Personal and Professional Reference Checks

This article will help you:

• Understand the process for Personal and Professional Reference Checks.
• Understand which questions will be asked for Personal and/or Professional Reference Checks
• Understand your candidate's experience

Checkr offers both Personal and Professional Reference Checks as part of the background check process.  

To add personal or professional reference checks to your screening packages or discuss pricing, please contact Checkr Customer Support.

What questions are asked for Personal Reference Checks?

The goal of a personal reference check is to vouch for the character of a candidate.

We will confirm the reference’s name, and then the reference will be asked:

1. What is the nature of your relationship with the candidate?
2. How long have you known them?
3. Would you recommend them to an employer?
4. Any additional comments?

For consistency purposes, the questions asked cannot be customized.

What questions are asked for Professional Reference Checks?

The goal of a professional reference check is to provide greater insight on a candidate’s work ability.

We will confirm the reference’s name, and then the reference will be asked:

1. What was/is the candidate's job and the nature of their duties?
2. How would you describe their job performance including strengths and weaknesses?
3. How did they get along with their associates?
4. How did they show initiative on the job?
5. How long have you known them?
6. When they begin a task, would you say that they carry it through to completion?
7. What could they do to improve their job performance?
8. Are they dependable?
9. In your opinion, have they ever shown a propensity for violence or dishonesty in the workplace?
10. Any additional comments?

For consistency purposes, the questions asked cannot be customized.

Candidate Experience

Personal and Professional Reference Verifications may be run as standalone Screenings.

Candidates will be asked to provide their name, date of birth, and contact information. They will also be asked to provide their reference’s name, relationship to the candidate, phone number, and email address.

They will then be presented and asked to acknowledge receipt of applicable forms and notifications, including the Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and an Acknowledgement and Authorization for Background Check.

After receiving the information and the candidate’s consent to proceed, Checkr will initiate the Reference Check process.

Checkr works with a third-party researcher to conduct outreach to personal and professional references. The researcher will attempt to contact the reference once a day for three days, using a combination of the phone number and email that is provided by the candidate.

The researcher will reach out three times over three days to each contact. If the original reference refers the researcher to another reference, the researcher will attempt outreach two more times over two days.

After the outreach, we will update the candidate’s report. The status of this screening on the report will either be Clear or Consider.

• Clear means that the vendor was able to reach the reference and has included the answers to the questions listed above. It is up to the customer to read this information and decide what steps to take next.
• Consider means that the vendor was unable to reach the reference. The notes section will therefore be blank and it is up to the customer to decide what steps to take next.
  

A reference giving adverse information (for example, “I would not recommend them to an employer”) will result in a Clear status because the screening is complete. Any additional information will be included in the notes.

If you've applied for a job and are looking for more information on your background check’s status or progress, please log into the Checkr Candidate Portal.