For each job opening you post, you're likely to receive dozens, even hundreds, of applications. Interviewing these applicants will give you some idea of their business skills, but interviews often hide as much as they reveal. To find out more about a person's abilities, call the job references listed on their application and pepper their former bosses with questions.

Contacting job references can:

1. Tell you how well an applicant may fit in with the rest of your employees.
2. Identify which skills an applicant has actually demonstrated in the past.
3. Save you money by separating the star performers from the hapless.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get permission

Before you start calling a candidate's references, the candidate must give you permission to call his or her former employers.

I recommend: Include a reference check permission form in your application package – filling in the blanks as appropriate – and have potential employees fill it out while applying.

Prepare your questions

When you call former employers, have a list of questions handy and let that list guide you through the interview.

I recommend: Your list of questions can be simple with fewer than ten questions that you follow like a script, or more open-ended with a few dozen questions to consider, depending on who you're speaking with. You can also verify information with a standard reference check letter. Download a template from AllBusiness.

Enlist online human resources help

QuickBase, from Intuit, is a Web-based solution that can give you access to helpful information on managing the hiring process.

I recommend: See QuickBase back office and HR solutions for what's available.

Stick to business

You're not trying to find new friends, so keep your questions professional and on-topic.

I recommend: If you feel you might venture into troubled waters while conducting interviews, print out a list of unacceptable questions and keep it handy as a warning.

Hire an investigator

Still not sure that you can tell the phenoms from the phony baloney? Then sign up with a professional reference-checking service.

I recommend: Instead of calling former employers, call a reference service such as Peter LeVine Associates Inc., Verifications Inc., Global Verification Services or AXiOM International and let them do the work – but before doing so, have the candidate authorize this background check.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Call references. You can ask follow-up questions immediately if an unusual answer warrants more investigation.
• •  Contact at least three references. One rave review might be accidental; two suggest a trend; three show consistency.
• •  Ask former employers to describe the applicant's previous job duties, promotions or demotions.
• •  Verify employment dates, job titles, salary history, attendance record and reason for leaving.
• •  After asking a question, give the reference time to think of a response. Don't suggest answers or rush the person for an answer.
• •  Don't expect references to spill the beans on employees who misbehaved. The threat of lawsuits will lead many employers to say 'no comment' in place of anything negative.