HR checklist

Employment Reference Check Questions: A Practical Checklist for HR

Good reference checks rely on consistent, job-relevant questions. Use these employment reference check questions as a starting point, then adapt them to the role.

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Core questions to ask a previous manager

  • How do you know the candidate, and for how long did you work together?
  • What were the candidate's job title and main responsibilities?
  • What were their dates of employment?
  • What were their biggest strengths in this role?
  • In which areas would they benefit from further development?
  • How did they work with colleagues, clients and leadership?
  • How did they handle pressure, deadlines and feedback?
  • Would you work with this person again? Why or why not?

Role-specific questions

  • Customer-facing roles: How did the candidate handle difficult customers or escalations?
  • Leadership roles: How did they develop, motivate and hold team members accountable?
  • Finance or cash-handling roles: How did they demonstrate accuracy and integrity?
  • Technical roles: Describe the complexity of the work they delivered independently.

Questions to avoid

Stay with job-relevant topics. Avoid questions about health, family plans, religion, age or other personal matters that do not relate to the role, and apply the same questions to every candidate so the process stays fair.

How to document and use the answers

  1. 1

    Use the same questionnaire per role

    Consistency makes answers comparable between candidates.

  2. 2

    Record answers in writing

    Keep a record tied to the candidate file rather than scattered notes.

  3. 3

    Compare with the résumé and interview

    Flag discrepancies and give the candidate a chance to explain them.

  4. 4

    Combine with verification

    References add context, while employment verification confirms facts such as dates and titles.

Automate reference checks with Smile Checks

Smile Checks lets candidates add character, professional or HR references, then sends invitations and custom questionnaires to references by email and SMS, tracks responses and sends follow-up reminders. You can build questionnaires with 8+ question formats and reuse them per reference type.

Frequently asked questions

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