In-Depth References

In-depth References:
Getting Past Name, Rank, and Serial Number
Laura Gassner Otting

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Today’s Speaker

President,
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In-Depth References: Getting Past
Name, Rank, and Serial Number

Good hiring demands deep understanding of the real person, not just the
candidate who shows up on interview day.

If you are stymied in your pursuit of the real story, learn how experienced
executive recruiters use reference checks (on and off the list) to build a
complete candidate profile.

LAURA GASSNER OTTING, Founder and President

Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group LLC
© 2010 NPAG LLC. All rights reserved.

Nonprofit Professionals
Advisory Group About
Us
The Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group was founded from the simple notion that every
organization, regardless of its budget or geographic footprint can better fulfill its mission with
a highly-tailored, innovative, and strategic approach to acquiring and retaining its most important
resource: talent.

Designed to operate with ‘new economy’ savvy, the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group unbundles traditional
executive search and leadership transition packages and offers sophisticated services tailored to our clients’ various
needs. We are committed to passing along our knowledge throughout our process so that our clients’ internal
capacity and independence is enhanced.

We work worldwide with mission-driven client organizations in the nonprofit, academic, and public sectors, as well
as with the job seekers who serve them. For organizations, we offer executive search and leadership transition
services. For candidates, we provide leadership development, job search strategy creation, and resume/cover letter
assistance. For both organizations and candidates, we supply professional and organizational development in
person through our customized training programs and online with our groundbreaking, complimentary “NPAG U”
webinar series.

Our team members are personally dedicated to our clients’ missions and together offer more than 40 years of
executive search experience in addition to the wealth of perspective, expertise, and networks they offer from
previous careers in the nonprofit, academic, public, political, and private sectors.


About
Laura Gassner Otting is Founder and President of the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group, a retained Us
executive search firm dedicated to building the capacity of nonprofit organizations, associations,
institutions of higher education, the public sector and the professionals who make them run smoothly.

Prior to forming the group, Laura served as the senior vice president of ExecSearches.com and as vice president at
Isaacson, Miller, one of the largest search firms in New England.

Laura served as a presidential appointee for the White House Office of National Service and a program officer for the
Corporation for National and Community Service, where she was part of the team that created the AmeriCorps, and
as a member of the Clinton/Gore Transition Team and 1992 Election Team. She holds a Master of Arts in Political
Management from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of
Texas at Austin.

Laura serves on the boards of College Bound Dorchester, AmeriCorps Alums, and the Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership
Program at Brandeis University, and is the Clerk and Governance Chair of the board of Newton Montessori School.
She has served as a member of the board of Camp Starfish and the Alumni Board of the Graduate School of Political
Management at the George Washington University and as the founding board chair of both Strong Women, Strong
Girls and the Boston Choral Ensemble. Laura is the author of Change Your Career: Transitioning to the Nonprofit
Sector and is widely quoted for her expertise in mission-driven work in publications including The New York
Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and Money magazine.

Laura can be reached at 617-527-9661 or LGO@NonprofitProfessionals.com.

Understanding the Mix
The
Formula

Establish
Listen Trust
Well References are:
Two Parts Art
Laser In
One Part Science

Complete Picture

Getting the Full Picture
Identify
Targets

Who do you
interview?


A Series of Conversations
During a Single Call Opening
Up

Establishment of Trust

Understanding of the Context

An Exploration of Professional and Personal Fit

Investigation of Challenges

The Questions

Establishment of Trust
The
Warm
Up
Getting the Reference Talking
The point of the reference is to get both the good and the bad news about a
candidate. Confirming the positives is only part of the job; similarly, eliciting only
weaknesses doesn’t tell the whole story. Provide a reference a certain level of
comfort by ensuring confidentiality, and then drawing out positives and good
experiences first. Even if you hear a negative early in a call, spend some time talking
about strengths before circling back to the weakness, lest the reference fear that he is
undermining the candidate’s chances and get nervous and shut down.


Understanding of the Context
Know
the
Story

Understanding of the Context, including
referee’s professional background and how long
and in what capacity the referee has known the
candidate, allows the caller to move
chronologically through the referee’s experience
with the candidate to gather specific examples
of challenges and/or successes which might
inform our understanding of the candidate.


Exploration of Fit
Track
Records
The Exploration of Professional and Person Fit, uses the challenges
section of the position description as a guide to seek information about the
candidate’s past performance which can inform future performance and potential
fit to the current position.
Bring your opinions or those of the hiring
manager or committee to the reference and
ask him or her to agree or disagree with the
statements. These questions can be
statements expressed by the hiring
committee, or just another method of
engaging the reference.

Always calibrate the words of a reference.
Push your references to give you specifics,
to separate the good candidates from the
ones who can move mountains.

Investigation of Challenges
More
Details
An Investigation of Challenges, will round out the picture and make every
effort to understand where the candidate would need support or professional
development to succeed in the role.

Many references get off too easy, describing candidates in single
word adjectives like smart, savvy and determined or bossy,
difficult and opinionated. These descriptions are helpful,
but they don’t give nearly enough information with which a
hiring manager can make a decision.

Getting to the anecdotes requires a bit of pushiness and
a lot of listening. Ask for stories with questions about the
most controversial issue in which the candidate was
involved, a time when the candidate had to fire someone
or take a personal stand, or what the candidate has
learned from the reference or vice versa.


“The Questions”
The Dirt

Every reference is closed with two formal
questions read verbatim:

“Is there anything else we need to know which
would prove embarrassing to the candidate or the
client if it were to become public?”

“To your knowledge, has this individual ever been
accused of or involved in any inappropriate conduct,
and examples of inappropriate conduct could
include malfeasance, misfeasance, drug abuse,
alcohol abuse, sexual harassment, or anything of
that nature that could affect his/her performance in a
highly public role?”


Hear What Isn’t Said
The Trick

References tend to spend as much time considering
what not to say as they spend wondering what to
say.

Listen very carefully to the inflection in a voice, the
tone of a word or the pauses in between sentences,
a quieter tone, jokes, word choices, hesitations,
flatness, effusive admiration.

Even better, when you think the reference done
speaking, wait a few beats before your next
question; references nervous about what they aren’t
saying will fill the silence with exactly the words they
meant not to say.


Private Investigation
Turning
Over
Rocks


Resources

NPAG’s Article Library:
Hiring a Track Record: More Informative
Reference Checks
Reference Checks: Questions to Ask

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Nonprofit Professionals
Advisory Group

LAURA GASSNER OTTING, Founder and President
617-527-9661
LGO@NonprofitProfessionals.com


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