Reference check questions: script, example and template
The reference check questions to ask a referee and the ones to leave out, with a call script, a request email and a free Word reference check form.
What is a reference check?
A reference check is a call or written request to someone who has worked with a candidate, to confirm their dates, their job and how they did it. It's usually one of the last steps before a job offer is confirmed, and Acas advises asking for references at the offer stage rather than earlier.
Either the employer or its recruiter can take references, and agencies often do it as part of the placement. A call gets more than a form does: a referee who would tick "good" on a form will often tell you on the phone what made the candidate good, or where they struggled.
What questions should you ask in a reference check?
Ask in this order: the facts first, then the work, then the questions that need the most thought from the referee.
The facts
- How do you know them, and when did you work together?
- When did they start and leave, and what was their job title? Did it change?
- What did the job involve, and who did they report to?
These are the easiest questions to answer, and they let you compare the dates and title with the CV before anything else.
The work
- What were they best at? Can you give me an example?
- Where could they improve? What support did they need?
Ask the second question in the same tone as the first. Everyone has something to improve, and a referee who can't name anything either didn't know the candidate well or is being careful.
If they managed people
- How many people did they manage, and how did they get the best from them?
- How did they deal with someone who wasn't doing their job well?
Working with others
- How did they get on with the team, and with you?
- How did they handle pressure, or a day when things went wrong?
Reliability
- How would you describe their reliability? Can you give me an example?
- Did you have any concerns about their conduct?
Why they left
- Why did they leave?
Compare the answer with what the candidate told you.
Whether they'd employ them again
- Would you employ them again? Why?
Listen to how it's answered as well as what. "Yes, tomorrow" and "yes, I think so, in the right job" are both yeses, and they mean different things.
The new job
- Describe the job in a sentence, then ask: how do you think they'd suit it?
- What would help them settle in quickly?
Anything else
- Is there anything else I should know?
Ask it last and wait. It's where a referee who has been careful all call sometimes says the one thing they were holding back.
How do you do a reference check?
Ask the candidate first. Get their permission and their referees' contact details. Ask for people who managed them recently, not colleagues or friends. Take references once there's an offer, and the current employer last, once the candidate is ready for them to know.
Check the referee is who the candidate says they are. A mobile number or personal email could belong to anyone, so where you can, find the referee's work email or the company's main number yourself. For a manager who has moved on, check their new job matches what the candidate told you.
Book the call by email. A referee called out of the blue gives shorter answers than one who has had time to think. The request email below asks for 15 minutes.
Open with who you are and why you're calling. Name the candidate and the job, say how long it will take, and say you're taking notes and who will see them: "Rhys Morgan has been offered an account manager job at a firm in London, subject to references, and gave your name. It'll take about 15 minutes. I'll take notes as we go and share what you tell me with the employer, if that's all right." If you're recording the call, say so here and ask if they're happy to go ahead.
Ask open questions, one at a time, and let the silences run. The pause after "where could they improve?" is where the useful answer comes from.
Write down the referee's words. "Customers ask for him by name" is evidence; "positive about him" is your opinion of their opinion.
Close by thanking them and asking if you can come back to them. "That's everything I need, thank you. If anything comes up when I speak to Rhys, is it all right to call you back?"
Compare the answers with what you already have. Check the dates and job title against the CV, and the examples against the interview notes. A difference isn't proof of a lie, but it is a question for the candidate.
CV · Rhys Morgan
Experience
Checked against the reference from Tom Ashworth, 25 November
Account manager, packaging supplier, Enfield · October 2024 to present
second reference: Claire Dunn, Thursday 10:00Account manager, tools distributor, Croydon · 2021 to September 2024
Tom says April 2022: ask RhysInternal sales executive, tools distributor, Croydon · January 2019 to 2021
January 2019 matches; end date as aboveLooked after 45 trade accounts, about £900k a year
Tom: 45 accounts, about £900kTrained new internal sales starters
two starters, both now field repsask Rhys before the client sees it
If the employer only confirms dates and job title, accept it. Many companies have that policy, because a reference must be accurate and fair and a factual one carries the least risk. Ask the candidate for another referee who managed them, such as a manager who has since moved on.
What shouldn't you ask a referee?
Health and sickness absence. Before a job offer, the law in Great Britain bars questions about a candidate's health except in narrow cases (section 60 of the Equality Act 2010), and sickness absence counts as a health question. In the US, the Americans with Disabilities Act sets a similar limit, and its guidance says that before an offer you can't ask a former employer anything you couldn't ask the candidate. Once an offer is made, even a conditional one, you can ask about health, usually through a health questionnaire or occupational health. A referee can then give a sickness absence record if the job needs it, leaving out absence linked to disability or to maternity, paternity or adoption leave, and you can't use the answers to treat a disabled candidate worse.
Anything about a protected characteristic. Age, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, religion and the other characteristics the Equality Act 2010 protects are no more a referee's subject than they are yours.
Questions that suggest the answer. "I assume they were reliable?" gets a yes from a referee being polite. "How would you describe their reliability?" gets an answer.
More than the referee can give. If their company's policy limits what they can say, don't press them to break it.
Reference request email template
The email that books the call. Copy it, fill in the brackets, and send it once the candidate has agreed.
Reference for [candidate's name], [job title]
Dear [referee's name],
[Candidate's name] has been offered the role of [job title] at [company], subject to references, and has given your name as a referee.
Could we have 15 minutes on the phone this week? I'd like to ask about their work with you. I'll take notes as we talk and share them with [company]. Do any of these times suit: [two or three times]?
If you'd rather answer in writing, or your company only confirms dates and job titles, just let me know.
Thank you,
[your name], [job title], [company], [phone number]
Reference check example
Callum Reid, the agency recruiter who put Rhys Morgan forward, took this first reference after Haxby & Lowe, an industrial supplies distributor in west London, offered Rhys the account manager job subject to references. Rhys's interview is in our interview notes example. The referee, Tom Ashworth, managed him at a tools distributor in Croydon before his current job.
Callum Reid
Rhys Morgan
Account manager, Haxby & Lowe, London
Tom Ashworth, sales manager at Rhys's previous employer, a tools distributor in Croydon
25 November 2026, 10:30
Rhys's manager for his whole time at the firm, January 2019 to September 2024.
January 2019 to September 2024. Internal sales executive, then account manager from April 2022.
Looked after 45 trade accounts across south London and Surrey, worth about £900,000 a year. Confirms Rhys wrote the bid that kept a £250,000 account when it went out to tender.
"Customers ask for him by name." Organised: the account plans he wrote were still in use after he left.
In his first year as account manager, sent quotes late more than once. Fixed it with a weekly quote list.
Well liked. Trained two internal sales starters who are now field reps. Direct with the warehouse when deliveries slipped, "never rude about it".
"Never missed a review meeting with a customer." No concerns about his conduct.
He'd moved to Harrow and wanted a bigger patch nearer home. Left on good terms.
Yes: "tomorrow, if I had the job".
Thinks he'd suit selling technical products again. Would need some help with pricing at first: he didn't set prices in Croydon.
Nothing.
CV says account manager from 2021; Tom says April 2022. Ask Rhys. Second reference: Claire Dunn, his current sales director, Thursday 26 November, 10:00.
Rhys's answer to the follow-up: he took over the account manager's customers from mid-2021 while the job was vacant, and was given the title in April 2022. Callum passed both dates on to the client, along with Tom's point that Rhys would need some help with pricing at first.
Reference check template
One page per referee, in the order the call goes, with a row at the end for anything that doesn't match. It works as a reference check form you fill in as you talk: fill in the last row before you hang up, check each point with the candidate, then send the client what each referee confirmed. If a referee would rather answer in writing, email them the questions from the list above instead. Download the Word file, free and with no sign-up, or copy it as text into your own document.
[name]
[name]
[job title, company]
[name, job title, company]
[date]
- How do they know the candidate?
- When did they work together, and how long?
- When did the candidate start and leave?
- What was their job title? Did it change?
- What were they responsible for?
- Did they manage people? How many?
- What were they best at?
- Can the referee give an example?
- Where could they improve?
- What support did they need?
- How did they get on with the team?
- How did they handle pressure?
- Did they do what they said they would?
- Any concerns about their conduct?
- Why did they leave?
- Would they employ them again? Why?
- How would they suit the role?
- What would help them settle in?
- Is there anything else we should know?
- What differs from the CV or the interview?
- What needs checking with the candidate?
If you take references on a video or phone call through your computer, Sorinai fills in each field as the call reaches it, and the filled Word file is ready a few minutes after the call: see how it works for recruiters. Tell the referee at the start that the call is being recorded, and take written notes instead if they'd rather it wasn't. In some US states, everyone on a call has to agree before it's recorded.
Reference check FAQ
How many references should you take?
Two is usual, with at least one from a recent manager. Senior jobs often take three. One reference that answers every question is worth more than three that confirm dates. If the job involves working with vulnerable people, such as children or care home residents, agencies in Great Britain must get two references from people who aren't the candidate's relatives (regulation 22 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003).
Does an employer have to give a reference?
In the UK, usually not. An employer only has to give one if it has agreed to in writing, such as in an employment contract or a settlement agreement, or for some financial services jobs regulated by the FCA or the PRA.
Can a referee give a bad reference?
Yes, if it's true. In the UK, a referee must take reasonable care that what they say is accurate and fair, and that it isn't misleading. A negative reference that meets that standard is lawful. If you get one, put the points to the candidate before the client decides: there may be a reason, and another referee may see it differently.
Can a job offer be withdrawn after a bad reference?
If the offer was conditional on satisfactory references, usually yes. Acas says an employer can withdraw it if the references suggest the candidate couldn't do the job, and should talk to them about any concerns first. If every condition has been met, withdrawing it could be a breach of contract, and withdrawing it because of a protected characteristic would be discrimination.
Is a reference check the same as a background check?
No. A reference check asks people who worked with the candidate about their work. A background check verifies records, such as a criminal record check (a DBS check in England and Wales), qualifications or the right to work. Many job offers depend on both.
