Checking References: A Guide for Search Teams

Three people standing around a modern desk, with two of them shaking hands

Along with background checks, a search committee’s due diligence in finding a good match includes interviewing the references provided and checking in with UUA Regional Staff.

  • You may check the references your applicants provide to you either before or after interviews. There are advantages to both approaches.
  • You may ask your applicants for additional references if you need more specific information.
  • You may also ask top applicants which UUA regional staff member is most familiar with their ministry. UUA staff do not provide references for ministers but would be glad to provide their perspectives on applicants. (See Research Calls section below for more information.)
  • Congregational Life staff and the minister(s) currently serving your congregation are likely to be contacted by applicants to learn more about your ministry needs and history. This is appropriate and helpful.
  • A minister currently serving your congregation should not provide applicant-specific information or guidance to the search team.

Confidentiality

Until a search team has selected a candidate, team members should keep confidential the identities of interested ministers, whether or not they have formally applied.

This confidentiality should also be extended to the checking of references.

  • ONLY reach out to references provided by the applicant minister.
  • NEVER reach out anyone at the congregation where a minister is serving unless that person’s name was provided as a reference by the applicant. Doing so would not only betray the confidence of the search process, it would interfere with the relationship between minister and their current congregation.
  • Search teams should not attend live worship led by an applicant on-line or in-person. Limit viewings to recordings which are provided by the applicant or available to the public. Attending live worship without the applicant’s consent can breach confidentiality and may lead to their withdrawal from consideration
  • Please check in with UUA Transitions Team with any questions about confidentiality.

Research Calls with UUA Staff

Once a search team has come up with their top candidates, the search team should set up research calls with UUA regional staff (or CUC staff, if you are a Canadian congregation) to learn more about their top applicants.

These are not reference calls, as UUA staff do not provide references for ministers. But they are one of the main ways the UUA shares information about ministers with search teams, and they are delighted to do so.

There are three ways to find out who to call:

  • Ask each top applicant which UUA regional staff person knows their ministry best.
  • Reach out to the Congregational Transitions Director to ask if anyone on staff is familiar with the ministry of the applicant.
  • Use the contact information for the region(s) where the minister has served.

UUA Regional staff have a broad understanding of congregational culture, dynamics and patterns that can give your search team another view of the applicant. They may have insights on strengths and growing edges based on what your congregation is looking for.

Often, search teams leave these conversations with ideas about new references to request or questions to ask of the applicant, or you may simply feel more confident in your team’s perceptions of an applicant. Having multiple perspectives will help your search team select a good match for your congregation.

Before asking questions of the regional staff person, please plan to share a bit about your congregation’s culture, needs, and context, especially if they are not familiar with your ministry.

Sample Research Questions

  • How do you know our applicant? Have you worked with them directly? In what timeframe?
  • These are the goals for the next ministry partnership our congregation has identified: [list goals, or ministerial qualities or skills]. How do you see this applicant aligning with these goals?
  • Should we know about any other great qualities or growing edges?
  • Do you have any concerns* about their ministry, especially given what we have shared about our congregation?
  • Can you think of a type of developed reference we should be sure to ask this applicant to provide? This could be someone who could speak to the applicant’s approach to a particular element of ministry (worship, pastoral care, promotion of inclusivity, administrative functions, etc.)
  • Are there others on UUA regional staff we should contact?

*If There Are Concerns

If you learn something from Regional Staff about a top applicant which surprises or disappoints you, it is an opportunity to pause and pay attention, not a reason to think that your team made mistakes.

Sometimes ministers served a congregations that have no interest in spiritual growth or faith development.

Sometimes ministers have had behaviors or patterns that have been a problem in previous ministries which do not rise to the level of misconduct (in particular, bullying), but about which your search team should be aware. Examples include:

  • authoritarian management or communication style
  • resistance to accountability
  • poor boundaries
  • conflict avoidance or lack of skill in conflict transformation.

The important thing is to have honest and forthcoming conversations as a search team about all of the information that you gather and determine if this would be a shared ministry where both minister and laity can thrive.