I've been involved with thousands of candidate interviews and very likely have screened hundreds of references over the past 10+ years at Amphib Digital. Some of the references are planned, others important but not listed.

One thing that intrigues me is how people respond to the accomplishments, awards, or capabilities of others beyond their time with or even prior to the candidate's time with the reference. The usual responses when discussing relevant accomplishments, even sometimes after working together:

"Ok. Very interesting!"

"Wow. I can see that. [He or She] was an outside the box thinker and could get things done..."

On occasion, when getting non-listed references I'll hear something like:

"....so let me tell you about [him or her]"...followed by something not so flattering.

As a professional and trusted recruiter, my goal is to take the big picture about candidates candidacy, conducting thorough screening effort shaped by our in-house, sector-relevant or sector-related experience and finely-tuned search criteria. To employ integrity and best effort for each of my interactions.

We often find that career individuals who are especially on a generally upward scaling trajectory, though enjoying steady and growing success can still bump into personality issues and political conflict; that's life.

The longer I've been at this, the closer I've come to the realization that there are no smooth, picture perfect careers and those that have stayed at the same job without expanding their horizons or pushing the envelopes aren't always the right fit for small, pioneering, rapidly growing, entrepreneurial like firms that we represent.

What I've found is that leaders and colleagues who cannot make productive sense of a former colleagues newly discovered skill, accomplishment, or awards were then often and maybe even still are at an inflection point of their own careers or fell into blind spots or shadows of a more local culture in an otherwise larger or great work environment.

As a parting thought, professionals don't just come to work for the salary; they're joining a new mission to improve themselves and to improve their employer.

It's time as leaders and colleagues we take this to heart in our planning and interactions with others. ✅