Trust is something hard to come by especially if one does not know the person. To make this happen, companies and people do background checks on the individual to avoid being swindled or victimized.
An example is when people apply for a job. The company has to do a background check to see if that individual is for real or a fraud. Human resource practioners do this by letting the applicant fill up a form.
This usually has the name of the applicant and other details such as where the person worked before. In the bottom, these people ask for 3 individuals to be used as character references that have either worked or known the individual.
Some companies do not have the budget to do this so it is left to an employment agency to do the necessary checking before forwarding the application of the person to the client company.
When calling references, questions such as how long the individual has known the person and at what capacity. If the one being called is a co-worker or the employer, questions such as what the strengths and weaknesses of the person, why did the person leave and would the company re-hire the individual if there is an...