How to collect references in a job post
Updated 3 weeks ago
A References question collects professional references from candidates as part of the application. You add it under Standard Responses in the job's Questions step, set how many references each candidate must provide, and choose which fields to collect. Candidates fill it in on the public application form without logging in; submitted references appear in the application details for review, in CSV exports, and in webhook payloads.
Add a References question
References is a Response type for standard questions, so you add it the same way as any other standard question.
Go to your Jobs list and open the job you want to edit.
Click Edit to open the Edit job page.
Click the Questions step at the top of the form.
Under Standard Responses, click Add questions (or Add new if the section already has questions).
Enter your question in the Question text field.
Select References from the Response type dropdown.
Tick Required if candidates must provide references. As with other standard questions, an optional References question can be submitted empty.
Selecting References adds two settings to the question card: the number of references to collect and the fields to collect for each reference.
Set how many references candidates must provide
The Minimum and Maximum counters on the References question control how many references a candidate can add. Both accept values from 1 to 5, and the defaults are a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3.
Use the Minimum counter to set the fewest references a candidate must provide.
Use the Maximum counter to cap how many references a candidate can add.
The maximum can never be set below the minimum, and lowering the minimum raises the maximum if it would otherwise fall below it. A required References question must be answered with at least the minimum number of valid references, and candidates can never add more than the maximum.
Choose which reference fields to collect
Each reference always includes a first name and last name; these are required and cannot be turned off. Under Fields to collect for each reference, you decide how Email, Phone, Company, and Relationship are collected: each can be required, optional, or hidden. The defaults are Email required, Phone required, Company optional, and Relationship required.
Open the options menu on a field row and choose Make it required, Make it optional, or Don't show.
To collect a hidden field again, click its show control to add it back to the form.
Required fields are marked with an asterisk and optional fields show as "(optional)".
Candidates choose a relationship from Supervisor, Co-worker, Mentor, Client, or Other. When Relationship is required and a candidate picks Other, they must also enter relationship details.
Scoring
References questions are not included in standard-response scoring and cannot receive Must-have or Good-to-have criteria. The scoring controls that apply to other standard question types do not appear for a References question.
Review and export references
Submitted references appear as numbered records in the application details for reviewers. You can copy a reference's email address and phone number, and email values are also clickable mailto links.
When you export applications to CSV, References answers appear in the question's column as newline-separated plain text, with each reference's number, name, relationship or company, email, and phone where available. For the export workflow, see How to export application data when single application CSV download isn't available.
Webhooks deliver a References answer as a structured array of reference objects when Include answers, video urls and transcripts is enabled on the job webhook. For the payload shape, see Fetch application details via webhooks.
Candidates add, edit, and remove their own reference cards as they complete the application; the steps they see are covered in How to add references to an application.