Understanding the Risks of Backchanneling

Today, a VP of Product reached out asking if I’d be willing to have a “quick backchannel conversation” about a candidate he’s considering hiring. His reasoning? “You only get the best side of someone during the interview process.” That request stopped me cold. I said yes—but only so I could tell him directly that backchanneling is not a practice I agree with or participate in. I only proceeded because I happened to have positive firsthand experience with the candidate, and I wanted to advocate for them. But I left that conversation unsettled. Let me be clear: - Backchanneling is unprofessional. - It’s slanderous when done to discredit someone. - And if you’re still employed at the same company as the candidate, it can be illegal. No one should ever speak off-the-record in a way that could jeopardize someone else’s opportunity for employment. If a candidate wants you to serve as a reference, they'll ask you directly. And if you're hiring, respect the process: interview thoroughly, ask for thoughtful references, and make an informed decision based on facts—not whispers. Backchanneling is lazy hiring dressed up as due diligence. It violates trust. It fuels bias. And it has no place in a professional, equitable hiring process. Let’s do better. ___________________________________________________________________ 🔄 UPDATE: I want to add a few clarifications based on the thoughtful discussion happening in the comments: The VP of Product who reached out to me was a leader at another company—someone I didn’t know personally. “Backchanneling” refers to the common (and problematic) practice of contacting former managers or colleagues of a candidate for an unofficial reference—without the candidate’s knowledge or consent. I’m grateful for the positive and constructive dialogue this post has sparked. Thank you all for engaging with honesty and care. 🙏

A viral post with 2,600+ interactions from an exec who worked at a company that so many people on here admire recommended an unethical hiring practice yesterday. 😐 It made me feel sick 🤢. Here's a warning: Backchannelling. Backchannelling is when a company contacts references WITHOUT a candidate's knowledge, typically by leveraging connections in their network and sleuthing the candidate's work history. There are so many things wrong with this I don't even know where to start. Plenty of HR professionals and people with much more expertise than me weighed in with their informed, valid, and concerning thoughts. But I'd like to share a warning of what could happen and why you should never do this: Say you have a candidate you want to hire. Their interviews were great. Their provided references were good. Then you backchannel. You find their manager from 2 companies ago by sleuthing around. That manager gives an AWFUL reference. Tells you all about how horrible they are. How combative they are. How they're not a team player. You're shocked. You're glad you did this 'backchannelling'. So you don't hire the candidate. Now what if I told you that that candidate left that role, and that manager, because that manager was abusing them? Now what? You've just given that manager an extended licence to do even more harm to that candidate. That's on you. Do better. This is one of 1,000+ reasons why you shouldn't backchannel. There are so many more. It's rife with bias. It's unethical. It disproportionately disadvantages candidates. It perpetuates all of the things we're trying to remove from the workplace. I've been asked to backchannel before. I'm not doing it. Not then, not today, not ever. #hiringmanagers #hiring

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: If you backchannel a candidate with 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝟭 CEO, who had poor PMF, lack of infrastructure (channel program, sales enablement, etc), where they clashed with their boss - The backchannel will be, "they aren't any good, don't hire them" If you backchannel a candidate with 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝟮 CEO, and the company were slightly further along, better PMF, better territory, then the backchannel will be, "they're great, hire them" The most important part of a backchannel is the context, and that is the piece that people very infrequently pay attention to. If your company aligns with Startup 1, then maybe it's not the environment for this candidate, but if your company aligns with Startup 2, then it'll feel like a slam dunk.