Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Why do employers bother contacting references you give them? I'm not talking about a background check where they call HR and verify information. I'm talking about asking you to provide people you've worked for. I doubt anyone would provide someone who will talk negatively about them. I always coach up my references before they are called. Its also not hard to just have people pretend to be previous supervisors or coworkers.
Believe it or not not everyone even lets their references know they are using them as references, and many times these references will not give a good reference but the person is oblivious. The point of asking is to weed out these people.
Not all references make positive comments about the person who is being asked about. Depending on how in-depth the interviewer wants to get, references are also a source of additional names to contact, they may reveal work history that is not on the application/resume, etc. For the typical McJob it does seem to be an exercise of "name three people who don't think you are an *******."
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,260,275 times
Reputation: 57825
I have called references and gotten surprised people, who would stammer and then "I'd rather not say." People should always check before giving someone as a reference. Where I am now HR does the checking and will let me know if any red flags are found, but they do verify any references from previous work by checking the phone number and/or website for the company, and any fakes are grounds for immediate rejection. We require 3 references, and HR will stop at 2 if both are positive. When I was hired, both of my references were on the phone with HR for 20 minutes.
Not all references make positive comments about the person who is being asked about. Depending on how in-depth the interviewer wants to get, references are also a source of additional names to contact, they may reveal work history that is not on the application/resume, etc. For the typical McJob it does seem to be an exercise of "name three people who don't think you are an *******."
If they left a job off its because they did not want it on there. I think in the information age its too easy to get left out in the cold over something that happened 6 months a year or more ago.
Since no one is perfect it becomes a game of who can hide their skeletons the best from prying eyes.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
