Reference check prior to interview?!

A bad employer did this to me. I'd consider it a red flag.

Well all of the above did cross my mind. At first I thought they were trying to be efficient but then I thought well he knows what I'm like so I don't know what efficiency he's gaining there. Then I thought well, if I'm that bothered by it, should I remove my name from the list. And yes I'll admit for a mad second there I thought I might get the job without an interview (but as it's a government position, it would be impossible to carry off). I dunno. Your advice to roll with it is sound.

I haven't done it this way but could easily see doing it. And it's likely they are doing this with all applicants to quickly weed the stack down, so no special treatment/snowflakedness for you. The company I work for automatically sends out job reference letters/checks once you put an application in and personal checks are up to each Director. Why do we check referenences? It's all part of the winnowing process. Sometimes mes people really do not have someone to speak up for them so will put false phone numbers or no phone number, work differences are about 40/60 offering any to no pertinate info, so it's worth checking, basically checking is just due dilegence .

Did your employer make the call or was it an agency? Because one unsavory but not unusual agency practice is to use the reference check on a candidate as an excuse to call the reference, but the purpose of the contact is actually a sales call. In that context, the reference call can be made at any time, irrespective of the candidate's status (or even likelihood of being placed.) And while that situation may not be applicable here, it does speak to the fact that reference-checking can be an excuse for personal calls, hey-do-you-have-anyone-better-than-this-I-could-talk-to calls, sales calls, anything a person might want a good excuse to pick up the phone for.

@edgeways: at this stage it's just a written job reference. But you've made an interesting point because maybe he did contact them beforehand in my last application but neither of them told me about it--person A I was working with at the time, and person B I had worked with just a few months previously. The only reason I found out about this is because the same person A asked me what dates I had worked there (it's edging 2 years ago now) and that gave me the heads up to notify person C. @ziggly: that's what I'm worried about. But this guy is known to be--for a lack of a better word--incestuous with his work relationships. He really surrounds himself with good people (all his temps are through recommendations from his current employees, all of whom are really good) and I wouldn't put it past him to obtain the people he wants in a not-strictly professional manner. Anyway I've decided to ask person A if he was approached last time as well beforehand. I think that's the only way to settle the question in my mind and we'll go from there.

I should clarify: I'd already interviewed and wasn't sure it was a great fit. They went ahead and called a person I would have put on my list of references, but I hadn't actually provided the list yet. They just happened to know each other already (this was also a pretty incestuous group, in that there was lots of professional/personal overlap, which is also why I had known about the job to begin with.) I hadn't properly considered it all yet and it turned into "We already talked to someone when can you start?" and I felt pressured into accepting. It turned out to be a terrible fit. So I'd proceed with caution.