Customer Reviews

Complete Reference Checking Handbook, The: The Proven (and Legal) Way to Prevent Hiring Mistakes

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Andler and Herbst offer a useful and readable overview of best practices in reference checking. Their guide is one of the sources used by the U.S. Merit System Protection Board as background material on industry best practices when compiling their 2005 report "Reference Checking in Federal Hiring: Making the Call."

This book has a number of strengths. It advocates a formal and defensible reference checking process that asks comparable questions of each job candidate and limits such questions to job-related topics. It dispels myths about the legal status of reference checking that often limit its use. The authors offer reference checking checklists that "start with simple verification questions, then move on to performance-related information, then to developmental opinions, and finally to networking your reference contacts." (p. 191). The checklists are easily adaptable to your hiring process and represent the authors' intent to get the most and best information from reference checking. Another strength is the suggested strategy of making job applicants partners in reference checking. Practical techniques are presented for accomplishing this.

The book could be improved through greater attention to the growing role of email and social networking sites in reference checking. This is not so much a flaw in the authors' approach as it is an indication that this 2003 book could benefit from an updated version. I hope to see one from these authors. I will also hope that this update gives greater--though not central--attention to the unique issues of reference checking for Federal government employment.

Prevent hiring mistakes through savvy assessments of an applicant's references and the use of Complete Reference Checking Handbook. Managers, business owners, and HR pros alike receive an updated edition which covers everything from understanding legal requirements and traps to developing networking and reference-checking techniques which work. An excellent, involving guide.