to follow up with ‘Ok, so why not rate 100?’”

While he’s looking for a high quantitative ranking, Twersky is also trying to get a feel for whether the reference is jumping out of their seat to tell him about the candidate. “Are they cutting me off to tell me how great someone is? I was doing a reference call for a Director of Finance and the reference interrupted me and said, ‘Look, I see where you're going. Let me be straight, [candidate] is the best strategic finance person I have ever worked with. She doesn't build the prettiest models but your team will love her and she'll be a truly value-add thought partner to you. Stop wasting your time and hire her.’ And he was right — she was one of the best hires I ever made.”

3. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), how do you rate XYZ on [specific trait or ability]?

Jason Yoong (former Head of Program at Amazon) sticks with the 1-10 scale — but deploys it in a very particular way. “I believe the 1-10 rating scale question is effective when used with two intentional follow-ups.”

What is the reason you did not rate XYZ (insert a number that is 1-2 points higher)? “This allows you to dive deep into the why as people share interesting reasons or past experiences, along with areas of improvement.”

What is the reason you did not rate XYZ (insert a number that is 1-2 points lower)? “This gets to the candidate’s superpower.”

4. Can you tell me about a project that would have failed without [candidate]?

“This question gives me more insight into the candidate’s perceived strengths as well as how much (or how little) initiative they take,” says Auzita Irani, Research Manager at Airbnb.

5. What haven’t I asked that, if you were me, you would want to know about this person?

While this might seem like a natural question to end the call with, Marco Zappacosta actually recommends asking it towards the middle of the conversation in order to unlock any unexpected rabbit holes. “This question gives references the free license to say what they’ve wanted to share,” he says.

QUESTIONS FOR PROBING GROWTH MINDSET

6. Would you rehire this person for almost any role?

Loom’s COO Anique Drumright talked at length about her approach to reference checks on the In Depth podcast and shared that this is one of her favorite questions to lean on. “Because there are certain people that you truly would rehire in just about any capacity. But often in response to this question, you’ll hear many caveats: ‘Well, it would really depend on what the role is — it’d have to be this specific thing.’ That’s an indicator to me that this candidate is not as flexible or as much as a generalist that I need right now,” explained Drumright.

Across the board, with her full slate of questions, Drumright underlines that she’s acutely listening for a particular flavor of zest and gusto.

I'm really listening for how enthusiastic or passionate they are when they talk about the candidate. There are some people on my team that I can’t wait for the day I get to give a reference for and talk about how amazing they are for 30 minutes.

7. What was an experience where you saw the candidate grow?

Here, Vishal Kapoor is looking for precise examples of how the candidate evolved, and he always follows up with: What might still be the candidate's growth areas?

8. Can you share an experience where [candidate] really blew your mind?

Subscript’s founder and CEO Sidharth Kakkar likes this twist on the question. “You get to see if they can come up with anything, and you can evaluate if it is really truly impressive. The best candidates spike very high in some things, and you can get confirmation that this person really is spectacular at something.”

9. [Candidate] said one of the things they struggled with when they were at the company was [weakness]. Do you recall cases where that got them into trouble?

Asking about weaknesses in a reference call can be tricky — after all, the reference is likely rooting for the candidate and trying to present them in the most positive light. So Subscript’s Sidharth Kakkar starts the question off by specifically mentioning something that came directly from the candidate themself. “This gives the referencer permission to speak about a weakness — since the candidate already brought it up — and then you can figure out exactly how problematic that weakness was.”

10. Do you have any examples of times when the candidate demonstrated grit? Not giving up?

Jad Esber (co-founder and CEO of koodos labs) recommends this question to dig beyond the bullet points on a candidate’s resume. They might be a performance marketing wizard, but what are moments or stories that might not be adequately captured on a resume?

QUESTIONS ABOUT ROLE FIT

11. Explain the role at length and what success looks like in the first year. Do you think that [candidate] will thrive in that position?

Looking back on some of the mis-hires she’s made over the years — and how she could have approached the reference call differently — former Stripe COO-turned-advisor Claire Hughes Johnson flags a common bug: skipping over some essential context setting.

Titles don’t tell you everything. I’ve made the mistake of going into a reference call and assuming that a Head of Sales role is understandable enough and I don’t need to describe my version of it to the reference.

12. Tell me about a time when you saw this leader build a new team. They said they did it at the company. Can you tell me what you observed?

Another common mistake that Thumbtack CEO Marco Zappacosta flags for folks is being too wide-reaching in your reference calls. Instead of trying to learn everything possible about the candidate, choose a much narrower scope.

13. If you were to design an ideal role for this person, what would it be?

First Round Partner Brett Berson likes to give the reference plenty of space to color outside of the lines with this question.

14. What was something unique about this candidate's team versus other teams?

Vishal Kapoor suggests asking this question for any candidates who are applying for people manager roles.

QUESTIONS ABOUT REAL-LIFE WORK SCENARIOS

15. Can you tell me about a time that the candidate missed a deadline and how they communicated that to you and the broader team?

"I assume that a reference will be largely positive, so I like to use the time during a reference call to learn about how the candidate handled situations that did not go so great. It helps me glean insights into how working with the candidate would be,” says Kanan Kapadia, co-founder of the Abstract Group.

16. Can you tell me about a time when you had to provide critical feedback to [candidate]? How did they receive it and what actionable changes did you see after the feedback was delivered?

17. How does this person deal with differences in opinion?

Connor Fitzgerald, Director of Business Development at Coinstar, makes sure to touch on this question because, as he tells it, the majority of stress in the office can often be boiled down to well-meaning folks disagreeing.

18. Can you share someone who maybe doesn’t necessarily get along with [candidate] as well as you do? Why do you think they don’t mesh well?

19. What was [candidate’s] reputation within the organization or department? Among customers?

Here, Stacy Tumarkin is looking to expand a bit beyond the immediate team — how does the candidate wield influence across the org? How do they approach building and maintaining cross-functional relationships?

QUESTIONS FOR SETTING UP THE MANAGER / DIRECT REPORT RELATIONSHIP

20. What "special treatment" helps [candidate] do their best work?

This question from Brie Wolfson (a former marketing leader at Stripe and Figma) harkens back to what was once one of her least favorite bits of leadership advice that she came around to eventually.

21. How well do you think [candidate] will do with my management style?

“Be aware that most references are cautious to say anything that will cause the individual to lose their offer. So use this opportunity to have an honest discussion about the work the candidate is about to embark on,” says Richard Cho, Head of People at Alchemy.

22. What causes the candidate stress or friction?

“My reference questions are all variations of the first 1:1 questions I have with my direct reports. My goal for reference calls is to understand how to be the best manager and leader to my new hire, rather than find reasons to not work with them,” says Danielle Leong, VP of Engineering at FireHydrant.

23. How do you think I can best support this person to make sure they thrive here?

24. How did you build trust with this person?

25. If you heard in three months that this person was no longer working at our company, why do you think they would be gone?

WRAPPING UP: PUT IN THE WORK

With a couple of reference calls under your belt — all ringing endorsements of your top candidate most likely — it might be tempting to put the phone down and start preparing the offer letter. But this isn’t the time to get complacent — particularly if you’re hiring for a high-impact leadership role.