What Does It Mean If a Job You Interviewed for Is Checking Your References?

If an employer is checking your references, does it mean you got the job? Not necessarily.

Does it mean you are the only one they are considering? No. Although you might be.

Does it mean they are close to making an offer? Maybe.

So what exactly does checking your references mean?

Basically, all you can know for sure is that it means the company is interested in you. And they want to know more about how others see you — especially former employers / bosses / supervisors.

Usually, when a company starts checking your references, if the references are good you will get an offer. But there are times when they have more than one candidate that they are strongly considering.

So they are using the references to help them decide. And you might not be their final choice. But you could be.

Why you might not get the job after all

Well, they may not like what they hear from the references. Or they may not get enough information to resolve any doubts they have. And so they could offer it to someone else. Or decide to continue advertising and / or interviewing without turning you down yet.

Then again, they may get glowing reviews and still wind up going with someone else for any number of reasons. These are things you cannot control. Things that go on behind the scenes.

And they don’t reflect on your value to another employer. Or even your potential value to that company, as awful as it feels to be rejected. (One reason to write a polite thank you note. And stay in touch just in case.)

But usually checking your references means…

Usually, if a company has reached the point of checking your references and your references are good, it probably means that you will be getting an offer soon. Most employers lean toward not wanting to hurt your chances. And even helping if they can.

Exceptions to that could be that the situation ended on a really sour note. Or you did something truly illegal. But even then, employers watch carefully what they say during reference checks so as not to be sued.

Still, odds are that having your references checked will soon bring some happy news. I hope that’s the case for you.

Good luck!

EXTRA: About Those References

Job References: Sample Reference Page (with Notes)

Job References: What If Former Bosses Don’t Work There Any More

They Want Supervisor References. Are These OK?

What Is a Reference Checker?

Why You Should CALL Your References

[Post updated 2020]

About the author…

Ronnie Ann, founder of Work To the Wise and Work Coach Cafe, bases her real-world advice on her many years as an organizational consultant where she helped interview and hire people, added to a certificate from NYU in Career Planning & Development, as well as her many adventures as a serial job seeker.

Comments

ido says

April 29, 2015 at 11:15 am

hello,

I had an interview with gov, at the end of the interview one of the managers followed me as I was leaving the building and indicated I did extremely amazing. There was another manager in the interview/evaluation with whom I worked with in previous contract, he is been trying to get me on their team. He also thinks I did amazing job while working there. After the interview they called 2 of my 3 references and both references gave glowing reviews. Does this mean I will get the job? I hate waiting lol

thanks

- Susan P. Joyce says
  
  May 6, 2015 at 3:24 pm
  
  Hello ido,
  
  Everyone hates the waiting game, but that’s how things work, anyway.
  
  Hard to tell whether or not you will get the job. It depends on how much influence your allies have with the decision-maker in this process and how well the references were received.
  
  Hope it works out for you, but keep looking anyway. Until you have accepted a written job offer, you haven’t been hired, yet.
  
  Good luck with your job search!
  Susan
  
Amy says

May 7, 2014 at 8:59 pm

Hi Susan,

I had an interview with a company for a summer internship about 3 weeks ago. A week after the interview, they changed my applicant status from “interviewing” to “we like your work and can see you fitting in well. we are reviewing your details”

It’s been almost 2 weeks since they made that update but I haven’t heard anything. What do you think that means? Should I follow up with them?

Thanks,
Amy

Gen says

March 4, 2014 at 1:08 am

Hi Susan

I had an interview for a job 2 weeks ago with two partners and the HR Manager. It was for a position I heard about by word of mouth, and had not been publically advertised. The partners both really liked me, and said they would let me know their decision by early/mid following week. They also called my references a couple of hours after my interview. I followed up with thank you emails to everyone, and was warmly replied to by everyone I had emailed (one partner even said he would follow up with HR and that it would be great to have me at the firm).

I then received an email from HR mid week saying the partners had not made a decision on my application this week, and they would let me know next week. Shortly after sending this, they publically advertised the job for the first time. Am I out of the running, or do I still have a shot? I initially thought I’m out but could it be that they just want to see what else is out there as they haven’t publically advertised?

Cheers

- Susan P. Joyce says
  
  March 5, 2014 at 9:35 am
  
  Hi Gen,
  
  This doesn’t feel like it’s going in the right direction, particularly advertising the job. But it’s very hard to tell.
  
  It does feel like PERHAPS something happened – one of the references shared something that made one of them nervous or one of them is a little uncomfortable about something (human “chemistry” is tricky but important). Hard to tell.
  
  Or everything could be fine, and they feel like they are crazy not to advertise the opportunity to see if the 150% perfect candidate is out there waiting to be found.
  
  Get back in touch with them AFTER next week if you haven’t heard from them.
  
  And keep job hunting!
  
  Good luck with your job search!
  Susan