You picked the best 10 resumes from the six dozen you received. You narrowed your choices further with brief phone interviews before bringing your top five in for interviews. After an afternoon of lively discussion with the rest of your management team, you’ve decided which candidate you want to hire. But hold on a moment. Before you pick up the phone to offer him a hotel manager job, consider these three reasons you need to check in with his past employers first.

1. Experienced candidates are often well rehearsed.

Hotel manager isn’t an entry level position. Every candidate you interviewed has likely held several other jobs. Most probably have dozens of interview experiences under their belts. As a result, they know what to do—and not to do—to make a good impression on a potential employer. They’ve rehearsed their answers to the most common interview questions. And even those with minor “red flags” on their resumes have learned how to give a smooth explanation. You need a third party with first-hand insight—and a previous employer is the best source.

2. An astonishing number of candidates are willing to tell lies.

Many surveys have revealed a tendency towards falsification among today’s job seekers. According to a review of one such survey by Forbes, 58 percent of hiring managers have discovered exaggerations and worse on candidate resumes. And 33 percent say lies have become more prevalent since the recession. The survey also found that the hospitality industry ranks second in terms of the most phony resume claims, with common lies including embellished skill sets, embellished responsibilities, dates of employment, job title, academic degree, past employers and awards. Short conversations with a few previous supervisors are essential if you want to separate truth from fiction.

3. Bad managers are one of the biggest causes of turnover.

Finding, hiring and a training new worker takes time and costs your organization money. In fact, you may have “spent” thousands in man hours and lost productivity before winding up with the short-list of hotel manager candidates now on your desk. Hire the right one and your troubles are over. Make the wrong hire and the worst may be yet to come—in the form of increased turnover among the rest of your staff. Numerous studies have revealed the importance of managements’ attitudes and skills—both hard and soft—in promoting employee engagement and job satisfaction. They’ve also shown that bad managers cause employees to leave. In fact, according to one survey, 42 percent of workers have left a job in the past because of a bad boss.

While some organizations prohibit human resources or management from giving out much information about past employees, most are willing to verify job titles, basic duties, salaries and dates of employment. It doesn’t hurt to ask for more, either. Answers to questions such as “Why did the candidate leave?” and “Would you rehire this candidate?” can reveal quite a lot that may help you when making an employment decision.