#checking references

[grundyscribbling]

@cycas I haven’t forgotten your request - my faith in TolkienGateway is being rather shaken, and I’m going through ALL the books now.

[thebiggamehunter]

New Post has been published on Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter's Blog

New Post has been published on http://blog.thebiggamehunter.us/2016/11/07/checking-references-that-were-not-provided/

Checking References That Were Not Provided

Facebook Share Twitter Share Google+ Share

Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3urDT7lyAg

Is it normal and ethical for a potential employer to contact my ex-coworkers to ask about my work even though they are not the references that I had provided?

  Summary

This is a question I received about checking references that were not provided.

“Is it normal and ethical for an employer to check the reference with my ex-coworkers, even though they are not the references I provided?“

Understand, most employers know that the reference you gave them is “canned.”  If you give them a bad one, you are a moron.  They or assuming you are not a moron so they want to get something real.  So who should they call?  They might call someone they already know who works in the organization to check your reference.

For example, there was this 1 consulting firm that I did work with for years.  They did business development and consulting work with organizations worldwide for many years.  If this was affirmed. There was no longer client and they were interviewing someone from this firm, they might contact someone that they already knew and ask if they knew the person and what they thought.

If they heard something critical or something. He gave them, “cause for pause,” they might dig a little deeper before hiring the person. If they heard something positive, that was the reference and they brought someone on board. This was someone that they knew and trusted.

If they are doing what is nicknamed, “secondary sourcing (asking your reference. If there is someone else that they know who can attest or comment about your work),” that is considered smart because speaking to your primary reference is never going to go anywhere beyond a prepared answer from the reference and will get something unrehearsed from the secondary individual that is much closer to the truth.

I can debate the use of the term, “ethical.”  Who decides ethics?  What is unethical about what they are doing?

“But I didn’t give the reference to them?“

I am not aware of any ethics organization that will consider that a violation.

Is it normal?  No!  Employers, like people, are lazy.  They often take the path of least resistance.

Is it smart?  You bet it is!  What they are able to do is find out more of the truth that you will ever give them, then the references will never give them, so there are no surprises.

These people can also be a tiebreaker when there are references that might be lukewarm.

I also want to remind you that if an adverse reference result in you not being hired, you are entitled to, a copy of a receive a report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act of the references so that you can respond to the allegations or statements that were made. That will be sent to the employer.

  Do you think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com changes that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Like this:

Like Loading...

[thebiggamehunter]

Checking References That Were Not Provided

Checking References That Were Not Provided

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3urDT7lyAg[/svp] Is it normal and ethical for a potential employer to contact my ex-coworkers to ask about my work even though they are not the references that I had provided?

  [spp-transcript]

This is a question I received about checking references that were not provided.

“Is it normal and ethical for an employer to check the reference with my ex-coworkers,…

View On WordPress

[jimsobeck-blog]

How to Get References When Hiring

I am always surprised when someone hires a person that used to report to me and doesn’t even make an attempt to get a reference from me. Yes, I know that a lot of companies refuse to give out information beyond date of hire, date of separation, and job title but you would think that some people would at least try to get a reference. I have found that if you can get five or six references on each candidate your decision as to whether or not to hire the candidate gets significantly easier. I’m aware that candidates give you their best references, but if their best references are lukewarm, doesn’t that speak volumes about the candidate? On the other hand, if the references rave about the candidate (but not overly so to where it sounds like they were coached) that helps make the hiring decision much easier. Also, I ask for five business and five personal references and I call all of them and see who will talk to me. (I generally do this while driving when I have plenty of time.) Personal references are generally much more glowing than business references, and are usually not highly objective, but I have heard some great stories about candidates from their friends that have made the hiring decision a snap. For example, I once heard a story from personal reference about how a candidate pulled him out of a burning building. The story checked out with the candidate and I’m a sucker for hiring people that will lay down their lives for their friends. He turned out to be one of the best hires I ever made.

How do you get references in the litigious age we live in when most companies won’t tell much? Below are a few things that have worked for me over the years:

·         Get cell phone numbers. When you ask for references ask for the cell phone numbers of the references. Not only do you not have to talk to wives, children, switchboard operators, and HR managers, but many times you get directly to the person you were trying to reach and you catch them off guard before they put on their “corporate hat”.

·         Get the references to lower their guard. To lower the guard of references I usually say something like, “I have made the provisional decision to hire “Joe” and have a few questions for you about how I can help Joe achieve his full potential. That way, people think the decision has already been made and they’ll either help you or, in some cases, through their words or their reaction, let you know that you’re making a bad decision.

·         Use a release form. We have a release form that releases the reference from any and all liability for giving information about our candidate. The release form is signed by the candidate and for some companies, that’s enough for them to give you an accurate reference. However, some companies still revert to the old corporate line of not giving out information, even if you have a release form.

·         Ask for names and cell numbers of coworkers. While many supervisors won’t give you information about one of their former direct reports, most former coworkers have no such reservations. If you can talk to several former coworkers of your applicant you can also learn a lot of information. For example, one former coworker of an applicant of mine said to me, “I hear he has licked his cocaine problem, and if so, he should make a great employee for you. He did great for us until he got into coke.” Seriously, someone said that to me.

·         Ask for customer references. Do this especially when hiring for sales positions. However, many other positions come in contact with customers so if you are hiring for customer service, credit manager, or other positions that interact with customers, ask the applicant for customers he or she worked with in a previous position. Good applicants tend to make friends with many customers and are able to furnish you with their cell phone numbers. A customer reference is extremely important to me and if several customers rave about someone I’m interviewing that scores huge points with me.

In summary, don’t skip the important hiring step of checking references. If you use the tips above you should be able to get several references that will make your hiring decision much easier and significantly increase your batting average. Do you have other tips on how to get references on applicants? If so, please share them with my readers and me.

Copyright 2012 by Jim Sobeck. All rights reserved. This information may be reproduced as long as full credit is given to the author.