The other day I was contacted by a Google recruiter to serve as a reference for a former colleague of mine. In the process Google asked me to fill out an online form with a set of questions. I found the questions very thought- and insightful so I figured I share them here for your own recruiting efforts:

1. What is your current title, as well as the title you held when the candidate worked with you?
2. Was there a reporting relationship, and if so how long did the candidate report to you?
3. How long have you known the candidate? Were you the one responsible for hiring the candidate into your company? How did you happen to find the candidate?
4. At what company did you work together? How large is/was your organization? How many people reported to you at the time you managed the candidate?
5. Out of the direct reports mentioned above, how would you have ranked the candidate? (i.e. on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent)
6. (if applicable) What kept the candidate from being the #1 performer on your team? (i.e. what areas could s/he work to improve upon or develop?)
7. Can you tell us a bit about the candidate’s strengths, both technical and interpersonal?
8. Did you ever have the opportunity to give the candidate a formal performance review? If so, what scale did you use and what was the candidate’s rating?
9. Is there any other information that you would like to share that would be helpful in our consideration of this candidate?
10. Assuming you had the role, budget, etc., would you want to hire this candidate again? Why or why not?