Reference surveys help you collect structured, confidential feedback from a candidate’s former colleagues, managers, or peers. By automating the process with Spark Hire, you can save time, reduce bias, and uncover key details about a candidate’s past performance—all before making your final hiring decision.

To create a new Reference survey:

1. From the left-side menu, click Library > Reference surveys.
2. Click Create reference survey at the top of the page.
3. Step 1: Build Survey
   1. Name your reference survey.
   2. Add the questions you would like the references to answer about your candidate by selecting a question type from the dropdown and filling in the question properties:
      • Name – Ask the reference to confirm their name (useful for correcting typos or name changes).
      • Email – Ask the reference to confirm or update their email address.
      • Phone – Ask the reference to enter a phone number.
      • Single line text – Short, free-text answers (up to 255 characters).
      • Paragraph text – Longer, free-text answers (up to 2,000 characters).
      • Dropdown – A list where the reference selects one option.
      • Number – Ask for a numeric value.
      • Date – Ask for a specific date.
      • Checkboxes – Allow the reference to select multiple options.
      • Radio button – Allow the reference to choose one option from a list.
      • URL – Ask the reference to provide a link.
   3. Check the Require an answer to this question box to remove the option to skip the question.
   4. Click Add question.
4. Step 2: Permissions – Control who can access and manage this survey:
   • Manager: By default, the Manager is the user who creates the survey. An Admin can change the survey’s manager at any time.
   • Visibility:
     • Everyone—Any user on the account can access this survey.
     • Manager only—Only the manager and the account Admins can access this survey.
     • Specific people—Access is limited to selected users or user groups.
5. Click Create survey.

Once created, your survey will be available to use in both new and existing reference checks. You can always return to the Reference Survey Library to edit your survey later.