There are way too many stories about candidates who blow off the importance of reference checks and end up losing the offer. It makes no sense. It's like stopping just before you reach the end zone to tie your shoe and getting tackled.

References are the critical last few yards of scoring a touchdown. If you assume it's a done deal and don't pay attention here, you'll lose out. Don't treat this as a rubber stamp and mere administrative detail. Take it seriously and pay attention to how this gets conducted on your behalf.

I think the biggest reason why candidates don't pay more attention to this is that they think of references as an old tradition that won't have any significant effect on the final decision. This couldn't be further from the truth. While certainly an older hiring tool, checking references has never been more important with the enormous liability involved in hiring a full-time employee in today's marketplace. So much is at stake and hiring the wrong person could result in damage to the company's systems, products, finances and even their work culture. As a result, the use of background checking services has skyrocketed over the past decade. And what used to a process used only by large organizations, is now a widespread hiring step.

Checking references is a big piece of this due diligence performed on today's candidates. Here are some great tips to make sure your references "check out":

1. Never provide a uniform set of professional references upfront on your resume. Only provide your references "upon request". This will allow you to select the right people for this particular job and give you the appropriate time to prepare your references with the necessary information about this particular job. Also, many times companies will actually try to recruit your references. Imagine the horror in learning that a company received your resume and called a peer reference you listed who ended up being more qualified and interested in the position. Your reference ended up getting the job. (I kid you not...this happens!)

2. Always provide relevant references. Skip personal references and stick to recent, professional relationships only. If you follow tip #1 and furnish your references upon request, then you can ask upfront what "type" of references they want (manager, peer or subordinate level?) in order to give them exactly what they need.

3. Control response times. What does it say about you if your reference doesn't return the employer's call for a whole week? (not much). Managers are typically pretty urgent at this stage and a delayed response (or no response at all) will not bode well. Always double check all contact information given to make sure it's updated and consider providing email in addition to work and cell numbers for all of your references. Also, always know when or if your references will be on vacation or out of the office so that you can dodge any unintentional delays. You can also improve response times by calling each of your references to let them know who exactly will be contacting them so that they recognize the name and company and don't dismiss the call.

4. Always prep your references. The manager is primarily looking for someone to back up what you've said. So make sure your references have all the details on the role you are interveiwing for so they can validate the necessary facts. Try to give the reference a sense for what the manager/HR person may ask so they can prepare targeted commentary that is honest, but that also puts you in the most positive light.

If you don't pay attention and put the necessary effort into choosing the right references and setting these conversations up for success, this could end up hurting your candidacy. Don't get this far along into the process only to blow it at the reference checking stage.