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**Department of Justice Strengthens Reference Checking**        The Office of Inspector General at the  U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has released a report, *Reference Checking in the Department of Justice,* which  describes its internal evaluation of reference checking in DOJ hiring  processes.** **The report examined how “...DOJ components  contact job applicants’ references to evaluate their past performance when  making hiring decisions.”** **The report discusses the standards used  and data gathered and makes recommendations to improve DOJ’s assessment  procedures, showing how cross-agency guidance can be applied to an individual  agency’s mission- and occupation-specific hiring needs.****

***Evaluation  Against Suggested Standards of Practice***        DOJ based their review on best practice  recommendations from MSPB’s report, *Reference  Checking in Federal Hiring:  Making the  Call*, and guidance from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s) web-based *Reference Checking*.  The guidance from MSPB and OPM is  closely aligned, with OPM frequently citing MSPB’s previous report findings  when crafting its guidance. Notable, both agencies recommend—
    - Checking  references for every Federal hiring action;
    - Obtaining  written permission from applicants to check references;
    - Verifying  information provided in application materials;
    - Restricting  inquiries to job-relevant topics; and 
    - Using  a standardized set of questions to obtain comparable information for each  applicant.

Also, both agencies describe specific  techniques for collecting information through references, such as using  open-ended questions and obtaining additional references by “chaining” through  coworkers of each applicant.

***What  DOJ Found***        DOJ found that high-quality reference checking  was performed for new DOJ attorneys, but was not widely used for hiring into  law enforcement and other positions.  Of  the 39 organizational components within DOJ, only 3 (about 8 percent) had clear  and complete written reference checking guidance based on best practices.** **Another  22 components (56 percent) had some written policy or suggested questions that  could benefit from additional information.** **The remaining 14 components (36 percent)  had no written guidance for reference checking.

        The report concludes that every future  DOJ hiring action should include reference checking and recommends remedying  shortfalls in guidance.** **To that end,****DOJ plans to create an easily-accessible reference checking web  page that collects internal and external guidance, model procedures, and sample  questions.  When completed, this web page  will be a useful resource for other Federal agencies as well as DOJ.****

***Reference  Checks in Perspective***        Reference checks are just one method to  assess an applicant’s training and experience (T&E) during the hiring  process.  Other methods include resumes,  occupational questionnaires, and accomplishment records.  MSPB’s forthcoming report, *Probing the Past:  Assessment of Training and Experience* describes some of the challenges agencies face when using T&E assessments  and some of the strategies they use to get the most from them.  Watch for this report in the studies section  of MSPB’s web site (https://www.mspb.gov/studies).
    -  Available at  https://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2013/e1302.pdf . 
    -  Available from  https://www.mspb.gov/studies.
    -  Available at  https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/assessment-and-selection/other-assessment-methods/reference-checking .