Reference Check Questions: 17 to Ask, What to Avoid, and an Email Template
Method: product behavior was checked against the live implementation; market and regulatory claims use the linked sources below. Dates change only after claims are re-verified.
The best reference check questions are about the job: how the referee knows the candidate, what the candidate owned, one result, one weak spot, and whether they would hire them again. Ask every referee the same set, never ask what you couldn’t ask the candidate, and confirm the referee is who they say they are.
Before you ask: who to call and when
Check references for finalists only, after the last interview and before the offer goes out. By then you know what you are unsure about, so the reference can answer that instead of repeating the CV.
Ask the candidate for two or three referees, and make one of them a former direct manager. Tell the candidate when you will be in touch. Then write your questions down before the first call and use the same list for everyone, or the answers won’t be comparable.
- Former managers can speak to scope, results and how they took feedback.
- Peers see how they work with people who can’t tell them what to do.
- If you are hiring a manager, a former direct report is the best witness.
- Skip the current employer unless the candidate says it’s fine. Many people haven’t told their boss they are looking.
The 12 reference check questions to ask every referee
These twelve cover the five things a reference can tell you that an interview can’t: the real relationship, the real scope, proof of a result, a weak spot, and the rehire signal. Swap in the candidate’s name and keep the wording the same for every referee.
The third column is the part most of the lists we read leave out. A reference answer is only useful if you know what a strong one sounds like and what should make you ask again.
| Question | What it tells you | Listen for |
|---|---|---|
| How do you know them, and how long did you work together? | What it tells youWhether the referee actually saw their work | Listen forA title, a team and dates. “We overlapped for a while” means you should ask how closely |
| What were they responsible for, day to day? | What it tells youWhether the CV’s scope is accurate | Listen forThe same scope the candidate described. A smaller job than the CV claims deserves a follow-up |
| What is one result of theirs you still remember? | What it tells youProof of impact | Listen forA named project and an outcome, ideally with a number. Praise with no example is a weak answer |
| What did you rely on them for? | What it tells youTheir real strengths | Listen forWork the referee handed over without checking it |
| Where did they need the most support? | What it tells youDevelopment areas | Listen forA specific area and what they did about it. A manager who says “nothing” isn’t engaging with the question |
| How did they take critical feedback? Can you give an example? | What it tells youCoachability | Listen forA moment where they changed something after being told |
| Tell me about a time they disagreed with you or a teammate. | What it tells youHow they handle friction | Listen forDisagreement that ended in a decision, not a grudge |
| How did they handle a deadline that was slipping? | What it tells youOwnership under pressure | Listen forThey raised it early and offered a plan. Silence until the day is a pattern to probe |
| What kind of manager or team gets the best from them? | What it tells youFit and onboarding needs | Listen forSpecific conditions. This is the polite place for a caveat, so listen for one |
| Why did they leave? | What it tells youConsistency with the candidate’s story | Listen forThe same reason the candidate gave you |
| Would you hire them again? For what role? | What it tells youThe rehire signal | Listen for“Yes, for the same job or bigger” is strong. A pause, or “it depends”, is your next question |
| Is there anything I should have asked but didn’t? | What it tells youWhat the list missed | Listen forAnything new. If the referee adds something unprompted, write it down word for word |
Reference check questions for managers
Hiring a manager? Add five questions about the team, and put at least one of them to a former direct report. A peer or a boss sees the results. A direct report sees how the results were made.
- How many people did they manage, and how did that team change while they led it?
- Who on their team grew or got promoted, and what did they do to help?
- How did they handle someone who was underperforming?
- Tell me about a decision they made that the team disagreed with. How did they handle it?
- If they were hiring again, would you want to work for them?
Reference check email template
Your first email has three jobs: say who you are and why you’re writing, make the ask small, and offer an easy way out. Referees are doing you a favor, so make yes easy: a form link or two proposed times, not “let me know when you’re free”.
Copy the parts below into one email. It follows the same shape as the email Gaugely sends referees: the candidate listed you, it takes a few minutes, only the hiring team sees it, and you can say no.
| Part | Copy and paste |
|---|---|
| Subject | Copy and pasteReference for [Candidate name], [Role] at [Company] |
| Opening | Copy and pasteHi [Referee name], I’m [Your name], [your title] at [Company]. [Candidate name] is a finalist for our [Role] role and listed you as a reference. They know I’m contacting you. |
| The ask | Copy and pasteCould you share a short reference about your work together at [their company]? It’s [five written questions / a 15-minute call]. |
| Format | Copy and pasteYou can answer here: [form link]. If you’d rather talk, reply with two times that suit you this week. |
| Privacy | Copy and pasteYour answers go only to the hiring team for this role. |
| Close | Copy and pasteIf you’d rather not give a reference, just reply and say so. No explanation needed. Thank you, [Your name], [Title], [Company], [Phone] |
| Follow-up (3 working days later) | Copy and pasteHi [Referee name], a quick nudge on the reference for [Candidate name]. If now isn’t a good time, a two-line reply would still help. |
What can’t you ask a reference?
Don’t ask a reference anything you couldn’t ask the candidate. The EEOC’s guidance on disability-related questions says an employer may not ask a third party, including “an applicant’s friends, family, or former employers”, any question it couldn’t ask the applicant directly. Keep every question about the job and how they did it.
In the US, that rules out the topics below. Some states add their own rules, so check where you hire. This is general information, not legal advice.
Consent is the other question. The FTC’s employer guide applies the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s written-notice and permission steps to reports from “a company in the business of compiling background information”. If a screening company interviews references for you, that can be an “investigative consumer report” under the Act, with extra disclosure duties. If your own team checks references, ask the candidate first anyway. It costs nothing and avoids an awkward call to a current boss.
- Health or disability. The EEOC bars pre-offer disability questions. “Did they take a lot of sick days?” is out. “Did they meet their deadlines?” is fine, and so is asking whether they could do specific job functions.
- Race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and transgender status), national origin, age or genetic information. The EEOC calls race, sex, national origin, age and religion irrelevant to hiring and says asking about them may be used as evidence of intent to discriminate.
- Clubs and memberships that would reveal any of the above.
- Family plans, marriage or childcare. These are questions about sex and pregnancy in disguise.
- Pay history, where it’s banned. California’s Labor Code §432.3 says an employer may not seek salary history “orally or in writing, personally or through an agent”. A reference counts.
Check that the referee is real
A reference only counts if the referee is who the candidate says. Hiring fraud has made that a real question. In September 2025, Checkr surveyed 3,000 US managers: 31% had interviewed a candidate later revealed to be using a fake identity, yet only 46% said they use reference verification.
A friend reading from a script can get through one phone call. These checks make that much harder.
interviewed a candidate later revealed to be using a fake identity
CHECKR 2025
say someone other than the applicant took part in a virtual interview
CHECKR 2025
use reference verification to fight fraud
CHECKR 2025
are extremely confident their process would catch a fraudulent applicant
CHECKR 2025
- Find the referee yourself. Look up the company’s main number or the person’s profile instead of only using the contact details the candidate sent.
- Prefer a work email on the company’s domain. A free webmail address for a “former manager” is worth a second look.
- Check that the referee’s title and dates overlap with the candidate’s.
- Ask something only the real manager would know, such as the team’s size or the name of a project on the CV.
- For roles with money, data or system access, also confirm dates and title with the employer’s HR team.
Phone call or written form?
Use both, in that order: a written form first, and a call when an answer is thin or doesn’t match the interview. A form gets the same questions to every referee and leaves text you can compare. A call gets you the follow-up question and the pause before “yes, I’d rehire them”.
| Format | Good at | Weak at |
|---|---|---|
| Written form | Good atSame questions for every referee; referees answer when it suits them; answers you can compare side by side | Weak atNo follow-up questions; answers tend to be shorter and more careful |
| Phone or video call | Good atFollow-ups, tone and hesitation; detail a referee won’t put in writing | Weak atScheduling; notes differ from caller to caller; harder to compare candidates |
How Gaugely automates reference checks
In Gaugely, you request references from the candidate’s interview page. Paste up to five referee emails, and each referee gets an email with a private form link. When a form comes back, the referee’s answers appear on that interview’s References tab, with a two-to-three-sentence neutral AI summary tagged positive, mixed or negative.
The form asks six things: how they know the candidate, how long they worked together, key strengths, concerns or areas to grow, whether they would work with them again (definitely, probably, not sure, or no), and an overall rating from 1 to 5. That covers the relationship, strengths, weak spots and rehire questions from the table above.
Here is what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t call anyone, send reminders, or check that a referee is who they claim, so the verification steps above still apply. It doesn’t ask role-specific questions, and the summary never makes a decision. References attach to an interview, so the candidate needs a Gaugely interview first. It isn’t a paid add-on.
Between the first two steps, each referee gets an email with a private link and answers the six questions on their own time.
17 reference check questions with what a useful answer sounds like, what you can’t legally ask, how to spot a fake referee, and a copy-paste email template.
Questions people ask
How many references should I check?
Two or three per finalist, with at least one former direct manager. For a management role, add someone who reported to the candidate. If two referees contradict each other, that is the thread to pull.
Do I need the candidate’s permission to contact references?
Ask anyway. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, written notice and permission apply when a background screening company prepares the report, according to the FTC’s employer guide. Some states and non-US privacy laws add their own rules. Asking first also keeps you from calling a current boss who doesn’t know they are looking.
What are red flags in a reference check?
Watch for a referee who can’t describe the candidate’s work in detail, a job smaller than the CV claims, a long pause before the rehire answer, a reason for leaving that differs from the candidate’s, and contact details you can’t confirm independently.
Can I ask a reference about salary?
Not everywhere. California’s Labor Code §432.3 bars employers from seeking salary history “personally or through an agent”, which includes asking a reference. Check the rules where you hire, and ask the candidate about salary expectations instead.
Can you automate reference checks?
Yes, the collecting and summarizing part. Gaugely emails each referee a short structured form and shows their answers, with an AI summary, on the candidate’s interview. A person still reads the answers, checks the referee is real, and makes the call.
SOURCES
- EEOC — Enforcement guidance: preemployment disability-related questions and medical examinations
- EEOC — Prohibited employment policies and practices
- FTC — Background checks: what employers need to know
- Cornell LII — 15 U.S.C. §1681a (FCRA definitions)
- California Labor Code §432.3 (salary history)
- Checkr — The Hiring Hoax: 3,000 managers on AI and identity fraud (Sept 2025)