I understand most parts of the hiring process for an academic job, except for the reference check. How do they check it, who checks it, and when do they check it? Do they check what we write in the cover letter, cv, teaching/research statement, etc.? Do they run a background check, credit score check on you?
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1Another type of check is where they take the publications you list, and look them up to verify that they actually exist. Perhaps that is what is meant by a "reference check"?– GEdgarDec 12, 2015 at 22:28
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4 Answers
At my institution in the United States, reference checks are done by members of the search committee for the position, who call those people the candidate has listed as references. We use a structured list of questions, ending with, "is there anything we should know that I haven't asked you?"
We verify academic credentials by requiring official transcripts, including those from undergraduate institutions.
The institution separately does a criminal record background check, handled by the university police department. The candidate must explicitly authorize this, in writing. But, of course, we cannot consider candidates who will not agree to the background check. As far as I know, there is no credit check for faculty jobs. There probably is a credit check for anyone who handles money.
Finally, the institution does a driving record check every year. This is because we are covered by the university's insurance when driving university vehicles or driving our personal vehicles on university business.
What I've written (except the bit about the driving record) applies to people being hired into a tenure-track position. Applications for promotion or tenure for those already on the faculty are much different.
answered Dec 12, 2015 at 20:48
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2Things are the same at the institutions I have been at, except we don't have the driving record check. Dec 12, 2015 at 21:50
I don't think I'm the least-aware of bureaucratic activities at my university, but, for faculty or even postdoc positions, I have not been aware of any transcript-checking (either grad or undergrad) or phone-calling references or criminal background or driving record or credit checks.
It is conceivable that some of this is happening, but I've never heard a peep about it, while I know that some people who were hired had some credit problems, driving issues, and so on, so I don't know what, if anything, the central administration is doing with whatever info they do check.
I think essentially all the people we've hired for the 30+ years I've been here have had PhD advisors well-known to at least one of my colleagues... which, while not guaranteeing credit or driving virtues, guarantees something about mathematical competence.
answered Dec 12, 2015 at 22:20
I'm the chair of my (US public computer science) department's recruiting committee. At my university there are a few types of checks:
Recommendation letters. For assistant professor candidates, we request letters only from names that the applicant suggests in their application. But for anything more senior, we also request letters from people the applicant does not propose; in fact, a strict majority of the reference letters must come from people not suggested by the applicant.
Public academic record. We definitely look at the applicant's actual publications, but we may look at externally curated records of your publication, citation, and/or funding history. For example, in computer science, essentially all publications are indexed in DBLP, and citations are most accurately tracked by Google Scholar; we may check those sites. (Other fields use different databases.) Similarly, for tenured applicants, we may directly consult NSF's database of funded grant proposals. If an applicant has taught at an institution that publishes teaching evaluations, we may also look at those. We don't do these checks to verify factual information in the cover letter, CV, statements, and so on, but rather to get an independent and more consistent view of the applicants' records that helps us make direct comparisons.
Criminal background check. These are conducted by the state police on behalf of the university after an applicant accepts a contingent offer.
We do not request transcripts (even for assistant professors) or credit checks. Also, unlike Bob Brown's department/university, we do not call references for tenure-track faculty positions; we require all recommendations in writing.
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1@MassimoOrtolano coauthors, advisees, coworkers, former heads, board members of organizations that they are also a board member of, etc. All could provide relevant information about an applicant's research, instruction, outreach, and professionalism. I don't know about in JeffE's institution, but when we do these types of external reviews (most common for promotion) applicants can provide a short list of people not to contact. Dec 13, 2015 at 16:28
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3@MassimoOrtolano Why would anyone of them spend time in writing a recommendation letter out of a cold call from a university, unless previously contacted by the applicant? — Because it's an expected part of our job, just like reviewing conference and journal submissions. Our junior colleagues cannot be promoted without independent reference letters. If nobody agreed to write them, nobody would get tenure, and the field would die.– JeffEDec 13, 2015 at 19:47
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2@MassimoOrtolano How do you choose them? — We look for internationally recognized intellectual leaders in the applicant's subfield who have not worked with the applicant directly. They must be full professors or equivalent; named positions, prestigious awards, and Academy memberships are even better. Ideally, they come from a top-10 department (both in their subfield and in CS more broadly). Coauthors are usually not considered independent enough; former advisors, frequent coauthors, and faculty in the applicant's department are off-limits. Yes, finding the right people is hard.– JeffEDec 13, 2015 at 19:58
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1@guifa But if someone had nothing to say about you, the committee would undoubtedly ask someone else — In my experience, if a carefully chosen reference has nothing to say about an applicant, the applicant doesn't get the job/tenure.– JeffEDec 13, 2015 at 20:00
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2For high-level roles, my uni has taken to working with big agencies, and the first meetings are hush-hush airport meetings! Dec 18, 2015 at 21:48
Before we hire anyone for a tenured position, we not only consider the letters provided by the candidate's chosen references but we also request letters from additional experts in the candidate's research area. These experts are chosen by our department's personnel committee without consulting the candidate. No transcripts are involved; by the time someone is qualified for a tenured position, transcripts are ancient history. As for information in the candidate's CV, we generally presume that it's accurate unless we encounter evidence to the contrary. I believe the university conducts a background check, but I don't know how much it includes; my guess would be that they only look for any criminal records, not credit reports or driving records.
answered Dec 13, 2015 at 0:35
