What’s the point with references ? After all, people will only give you the names of referees who will say good things about them (unless they are really stupid) and (if they are smart) will have prepped them to say what they think the recruiter will want to hear. With this in mind how much value do references really add to the recruitment process ? 

If your approach to referencing is to just go through the motions because you have to take references, then there is…

As regular followers of this blog will know, I work as a Rec-to-Rec consultant (i.e. I recruit recruiters for recruitment companies – say that after a few glasses of wine!). I recently received a call from the owner of an agency explaining that he had heard good things about me and could I meet with him to discuss helping him find new consultants. As always, I was upfront about my fees and in return for some commercial advantages and as a gesture of good will I agreed to a 1% discount, which…