Classic form

Reference check form

A reference done by phone produces notes nobody can find and a memory of a tone of voice. Sent as a form, it produces the same four facts every time, a rating grid the referee can honestly leave blank, and the rehire answer in the referee's own words. This one is written for UK employers, and it is a classic form, because a referee wants to see the whole thing before starting and answer the parts they can.

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The form itself

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Reference check

You are receiving this because a former colleague named you as a referee and has given us written permission to contact you. Everything you write is treated as confidential to the hiring decision, and the candidate can ask to see what was recorded about them.

A reference is a description of things you saw, given honestly and in good faith. That is the standard it is judged by, and it is why an opinion stated as an opinion is safer than a rumour repeated as a fact. Nothing here asks about health, family, age or anything else that has no bearing on the job.

About you

Your name *

Title

First

Last

Your job title *

Organisation *

Your work email *

Best number if we need one clarification

How did you work with them? *

The facts we have to confirm

These four questions are the part of a reference that is checked rather than weighed. Answer from your records where you have them. If a date is out by a fortnight it does not matter; if a job title is materially different from what was claimed, that does.

Candidate's name *

The job title they actually held *

First day with you *

Last day with you *

Do those dates match your records? *

Yes, exactly

Close enough, within a month

No, and the difference matters

I am going from memory

How did the employment end? *

They resigned

Fixed term ended

Redundancy

Dismissed

Still employed there

I would rather not say

How they worked

Rate only what you watched yourself. The last column is a genuine answer and is read as one, so a referee who managed somebody for four months is not forced to invent an opinion about the parts of the job they never saw.

Against what the role asked of them *

	Below	As expected	Above	Did not see
Quality and accuracy of their work
Turning up, and being where they said they would be
Working with people who are difficult to work with
Doing the right thing when nobody was checking
Handling a busy week without dropping something
Taking correction and doing something with it

What were they genuinely good at? *

Where would they need support in a bigger role?

The two answers that carry the most weight

Would you employ them again? *

Yes, without hesitation

Yes, in the right role

Yes, with reservations I have described above

My organisation does not permit me to answer this

Anything else the hiring manager should know

Before you send it

Many employers restrict references to dates and job title as a matter of policy, and choosing that option is a complete and acceptable answer. Whatever you write is recorded against the recruitment file, and the candidate is entitled to ask what personal information about them is held. Write with that in mind rather than assuming the reference is invisible to them.

How would you like this reference treated? *

Ordinary confidence, as described above

Please contact me before any of it is quoted

Dates and title only, please disregard the rest

Every field, and what it collects

The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.

Your nameNameRequired
Your job titleShort textRequired
OrganisationShort textRequired
Your work emailShort textRequired
Best number if we need one clarificationShort text
How did you work with them?DropdownRequired: Options: I was their direct manager · I managed their manager · We were peers in the same team · We were peers in different teams · They reported to me for part of the time · I was their client or customer
Candidate's nameShort textRequired
The job title they actually heldShort textRequired
First day with youDateRequired
Last day with youDateRequired
Do those dates match your records?Single choiceRequired: Options: Yes, exactly · Close enough, within a month · No, and the difference matters · I am going from memory
How did the employment end?Single choiceRequired: Options: They resigned · Fixed term ended · Redundancy · Dismissed · Still employed there · I would rather not say
Against what the role asked of themRating gridRequired: Statements:
Quality and accuracy of their work
Turning up, and being where they said they would be
Working with people who are difficult to work with
Doing the right thing when nobody was checking
Handling a busy week without dropping something
Taking correction and doing something with it
What were they genuinely good at?Long textRequired
Where would they need support in a bigger role?Long text
Would you employ them again?Single choiceRequired: Options: Yes, without hesitation · Yes, in the right role · Yes, with reservations I have described above · No · My organisation does not permit me to answer this
Anything else the hiring manager should knowLong text
How would you like this reference treated?Single choiceRequired: Options: Ordinary confidence, as described above · Please contact me before any of it is quoted · Dates and title only, please disregard the rest

What makes this form work

The checkable facts are separated from the opinions

Name, actual job title, first day, last day, and a question asking outright whether those dates match the referee's records. Verification and judgement are different jobs, and a form that mixes them produces a reference where nobody can tell which parts were looked up.

The grid lets a referee say they did not see it

Six statements, four columns, and the last one is "did not see". A manager who had somebody for four months is not pushed into inventing a view of how they handle a busy week, and the hiring manager can tell the difference between a middling score and an absent one.

It ends by asking how the reference should be handled

Ordinary confidence, contact me before quoting, or dates and title only. It costs one question, it gives a cautious referee a way to take part, and it records the referee's own intention rather than leaving the recruiter to guess it six weeks later.

Questions people ask

What can a reference check form legally ask?

Things relevant to the job. Dates, title, duties, performance, conduct and whether the referee would rehire are all ordinary. Health, disability, pregnancy, age, marital status, religion, race and union membership are not, and asking about them in writing creates a record of having asked. Keeping the question set narrow is the practical protection.

What if the referee's employer only confirms dates and title?

That is a common policy and the form treats it as a legitimate answer rather than a failure. The rehire question includes "my organisation does not permit me to answer this", and the final question lets a referee mark the whole thing as dates and title only. A form that offers no such option gets abandoned instead.

Should the candidate be told what the referee said?

Assume they can find out. Privacy regimes generally give a person the right to ask what personal information an organisation holds about them, and a completed reference sitting in a recruitment file is exactly that. The form says so plainly to the referee, which produces more careful writing rather than less honest writing.

How do you stop the link being forwarded to the wrong person?

Use the access controls rather than obscurity. A published form can be left open, put behind a secret key you send with the invitation, restricted to signed in users on an allow list, or limited to a domain. For references, a secret key emailed alongside the request is usually the right balance, since referees will not create an account to answer a favour.

Why ask the referee how they worked with the candidate?

Because a direct manager, a peer and a client each see different things, and the weight you give an answer depends on which one is writing. This form asks it in the first section, before any assessment questions, so the hiring manager reads the rest of the reference with the relationship already in mind.

Should the form ask the referee to confirm the employment dates?

Yes. This one asks the referee to enter the first and last day from their side, then asks whether those dates match their records, with an honest going from memory option. Comparing the referee's dates against the CV is a much better check than asking the referee to agree with dates you supply. A mismatch is worth following up, and it closes the most commonly falsified fact on a CV.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 29 September 2026.