Latest / Executive Careers with Fexingo: VP, C-Suite, and Senior Leadership Career Strategy / How Senior Leaders Use the Pre-Offer Reference Strategy
Transcript
- Lucas: So we talk a lot on this show about what happens before the interview, during the interview, after the interview. But there is one stage that senior leaders consistently underprepare for, and it can kill a deal that's ninety-five percent done. Luna: The reference check. I've seen candidates sail through six rounds, charm the CEO, and then get torpedoed by a single offhand comment from a former colleague. Lucas: Exactly. And the irony is that at the VP and C-suite level, references are rarely a pass-fail compliance exercise. They are a persuasion opportunity. The question is: are you treating them that way? Luna: Walk me through the tactical version. What does a pre-offer reference strategy actually look like? Lucas: Let me anchor this in a real case. A few years back, I worked with a CFO candidate—let's call her Sarah—who was a finalist at a Fortune 500 industrial company. The CEO loved her. The board was impressed. All that remained was the reference call with her former CFO, a guy named Tom. Luna: Right, the archetypal reference. Former boss, high credibility. Lucas: Tom was going to be called. Sarah knew that. But she didn't just let it happen. She did something I now call the pre-offer reference map. She reached out to Tom two days before the recruiter called him, and she did not ask for a favor. She asked for alignment. Luna: What does that mean in practice? Was she scripting him? Lucas: Not scripting. But she sent him a one-page summary of the role she was going for, the top three priorities the CEO had mentioned, and the three accomplishments from her time working with Tom that she hoped he would highlight. Then she said: 'If the recruiter asks about my work on the ERP integration, here is the one number I think tells the story.' Luna: That is smart. She is essentially giving him permission to be specific, which references often fail at because they try to be too general. Lucas: Exactly. The biggest risk with a senior-level reference is not that they will say something bad. It is that they will say something vague. 'Sarah is great. She's a strong finance leader.' That might as well be silence. The recruiter wants: 'Sarah led a $400 million ERP migration that came in under budget by six percent.' That is a data point. Luna: So the pre-brief is about weaponizing specificity. But what about the harder case—if there is a known weakness in the candidate's background? Lucas: This is where the strategy gets delicate. If Sarah knew that her tenure at one company ended abruptly, she would brief Tom on how to frame that. Not to lie, but to contextualize. She might say: 'If they ask about my departure from X Corp, here is the strategic rationale—the business was pivoting away from my division—and here is how I handled the transition professionally.' Luna: So she is effectively giving the referee a playbook for the tricky question. That makes the referee more confident, which makes them a better advocate. Lucas: And it reduces the chance of an ambush. The worst reference call is one where the referee is caught off guard and starts rambling. When they are prepared, they sound thoughtful, measured, credible. That reflects back on the candidate. Luna: Is there a risk that this comes across as too calculated? Like, oh, Sarah is controlling the narrative? Lucas: There is a line. If you send a five-page document with bullet points and talking points, yes, that feels manipulative. But a short, respectful email that says 'I want to make sure you have context so you feel comfortable'—that is seen as professional. Most referees appreciate it. They don't want to screw up your opportunity by being unprepared. Luna: What about the number of references? I see senior leaders sometimes offering eight names. Lucas: That is a mistake. Reference fatigue is real. If you give a recruiter a list of eight people, they will call three or four. But those three or four will be random and you lose control of which story gets told. Better to give three carefully chosen referees, each with a distinct angle. Luna: Right. A former boss for leadership credibility, a peer for collaboration, and maybe a direct report for culture fit. Lucas: Exactly. And you brief each one differently. The direct report should talk about how you developed them. The peer should talk about cross-functional influence. The boss should talk about strategic impact. Each reference becomes a different data point that together builds a 3D picture. Luna: And you also need to consider the timing. When should you start this process? Before the final round? Lucas: Ideally, before you even enter the formal process. I tell senior leaders to maintain a 'reference in waiting'—a set of two or three people they have an ongoing relationship with, not just someone they call once every three years. When Sarah needed Tom, they had spoken quarterly for two years. He knew her current thinking. Luna: So part of this is just relationship maintenance. Don't disappear from your network when you are not job hunting. Lucas: Right. And this is actually a nice parallel to something we talk about on this show a lot—if we've helped you think through a career move or decision, it's partly because we can keep doing this without ads, thanks to listeners who support the show directly. Luna: Yeah, honestly, if today's episode was worth a coffee to you, that's the link—buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's that simple. Lucas: And we mean it—no perks, no tiers, just knowing that the show is useful. So back to references: let's talk about the actual phone call. What does a well-prepared candidate do when the recruiter asks 'who else should I talk to?' Luna: That is the moment where most people freeze. They say 'oh, I'll send you a list' and then scramble. Lucas: Don't scramble. Have the list ready. But more importantly, when you give the name, also give a one-sentence context. 'I would recommend speaking with Jane Doe—she was my chief of staff during the turnaround, and she can speak to how I lead under pressure.' That frames the conversation before the recruiter even dials. Luna: So you are essentially pre-framing the reference for the recruiter too. That is a meta-layer. Lucas: Exactly. And then, after the reference call happens, follow up. Not to ask what they said, but to thank them and offer to share any context they might need for future calls. That keeps the relationship warm. Luna: One more nuance: what about the reference that is not a former boss but a board member or a key client? Does the strategy change? Lucas: It does. Board members are often more cautious because they have fiduciary duties. You want to be extra clear about what is appropriate to share. With a client, the focus should be on your ability to deliver outcomes and build trust. But the same principle applies—brief them on the context of the new role so they can draw relevant parallels. Luna: I think the biggest takeaway here is that the reference process is not something that happens to you. It is something you can shape. Lucas: Absolutely. And it is one of the highest-leverage activities in a senior search because it happens so late. A misstep here can undo months of work. But a well-executed reference strategy can actually tip the scale in your favor, especially if the other candidate's references are generic. Luna: So to recap: choose three referees with distinct stories, brief them in advance, give them specific numbers and context, and frame the conversation for the recruiter too. Lucas: And maintain those relationships before you need them. The best reference strategy is the one that has been in place for years. I'd love to hear from listeners who have used this approach—did it change the outcome? We might do a follow-up episode with real listener stories. Luna: That feels like a natural next step. For now, go brief your referees.