How Do They Check Out With References?

A reference check on candidates can be tricky since one would assume that they will list only people who will say good things about them.

For Yax, checking references represents the final 20 percent of the process after assessing skills and meeting with the candidate. But sometimes, he or his colleagues will go through the candidate's LinkedIn profile to do "a little more due diligence and vetting."

For Begin, the reference-checking stage is also more than a formality; he and other hiring managers at Right Brain Networks will "generally" spend 20 to 30 minutes on the phone with a reference.