Going ‘Off-Sheet’

My institution’s official “Permission to Interview” form includes a space for the search committee to verify that it has considered a candidate’s references and confirmed his or her graduate transcripts (we use a service for the latter). The committee lists the references by name and provides a brief summary of their comments. This form secures permission to invite candidates to the campus for a formal interview.

One of my mentors always stressed the importance of confidentiality in searches, and urged committee members to avoid the temptation of routinely going “off-sheet” in checking references (i.e., calling people who are not named on an applicant’s contact list) unless there were very specific reasons for doing so. His point was that higher education is a small world, and a few careless questions could harm applicants’ current positions.

When is it OK to contact references who aren’t listed on a candidate’s CV?