Smaller companies are a little trickier. You can try posing as an employer and asking about some previous employee. In almost all cases, the employer will only give employment dates, and title. Usually, a written release from the employee is required to get salary information. The bottom line is that you need to find out what they are going to say about you in order to lay the groundwork for an embellished job description.
References are a critical part of the job-hunting process.
Bad references can kill your chances of getting your dream job or be the clincher that gets you hired. A great deal of consideration should go into your reference list. You should pick people who are easy to get a hold of, who answer the phone in a business like voice, i.e., Hello, this is Jim Smith with the Widget Corporation . Each reference needs to be briefed about what to say. I feel you should go as far to prepare a short script for the reference to follow.