If you’re wondering how agencies check your references, we’ll explain it all to you!
First, agencies are supposed to obtain explicit permission from candidates before contacting their references. Very often, they don’t care about having your permission.
They assume that if you have shared the contact details of your former employers, you have agreed to them being contacted and have informed them that they will be contacted.
There is often a clause in their terms and conditions that says that when you share your references with them, you automatically agree to them being contacted. Sometimes, this clause also says that you also agree to your references’ contact details being used for business purposes…
Candidates rarely read the agencies’ Candidate Terms & Conditions, but it is important to do so to avoid any misunderstanding…
Sometimes, when you fill out their registration form, you have to fill in the contact details of your references and then you are asked if you agree to them being contacted or not, or if you would like to be notified before they are contacted.
Even if you clearly indicate in writing that you do not want your references to be contacted without being informed, or until you have a concrete job offer, your references can still be contacted despite your refusal!
That being said, here’s how agencies check your references :
☆ They can do it over the phone. They usually call your references out of the blue. The problem is that they can’t always reach them, or sometimes they call them at an inconvenient time.
It is very rude of agencies to call candidates’ references out of the blue and expect them to drop everything to answer their question immediately, but calling out of the blue is the best way to spot fake references.
Indeed, if people do not have time to prepare, they are more likely to answer questions vaguely or incorrectly if they are not a real employer (e.g. getting children’s ages wrong at start and end of contract, or make a mistake on the dates of employment).
When agencies check references by phone, they often send an email afterwards to thank the person for taking the time to answer their questions, but mainly because it is impossible to leave a business card over the phone, whereas with an email the person will be able to find the contact details of the agency if they wish to use its services…
☆ They can also check your references by email. Either they send an email asking to confirm the information that the candidate gave. Either they send a form by email that your former employer must complete and return (Many years ago, these forms were also sent by post, but this is becoming less and less common).
This method is much less reliable for checking references because anyone can create a fake email address… and when you communicate by email, you never really know who sent the email…
Additionally, very often it annoys families to have to fill out reference forms when they have already provided a reference letter. And the truth is that sometimes they ask the nanny who needs the reference to fill out the form themselves, and they just sign the document and send it back!
☆ And sometimes agencies don’t and/or can’t check your references!
Indeed, if for example an agency has a position to fill quickly, you have the right profile for the position, you present well and your written references are credible, and the agency does not want to waste time so as not to be overtaken by another agency, they might put you forward without talking to any of your references.
When asking for your references, agencies act as if they are always able to get in touch with candidates’ references but that is not true.
Some families are too busy to respond to requests from agencies, some do not answer the phone when they do not know the caller, some want to answer but forget to do so, some find that the insistence of certain agencies is inappropriate, and some know very well that if they agree to give a reference, they will be constantly approached by agencies and therefore simply do not wish to share their contact details.
Sometimes if agencies don’t check references, it’s because they know it’s very complicated and not always possible to contact candidates’ former employers (especially if the candidate has signed a confidentiality agreement), and it is enough for them to obtain credible written references.
By the way, when agencies know that it is not always possible to get in touch with candidates’ former employers, they sometimes ask that you contact your references yourself and that you ask them to contact the agency. This can be tricky or even embarrassing for candidates, and they don’t have to do it when an agency asks them.
Agencies will never tell you this, but they know that it’s not always possible to check references. If they insist so much on speaking to your former employers, it is of course because they are taking responsibility when they recommend you, but it is above all because checking references allows them to get in touch with potential new clients…
Don’t worry if all your previous employers can’t give a verbal reference, they aren’t required to do so anyway.
On the other hand, try to have written and signed references for all your former positions. Don’t hesitate to use the recruiters who have placed you as a reference too, they are credible contacts! And if an agency is a little too interested in your references, be wary or move on if necessary…
References are always very tricky, and so are agencies when it comes to references!