Work reference

How important are they in the personnel selection of the future?

Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. This is a central axiom of psychological research (Sutton, 1994). That is why the external assessment of previous work performance in job references is still very important, particularly in candidate screening. However, there are two important aspects you should definitely look at when evaluating and interpreting work references...

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Both the drafter and recipient must understand the language of the work certificate

The interpretation of work references is often made more difficult by the fact that the language of testimony develops into a separate science due to the legally established duty of goodwill. To avoid distortions and appraisal errors, you should therefore ensure that both sides know established certification techniques. And this is often not the case, for example in small family businesses without their own HR department. If in doubt, HR managers should therefore seek an interview with the former employer and check whether the described “good performance” should actually describe only an average quality of work of the applicant (language of the certificate) or simply a good performance, as the company does not use additions such as “always” when preparing the certificate.

In addition, job references are of course always subject to subjective assessments and thus possible assessment errors. For example, a poor rating does not always have to indicate poor performance by the employee alone. It would also be possible, for example, that this is due to the boss's annoyance, for example due to the employee moving to the competition.

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Be aware of the declining importance of job references

Past performance is a good indicator of future performance. That may be true. However, this assumption becomes problematic in a constantly changing working environment. Because if job profiles and work content change continuously, experience in a previous job naturally loses predictive power. Let's imagine, for example, that an innovative start-up in the financial sector is looking for a software developer to join a dynamic project team that uses the latest methods in the software sector. An applicant has already gained several years of professional experience as a developer at a well-known banking institution, but worked there exclusively with a single established, but rather outdated, operating system. It may come as little surprise that good performance in the previous job alone will not be a good indicator of career success in the start-up. Rather, it will also be about hiring an employee who can quickly acquire new methods, is adaptable and has a high level of problem-solving expertise. All of this can often only be read to a limited extent from an employment reference.

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Conclusion:

There is no doubt that certain social and professional skills will continue to be identified in work references, such as motivation and resilience. However, these will lose importance in the working world of the future, in parallel with ever faster changes. But what remains are people's individual strengths and potential. These can be tested using psychological aptitude diagnostics and made visible, for example, in our diagnostic data sheet.

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Sources

• DIN German Institute for Standardization e.V. (2016). Requirements for procedures and their Use in job-related aptitude assessments — DIN 33430. Berlin: Beuth.
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