The Reference Check Is Not a Formality
In most hiring processes, the reference check happens at the end. The decision has effectively been made, the offer is being drafted, and someone calls two or three names the candidate provided to confirm they are who they said they are. The call lasts fifteen minutes. Nothing disqualifying comes up. The offer goes out.
That is not a reference check. That is a liability clearance exercise.
A substantive reference check in facilities and construction executive search is something different. It is a structured conversation designed to surface the things a candidate cannot or will not tell you about themselves: how they operate under pressure, how they navigate institutional politics, how they develop the people around them, and whether their track record of project outcomes actually reflects their leadership or simply favorable circumstances.
Matt Lesher, a search consultant at Real8 Group, has conducted hundreds of reference calls for VP of Facilities, Director of Construction, Director of Facilities Operations, Director of Engineering, and Project Executive searches across higher education, healthcare, cultural institutions, and owners’ rep firms. Here is how he thinks about the process and why it matters more than most organizations realize.
Why Reference Checks Fail in Institutional Settings
The References Are Pre-Screened
Candidates provide references they expect to perform well. In institutional environments, those references are often senior colleagues or supervisors the candidate has maintained a strong relationship with over years. They are not going to say anything that costs the candidate the job. Calling only candidate-provided references and treating those conversations as definitive is a significant blind spot.
A more effective approach is to map the candidate’s professional network independently and identify references who were not offered. Former peers, subordinates, contractor partners, and board members who worked with the candidate during a capital program or facilities transition often have a more complete and candid picture than a longtime supervisor. Getting to those voices requires a different kind of outreach.
The Questions Are Too Broad
Generic reference questions produce generic answers. “How would you describe their leadership style?” invites a rehearsed response. “Tell me about a time they had to deliver bad news to a board or executive committee and how they handled it” produces something real.
In institutional facilities and construction searches, the questions that matter most are the ones tied to the specific competencies the role demands: budget stewardship under constraint, managing a major capital program through scope changes, handling a facilities emergency, navigating a contentious renovation in an occupied building. The more specific the question, the more specific the answer, and the more useful the information.
The Caller Does Not Know What to Listen For
Reference calls conducted by HR generalists or internal coordinators often miss the signals that an experienced domain-specific recruiter would catch. A reference who says “she was always very focused on the numbers” might be offering quiet praise or quiet criticism, depending on the context of the role and the institution. A reference who pauses before answering a question about a candidate’s team-building track record is telling you something even if their actual words are positive.
Reading those signals requires knowledge of the sector. Matt Lesher’s reference calls work because he already understands the environment the candidate was operating in, the typical pressures of a university or health system facilities function, and what “managing up effectively” or “comfortable with ambiguity” actually means in practice for a VP of Facilities at a major academic medical center.
What a Substantive Reference Call Looks Like
The Framing Matters
Matt opens reference calls by establishing context: who he is, why he is calling, and that the conversation is not about confirming facts on a resume but about helping the hiring organization set the candidate up for success. That framing changes the nature of the conversation. References who feel they are being interrogated give shorter, more guarded answers. References who feel they are being consulted give longer, more candid ones.
The Sequence Is Deliberate
The call starts broad and narrows. Early questions establish the reference’s relationship to the candidate and the context of their work together. Middle questions probe specific competencies: how the candidate handled a budget overrun, how they managed a difficult contractor relationship, what their approach was to building or rebuilding a facilities team. Late questions are the most direct: what would you tell this organization to pay attention to in the onboarding process, and is there anything you would want them to know that would make this person more successful in the role?
That last question is not “do you have any concerns.” It is framed as a success question, and it consistently produces the most useful responses of the entire call.
Off-List References Are Where the Real Signal Lives
For senior facilities and construction searches, Matt typically conducts two to three candidate-provided references and at least one to two off-list conversations. The off-list references are identified through network mapping: who else worked at that institution during the candidate’s tenure, who managed a major project alongside this person, which contractor or owner’s rep firm has worked with this executive repeatedly.
Off-list references do not have a stake in the candidate’s success. They have a stake in giving an honest account of what working with this person was actually like. That is where the reference check becomes genuinely predictive rather than confirmatory.
What Reference Checks Surface in Institutional Facilities and Construction
In Matt’s experience, the issues that reference checks surface most reliably in this sector fall into a few categories.
The first is leadership style mismatch. A candidate who led a large university facilities organization through a top-down, directive model may struggle in a consensus-driven health system culture, or vice versa. References who worked alongside the candidate in different settings can help predict which direction that mismatch is likely to run.
The second is capital program track record. Project lists on a resume show scope and scale. They do not show whether the executive delivered on time, on budget, and with the institutional relationships intact. References who were on the other side of a major capital project, whether as a board member, a user group representative, or a contractor partner, can speak to the quality of the delivery in a way the candidate cannot.
The third is team development. In facilities and construction leadership, the ability to build, retain, and develop a strong team is as important as technical competence. References who were direct reports or subordinate leaders often have the clearest view of this dimension. Reaching them requires effort, but the information is worth it.
How Real8 Group Integrates Reference Intelligence into the Search
At Real8 Group, reference conversations are not a step at the end of the process. They are integrated into the candidate evaluation from early in the search. When Matt is assessing candidates for a VP of Facilities or Director of Construction role, he is often doing informal network checks before a formal offer is anywhere near the table.
That approach means that by the time a finalist slate reaches the client, the reference picture is already developed. Clients are not surprised at the offer stage by something a reference reveals. They go into final interviews with a clearer, more complete picture of who each candidate is, how they operate, and what the onboarding plan will need to account for.
If your organization is conducting a senior facilities or construction search and you want to understand how Real8 Group approaches candidate evaluation, visit real8group.com/how-we-work or learn more about Matt Lesher and the Real8 team at real8group.com/team.
To start a search or discuss an upcoming leadership need, reach out at real8group.com/contact or visit real8group.com/finding-talent.
Real8 Group is a specialized executive search firm serving the real estate, construction, engineering, and facilities operations sectors across the U.S.
