Consider a reference call that goes like this. You ring a name the candidate supplied, the person is warm, you ask whether they would hire them again, they say yes, and you write "references clear" in the file.
Nothing in that call was untrue, and nothing in it was informative either. The candidate chose the reference, and the question invited a yes.
What makes the difference
Ask for observed behaviour, not assessment. "Was she a strong communicator?" invites a verdict. "Can you describe a time she had to explain something difficult to a client, and what she did?" asks for a concrete example. The second gives you something specific to follow up on; the first gives you someone else's conclusion.
Separate what they saw from what they heard. A reference relaying a team's general impression is giving you something different from a reference describing a project they worked on directly. Both can be useful; recording them as the same thing is how a rumour becomes a finding.
Write a neutral summary while it is fresh. What was said, not how you felt about it.
Ask the questions the role actually needs. Thirty prepared questions are useful because you pick from them, not because you work through them.
The boundary this kit is built around
This kit is intended for candidate-authorized references and contact methods. Going outside the names and routes a candidate approved is a decision — one your organization should make deliberately, with its own process behind it, rather than by default because a number was hard to reach.
Get separate, explicit permission before contacting a current employer. A call to someone's current boss that they did not agree to can cost them the job they still have — for a role you may not even offer them.
This kit is designed for candidate-authorized reference checks, and contains no covert or off-list outreach. Where you go outside the names and routes a candidate approved, you are gathering information about them through a relationship they did not choose. Whether that is acceptable is a policy question for your organization — not something a script pack should settle on your behalf, and ours does not try to.
The part worth being honest about
This is general writing and recordkeeping support, not legal or employment advice. It does not provide third-party background-report legal forms or guarantee a hiring outcome. Have qualified HR or legal reviewers approve your process — reference checking sits close to rules that vary by jurisdiction.
What is in the download
One ZIP, seven files: a question bank of thirty questions in editable Word and PDF; five email scripts — candidate authorisation request, reference invitation, confirmation and reminder, thank-you, and a request for an additional authorised reference — in both formats; an Evidence Notes workbook in Excel with a non-calculating PDF companion; and a START-HERE.pdf with the file map, preparation sequence and use limits. $24.99, instant download.
Reference Check Question Bank — 30 Questions + Email Templates
Use only candidate-authorized references and contact methods, and have qualified HR or legal reviewers approve your process.