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I had an interview recently for a job that I am very interested in. The interview went great until the very last minute when the HR rep asked me if it was ok if she contacted my current manager. I told her that I haven't notified her that I had applied for this job and, if possible, I'd rather her not know until I am sure I would be leaving. The HR person told me that she "had" to contact my manager to verify employment and that it would be a problem if she couldn't. When she said that, I told her it was fine and that I would talk to my manager so that she's not surprised by the call.
The problem is that my manager can be quite difficult when she finds out someone is looking to leave. I've seen it happen to a former coworker. I know she will be very unhappy in general because our office has lost 3 people this year already with no replacements because of budget cuts.
I have two questions:
1. If the call is just to verify employment, doesn't HR handle that?
2. Has anyone else been told that there was no option but to have their actual manager/supervisor contacted (i.e. if you don't give permission, you won't be considered for the job)?
I just thought it was strange because I've always been given the option to not have them contact a current employer. I just wonder if this is a new symptom of the employer having the upper hand because of the surplus of job seekers.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
4,640 posts, read 11,934,552 times
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I've never been told during an interview that they "had" to talk to my current manager. Quite frankly, I could not take the very real risk of losing my current job. I have a portfolio of performance appraisals, awards, and e-mails from my manager--I'd offer up those.
Anyway, even if I gave the ok, my boss is NOT going to talk to a competitor about a current employee that he wants to keep. Why would he even consider it?
On the flip side, I once had a really crappy coworker and when my boss found out he was looking for another job, he (my boss) did everything in his power to push him onto someone else.
I would have said no and if that answer wasn't good enough then I would have just moved on. I never in my life heard of a employer asking to call your CURRENT employer
I've been asked, but the prospective employer always understood when I said no. If you get an offer from the prospective employer it will generally be conditional on confirmation of current employment, hich is fine because at that point you an tell your current employer about the new job.
Yeah, that's what I thought. I was wondering if I was just being paranoid. I've always had the option to say no with a simple explanation of "I would rather not let them know I'm looking until I have an offer." The HR person said she would call me and let me know when she was calling so that I could give her permission (or not) to call.
I might ask why she can't just call HR if it's for employment verification. There's really no reason she needs to talk to my manager unless she has specific questions about performance, etc. And she said it was just for verification of employment. I also have an evaluation that was just done last month, so I can provide that if necessary.
I think the HR person you talked to was a nitwit. You should ask to speak to the hiring manager about it. Demanding to speak to your current supervisor is contrary to all established business etiquette.
I've been asked, but the prospective employer always understood when I said no. If you get an offer from the prospective employer it will generally be conditional on confirmation of current employment, hich is fine because at that point you an tell your current employer about the new job.
Pretty much what I was going to say as I did this before and it worked.
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