Can I get a reference?

October 28, 2007 2:37 AM

Anybody have any experience with or knowledge about services that check your job references to see what they're saying about you?

I have a friend that's been trying to switch jobs for some time with no luck. Without getting into too much detail that's not related to this question, he's starting to suspect one of his references might be less than enthusiastic. He checked with all of his references before listing them and they all agreed without hesitation.

I know there are services that will call your references pretending to be a potential employer, ask various questions and then write a brief report for you on their responses. I'd be interested in hearing from someone that has actually used such a service or knows someone that did. My concern is that they actually sound like a real employer and it's not just some guy they pulled off the street with no experience or training. The last thing he wants is for his references to suspect he's using such a service (one of them is an HR Manager whose very sharp).

I made the obvious suggestion that he let me or one of our friends make the calls but he said he would rather use a total stranger. Maybe he's afraid of what they might say, but I didn't push the issue. I also wonder if there are secretarial gunslingers that offer their services by the hour, task, project, etc.? A job like this would be extremely easy money considering each call would take about 5 minutes and he probably doesn't care about the fancy report, just whether or not he should continue to list them as a reference.

posted by bda1972 to work & money (4 comments total)

Reference Check Chatter.

Seriously, the friend thing doesn't work? It's not hard to know what standard questions to ask: What did they do for you? What are their strengths? Did they work well with teams? Motivated? Any obvious troubles? Why'd they leave? What are their weaknesses? Anything else I should know?

You can even sit next to your friend as they go over their script. You should already have made a point of letting your references know you've given out their information and to be expecting calls anyway...
posted by disillusioned at 4:21 AM on October 28, 2007

Unless your friend did things that were illegal or blatantly unethical, there is no reason for a former employee to give a bad reference. It's childish and just plain mean to sabotage someone's career just because they weren't a perfect fit in a specific job with a specific company. Having said that, lots of people in the world are childish and mean because bad references are given all the time, and your friend is right to try to weed them out. Personally, I wouldn't bother with the reference checking companies or even having a friend pretend to be a prospective employee, because it's basically dishonest. I would call the reference(s) that I thought might be sabotaging me and say 'Hey, listen, the job hunt isn't going too well, and I think it might be because of a less-than-stellar reference. Can you please tell me honestly if you think it's a good idea for me to continue to list you as a reference contact on my resume?' Unless the reference is a total jerk who has it in for your friend personally, I think he or she would pretty much have to be honest at that point.
posted by cilantro at 4:44 AM on October 28, 2007

I disagree with cilantro. There are plenty of people who write references which they sincerely believe are perfectly good, but which in fact are killing the candidate's chances, just because they've never mastered the codes of recommendation letters in their industry. People who are in positions where they don't actually read reference letters, or people who mostly read reference letters from a different industry or different country, are high risks for this problem.
posted by escabeche at 11:27 AM on October 28, 2007

They'll do what they say they'll do and bank their money.

How helpful is that? Probably not very.

If he's suspicious of a particular reference, save the money and drop the reference. It will be much more empowering than any of the alternatives.

The percentage of potential employers that actually call references is incredibly small, and former employers generally won't give more than the pure technical aspects of an employment term. The link disillusioned posted lays that out pretty clear.

It might be in your friend's best interest if he's convinced this is a good idea to first call one of the references that he trusts and ask if he/she has gotten any calls. That will help gauge if it's actually possibly an issue.

I know AskMeNazis are going to gnash their teeth at this entire thing, but to put it clearly, the chances that a single reference is making or breaking a job (much less multiple or all jobs) is too slim to reasonably consider.

(Reference letters are a slightly different story.)
posted by pokermonk at 3:09 PM on October 28, 2007