Thanks for sharing! You've hit on one of the reasons why this problem is interesting/hard.

We hold referencers accountable by tying them to a specific work context and we ask them specific questions about the candidate's unique work style and abilities. We emphasize having a growth mindset even when we ask referencers to share one of the candidate's development areas. All referencers provide their contact information for follow up and therefore are discouraged against writing false information.

Since we know references are generally positively skewed, we give references who don't want to advocate for a candidate the opportunity to decline. We mitigate black spots on a candidate by positively-framing our questions and then contextualizing the answers for that specific work environment.

We absolutely do not want Searchlight to become a black-mirror rating system. None of the references are public except to employers that the candidate gives permission to.

From what I read you invite people to comment, so you would only invite people who would speak to your strengths. This still leaves positive bias but that's inherent in reference checks because you choose the reference.

You would imagine this to be the case, but I've definitely been asked to serve as a reference by people who should have no rational reason to think I'd be able to speak positively about their employment. In those situations, I've always declined, indicating I was not comfortable and suggested that they use HR instead to validate their dates of employment here.

Thanks for sharing your approach. We give references on Searchlight the option to decline for this reason.

It's true that references are inherently positively skewed. However, with the right questions, references still provide invaluable information in understanding the candidate's working style, ideal environment, and primary strengths. One of the benefits that Searchlight provides to the companies who use us is to parse these answers on the good-to-great spectrum. We've been excited by the range of feedback that comes back - not every reference is a ringing endorsement. References have been willing to provide development areas and tips for future managers, because no one is perfect!

I'm not saying references aren't useful, I'm merely pointing out the bias in contrast to the person I was replying to. The concern that people will leave negative reviews is more dependent on the applicant's judgement of character.