Backdoor References: What They Are and When They Cross a Line

Content Summary

A backdoor reference is a reference you gather about a job candidate without going through the contacts they gave you. Instead of calling the two managers on the application, a hiring manager pings a former coworker on LinkedIn, texts a buddy who happened to work at the same company or asks around inside their own network to get the "real story." The practice is legal in most cases, but it crosses a line when it violates a candidate's privacy expectations, pulls in protected-class information, or breaks a promise you made about how you'd handle their information.

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