Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with references

Getting a reference from a company with a no reference policy.

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:39:30 -0800

A coworker agreed to be one of my references-awesome! She then informed me that my company has a no reference policy. Should I put her name down? I managed to line up an interview with a company I would really like to work for. There's just one problem-my current position is my first long-term office job, and they have a no reference policy. I found this after asking a coworker (who, while familiar with my work and how well I'm doing, isn't in my department and doesn't have hiring/firing capabilities) for a reference. . . that she agreed to do. Should I still put her down?

Normally my own answer would be 'no', even though she agreed to give the reference (and is aware of the policy). But I honestly don't think I don't have any other good professional references.

I'm two years out of college. I have been at my current position for a year and a half. Prior to this position, I temped and worked in the food service industry-I'm putting two managers down as my other references, but I honestly don't know how much they remember me. There's only one person I can think of that has left the company in the time I've been there and would know what I do well enough to give me a reference-and I think she may have backslid into alcoholism after being laid off. I'm going to try to call her again to see how she's doing-but the last time I got her on the phone, she wasn't doing so hot.

On top of all that, I temped for my current company for eight months before being hired. I put those months on my resume-since I was showed up to work at the company for those eight months. But if they call whatever service HR gives them to call, they'll say my start date was my second hiring date, and it looks like I'm a big fat liar.

Should I just explain this whole situation to the interviewers and have them decide who they want to call? The no reference policy sounded really weird to me when I first heard about it; I don't know if that's because of my inexperience or because it really is that weird.

I guess I should clarify that by 'no reference policy' I do not mean that they'll give you a good reference but only say hiring and firing dates for bad references; I mean that company policy for anyone asking for a reference is to direct them to an outside company who will verify the hiring and firing dates.

warning your references ahead of time

diode — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:59:25 -0800

I've found a great potential job, given them references, and know the references will be contacted on Monday. To what extent is it typical to let your references know beforehand they will be contacted by my potential employer? My list of references are friends and a couple of people from work including my supervisor.

I've been amongst the under-employed for a bit. My current position went from full, to half, to quarter time in the past year and three quarters. My skills and interests are seemingly diverging from their needs.

I'm not too concerned about the references I will get from my friends. My supervisor, on the other hand, I don't know how this will go. The potential job did not specifically request the supervisor's contact info but I put it down anyway thinking it would look strange if I did not do so.

As a note, I did not notify my references beforehand they were a reference.

I'm still working there, albeit quarter time, when other folks have been let go entirely, so the company sees value in my continued presence, though apparently not enough to employ me full time.

So, what I'm wondering is whether I should be contacting my references to let them know they are likely to get contacted. In particular, my supervisor is one key element.

At this point, I'm thinking something along the lines of simply letting him know this is occurring. He's clear I'm looking for work, or at least should be since other potential employers have contacted him in the past.

I had originally thought to do a little pre-programming with my supervisor to remind him of my successes and best attributes. I think it's a little late to do this now.

I'm wondering what the hive-mind knows about this subject and whether it's considered good form to contact your references to let them know in advance.

Self-Promotion 101 for the Self-conscious

Methylviolet — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:57:14 -0800

You: Would you be willing to write me a letter of recommendation/professional reference letter? Boss: Sure! Hell, you write it, I'll sign it. You: ??? You: [Profit] What. Job reference letters are like this:
Prunella did an excellent job in this position and was an asset to our organization during her tenure with the office. She has excellent written and verbal communication skills, is extremely organized, can work independently and is able to follow through to ensure that the job gets done... blah blah blah Prunella is so awesome blah.

Am I really supposed to write something like this about myself? It seems like the highest praise I'd be able to give myself without feeling like an asshole would still be way more measured than I would hope my rec letter would be!
Or maybe does the fact that the guy wants me to write it mean he's actually lukewarm about being a reference for me? (I don't think this is true...)
Is there any polite professional way to say NO U to this?

I am proud of the job I've done, I do think that I've brought something valuable to the company, AND I've got "Writer" in my job title for fuck's sake -- but I am just paralyzed by this. Have you ever written your own rec letter? How? WTF did you write?

What do I do about a bad employment reference?

Snuffman — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:34:08 -0800

What do I do about a bad work related reference? Its not as easy as just ignoring it as its a huge part of my employment history. I've had two jobs in "recent" years. One which I worked at from 2005 to 2008 and my current job that's February of 2009 onwards.

I left my first job (if you must know, cellular provider call centre) after butting heads with my manager at the time. I ended up putting in my two weeks after a particularly bad one-on-one meeting.

My performance, in a call centre metric sense, was never stellar, but not poor enough to get me fired. I was also constantly told by my peers and former managers what an excellent job I did. I'd also get rave reviews from customers writing in to say what a good job I did.

Due to my falling out with my manager, he outright refused to provide a reference. He suggested I go to my former managers but when I did it seems he had talked to them because they wouldn't provide references either, stating they felt it "wasn't appropriate". I did confirm before I left that I was marked as re-hireable.

I was rash in my quitting, thinking I'd just land a job (I did not have one lined up). The market crashed and I found myself taking a retail job. I enjoy it but the pay is terrible and I need to get out on my own again. Since I did the retail job well (and matured at little), the managers are more than willing to give me glowing recommendations.

The problem is, I'm applying for tech support work and they don't care about retail references, they want a reference from my call-centre job. Specifically, manager references.

Up until now I'd kinda "faked" my reference by putting a senior (though not managerial) peer as my reference for the call centre job, as my peers all liked me.

What do I do? I can't just remove a huge part of my employment history by removing the reference. Should I be honest and say I didn't get along with my manager?

Do I call that manger up, a year later, and try to reconcile things in an effort to at least get a reference?

I'm kind of at a loss as I haven't worked all that many jobs and up until the call centre job, my references had always been good.

What style of armchair did I buy?

angels in the architecture — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:08:35 -0800

What style of armchair did I buy? Also, what are some good books/websites for answering this kind of question? I bought a chair the other day at a thrift store, and I'm trying to identify its style/period. Pictures here and here--the chair is actually much brighter in reality, a loud marigold yellow.

I'm thinking it must be a mishmash of styles from the '70s or '80s, based on the color alone, although it's in pretty good shape except for some fading so it may newer than that. So, my secondary question is, what are some good reference materials (online or off) for answering this kind of question? Is there something like A Field Guide to American Houses, but for furniture?

Full Fathoms Five...

Viola — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:36:17 -0800

I need help remembering the most famous Shakespeare references in modern literature. Nabokov repeatedly compares Lolita to Miranda, Eliot speaks of his father's death by quoting Ariel in "The Wasteland." I don't need entire adaptations like this question asks for, or characters overtly discussing Shakespeare (like Stephan discussing Hamlet in Ulysses) just oblique or embedded references. For some reason my brain can only recall references from The Tempest.

SEC filings in MLA format

activitystory — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:07:05 -0800

AskMe librarians and other interested parties: how would one, in proper MLA format (6th edition), format a citation for a 10-K form or other SEC filing for a company? I'm unable to get my hands on a copy of the handbook (though I don't remember seeing it specifically in there anyway), and none of the online tools that I can find seem to have that type of source listed.

Best practices for finding a job in the US without US work experience

cimton — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:06:54 -0800

I'm a US citizen, but all of my work experience since I graduated a few years ago has been in francophone countries. I've been thinking about returning to the US, and am uncertain about how best to update my English language resume and, more broadly, how to navigate the job market without US work experience. I'm not sure if it makes any difference, but I'm a woman in my mid-twenties with a BA from a university in the US. For the past few years, I've been working in France and Senegal with non-governmental organizations involved in social service provision and advocacy work, and I would be applying for positions at similar organizations in the US.

(1) When I list an organization on my resume, should I provide a translation of the organization's name? Should I provide some sort of summary of the organization's work? All of the organizations I have worked with have French names and are unlikely to be recognized in the US. That said, all of them are easy to find on the internet.

(2) How should I deal with the fact that most of my potential references are non-native speakers of English with varying degrees of English language competence? I've heard of grad school applicants having letters of recommendation from non-anglophone professors professionally translated--is this something that I should consider, and would translated references be acceptable to US employers?

I would be happy to hear any other advice or personal anecdotes relevant to my situation, and would love to be directed to resources (both online and off) that might be useful.

Zotero + Sente = ?

solipsophistocracy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:08:57 -0800

Can I convert a Zotero library to Sente? I received a lot of great answers about how to maximize my use of Zotero, but when I arrived at my new lab I was informed that the PI uses Sente. I've messed with it a little bit, and it seems really great, but I spent an awful lot of time updating my Zotero library. Is there any way to merge the two? I've tried exporting my Zotero library, but I don't understand how to use the folder it creates.

If I have to, I can just manually retype all my notes and tags, but I feel like there's an easier way to do this.

Match Making 101

PFL — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:36:50 -0800

What's the proper etiquette when recommending up a potential contractor or vendor to the company I work for? Long story short, I have a friend who did a huge favor for me and I'd like to return the favor. He works for a contractor that specializes in construction in our industry and I'd like to forward his contact info on to our Construction Director. Ideally, I'd like to help my friend out without annoying anybody.

Should I just hand over our CD's info? Talk to him first and see if he's open to talking to my friend?

How would the Mefites do it?

Had a a great job interview, but was asked for references. I don't have any! Am I done for?

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:06:45 -0800

I recently had a job interview that I felt fantastic about. However, the employer asked me to provide references. I can probably rustle up one, but other than that I've got nothing. Will this completely kill my chances of landing the job? The job is an entry-level position in IT. I feel that I'm a great fit for the job, and I really think the company is interested in hiring me. However, I'm really worried that the lack of references will look bad and sink my chances.

I don't have a lot of work experience. I had one IT-related job and worked retail in high school--that's about it. I'm pretty sure I can get a reference from the IT job, but that's the only one I'm fairly sure about.

1) Will this raise any red flags? I'd like to think that it's reasonable for an entry-level applicant to have few references. However, I know the employer is looking for several references. People are also telling me that it looks terrible to only submit one.

2) I might be able (and will try) to get a reference from my old retail job, but I last worked there seven years ago. Given that it was a retail job from that long ago, would that look silly or unprofessional?

3) I've did a bit of support and data entry for a friend that was setting up an e-commerce site for his family business. However, it wasn't officially a job so it never occurred to me to include this on my resume. I could probably get a reference from him, but it would be from a company that I never mentioned before. Also, his company is also located in a state on the other side of the country. Should I even try using him as a reference? Given the resume exclusion, I'm worried that it will seem like I'm trying to use a fake reference.

Apologies for the wall of text, and thanks for any insight.

What are the best books on editing?

Emilyisnow — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:22:35 -0800

Please recommend your favourite books on editing. I work as an editor of vocational training materials, and although I think I have a natural ability for it, I've never been formally trained in editing. There are no courses I can take where I live, but I'd like to improve as much as I can, and part of this is building up a reference library for myself. (Plus, I'd like to do something useful with Kevin Rudd's magic money.)

I'm aware of the Snooks Style Manual, which seems to be the go-to here, but I would like to know what other books people find the most useful. I'm looking for both style/grammar references and textbooks which will help me fill the gaps in my knowledge.

Australian advice would be really helpful, but I'm happy to receive suggestions of British and American books, as well as suggestions for various types of editing work. I'm mainly looking for books, but suggestions for useful resources in other formats are also welcome.

Also - and this is possibly a long shot - does anyone have any thoughts on the IPEd accreditation program? I'm considering sitting the exam but I'm not sure how recognised and valuable it is.

Thanks!

make Word more clever for me please

cincinnatus c — Wed, 06 May 2009 05:11:04 -0800

Help needed with footnotes in Word. (I know Word is terrible with footnotes and gives everyone grief, but these are straightforward things I'm wanting.) There have been loads of questions about footnotes in Word, but I don't think mine has been asked. I am editing a document which has a reference section at the end of each chapter. It's quite straightforward, but there are a couple of things I'd like to do that MUST be possible because they seem so routine, and if I could find how to do these things it would make my life much easier.

Oh, this is Word 2003, by the way.

1. a) The place where each reference should be in the text is marked ***. I would love to be able to do a straight find/replace, swapping each *** for a footnote reference. But, while footnote reference is available in the find box, it's not in the replace box. Is there a way round this?

b) If that's not possible, I guess I have to find every ***, manually delete it, then insert the references individually. OK. What would make this easier would be if after I inserted the reference Word didn't jump down to the footnote area, because then I wouldn't have to scroll back up to the main text, click anywhere, and only then be able to click 'find next ***'. How can I stop Word jumping down there?

2. While I'm swapping those ***s for references I'm leaving the footnotes empty for the time being. When I've finished added all of them to a section, I have to copy the footnote text from another document. This is unformatted, except for paragraph breaks between each footnote. How can I copy and paste this all at once so Word knows that a paragraph break means 'this is the next footnote'? At the moment, I'm having to copy/paste these one-by-one and it is painful.

Thank you for your help.

Hire me! Or, you know, convince someone else to do it for you.

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:47:54 -0800

I'm applying for post-grad school jobs. One of them, a bit of a long shot, is within my close-knit current office. Others are elsewhere in and outside of the organization. Difficulty: my two best references are not only in this office but running the first job search. How in the world do I manage this? I work for a university and have worked my way up within the office. I've been in my current position (graduate assistantship) for several years, doing a lot of work with our department head. It's the best place I've ever worked, and if I had my druthers I'd stay right here. But I'm finishing school, and as they've been very supportive of me through school we're all reluctantly planning for my departure into some unnamed Job Of Excitement And Loads Of Money. As you might imagine, the economy is not being great, but we're working on it.

Then an internal job came up. It's under a colleague who has always been very complementary of my work and attitude, even more than I've been of myself. He's been a great reference for me in the past. My other top reference is the aforementioned department head. This job is not exactly in my area of expertise, but I am known for being very ready and willing to do anything, and I have the everyday experience and institutional knowledge that few others have -- something that's crucial in this position.

Basically, I have two questions here.

1) How do I manage this internal job thing when everybody involved knows exactly what I have been up to -- good and bad? I am known for my great attitude, doing things immediately and my great commitment to the office and our work, but I also have a well-deserved reputation for losing focus on non-immediate things (ADD issues). I'm very honest and I've worked really hard to overcome it and get better at knowing myself and what I need; I know my colleagues have seen me work and learn, and I think that the extra structure of the position would be really helpful. But I've also made some self-deprecating side comments (before I knew this position would be open) when I was expressing some of my personal worries "among friends" that might lead them to doubt me and my ability.

I also don't have the three years of subject-specific experience they might want. (For reference, this is in a discipline where it could be overcome, but there are definitely people -- including my own fellow grads -- who are very into it.)

Mostly, I worry that my department head, who is a great friend, will nevertheless ace me out before I even have a chance to interview. (She's caught me playing FreeCell one too many times...)

2) How do I handle this when the people I most want to impress internally are also probably my best chance for getting other jobs outside the office? Everybody knows I'm applying for other jobs, and in fact they're worried that I haven't applied enough. But I just feel like my loyalties are really back and forth here, especially depending on what happens in the first search. (I know I'm probably not as qualified as they'd like, so I'd be okay, but personal perceptions have gotten in the way before, and I reeeeally hope they don't again.)

Anonymous (but probably still recognizable anyway) because this is a job search; throwaway e-mail: jennyjobseeker@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Are foreign references OK?

snwod — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:03:02 -0800

Are references not in English (but translated) as good as ones in English? I am about to apply for a job as a middle school English teacher. The application asks for 3 references. For the last 6+ years I have been living and working in Japan, teaching English in elementary and junior high schools. I have an M.A. in English and Linguistics and as a grad student I TAed for a year and then taught English Composition for a year, so I feel that my academic qualifications are OK for the position I'm applying for. But since my last 6 years have been spent teaching ESL here in Japan, my references are going to be from principals and co-workers at the schools where I teach. The references will be in Japanese and I will have them professionally translated.

Do you think this is going to be a problem? Would it be better to get people from my old grad school to give me references instead of my current bosses and co-workers? I'd feel weird writing up some of these professors from my past saying "hey, dr. so-and-so, remember me from 6 or 7 years ago? Yeah, could I get a reference?"

Clearance, Clarence

derogatorysphinx — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:27:21 -0800

I have to get a security clearance for my internship at a national lab this summer. I am fairly clueless as to a couple of things. Who should I ask to serve as references? Can I ask my boyfriend and my parents? Or are family members not allowed to answer? How well does someone have to know me to be considered a viable reference?

If you have served as a reference, what kind of things did they ask you? If I know what information they will be looking for, I can better direct my selection of references. I don't have anything to hide, so I guess it's not that big of a deal, but I'd like to be cautious in who I choose.

Thanks, Metafilter.

How to double-check my job references?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:34:27 -0800

I recently got turned down for a job I thought was a slam dunk, and am now really concerned about the quality of my references. Going forward, is there any way to check the quality of what people would say about me, or negotiate to improve whatever negative opinions they might have? The job in question was for a full-time position at the same place where I'm currently employed part-time, and while I know it's a tight economy, I believe I had equivalent paper qualifications to most of the other applicants, plus substantially more experience (one of the key listed criteria for the position). So, given that I wasn't even selected for an interview, the only thing I can think of is that there might be a problem with my references.

All three were from supervisors in the field, and I'd checked with everyone before listing them (all agreed). I also thought I'd performed well in all three positions, although in anxious retrospect I can definitely think of imperfections (an unresponded-to email here or there; a single negative comment on a performance evaluation, etc.) that I guess could have been expanded into a negative or lukewarm rec, depending on the person. Since I was hoping to use all these people on future applications, I'm wondering:

Is there any way to get more specific info on what kind of reference each of these people would give me? (All three supervisors are fairly passive, nice-guy types, so I'm wondering how to get a straight answer from any of them). Can I ask for individual meetings to discuss it more specifically, or would that just be awkward? Any alternative options for getting the straight dope on the issue?
In the case of people with whom I have an ongoing relationship (my current supervisor, for instance), is it fair to ask for feedback on what (if anything) I could do to change the quality of the reference in the future, or would I be wiser to write it off as a lost cause, assuming anything negative does come up?

Teaching students to cite

carter — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:20:08 -0800

Desperately seeking effective online learning resources that teach undergrads how to identify academic sources, and how to cite them correctly. These could be Web pages, .docs/.pdfs, tutorials, etc. Anything interactive is a bonus. I've gone through this a number of times with different classes. I've told them, basically, that they need to supply some form of:

Lastname, N., (DATE). Book title, or Title & Journal/Vol/Issue, or Title & Conference/ Name/Place/Location, pagenumbers. Place/Publisher where relevant.

And I keep getting back the most amazing garbage. I'm flummoxed, tired of explaining it, and want to point them to a good online, preferably interactive Web resource. Many thanks!

Fired and time is running out.

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:23:08 -0800

I was fired from my last job, looking for a new one. How do I spin this? I was fired last year from my job. My technical skills were up to par, but my attendance wasn't. After missing one too many days of work, they fired me after 10 months of employment. I was having medical issues that my supervisor was aware of. I had recently gotten a fairly positive performance review in which there was no indication that I was working with two strikes and two outs. Getting fired from the position was a surprise to me.

I've been collecting unemployment for some months and trying to find a new job in the same field. The job market is tight, there have been layoffs in my area, and so far I'm getting no interviews. I have had a few telephone screens. Unemployment is about to run out.

I don't know how to spin my being fired from my last job. I have used a professional referencing service, and determined that the HR dept. of my last position will not disclose why I left (that I was fired) or whether I am eligible for rehire (I assume not). They suggested that I file for unemployment in my exit interview, indicating that I wasn't being fired for gross personal misconduct.

So now my resume contains an abrupt stop taking place nearly a year ago. I have been truthful in phone screens, saying that I was fired because I was having medical issues, but so far that doesn't seem to be working. I have mentioned that I volunteer and am taking distance learning courses at night during my job search so they know I haven't been sitting on my butt since I was fired.

I recently contacted a former co-worker to act as a positive reference from this position. I did work both for her and with her, and she was one of several who told me that they didn't agree with my treatment when I was fired.

My questions for you, the wise of the green, especially HR professionals, concern how I should spin my situation in future screens and, hopefully, interviews.

Do I really need to tell them that I was fired? This seems to send everyone running right the other way, regardless of the very good reason I had for my absenteeism and subsequent firing.

Can I ask my reference from the company what she will say if asked why I am no longer at the company?

Is there a better way that I can spin my long downtime between jobs than saying that I was volunteering and taking courses? Does that reflect a productive use of time, in your opinion?

Is being fired significantly affecting my chances of getting hired in this economy?

I don't know why I can't think two steps ahead...

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:03:25 -0800

How do I get references for a second job (one I'd leave my current job for, not a concurrent one)? I swear this question has been asked before, but I can't find it! Please help.

I got my first professional job out of grad school (a thesis-based MS in engineering) with only my advisor as a reference. He did not find the job for me; I found it through a relative. I'm still here, but a couple of years later, I'm feeling a bit restless and even though my company is massive, most of its opportunities seem to be of the paper-pushing rather than actual engineering sort and I'd sort like to go elsewhere and see a different environment.

Problem: I can't let people at my current job know I'd like to look outside the company (particularly because my manager has stated my retention as one of his goals) and I'm being asked for work references. My internship and undergrad experiences were more than 6 years ago, and I've totally lost contact with my supervisors from then (what an idiot 19 year old I was)...

---(1A) Is it odd to use my MS advisor again as a reference 2.5 years out of grad school?
---(1B) If not, what's the best way to approach him for this, since things haven't changed much for me professionally in the past couple of years (no real updates needed) and I felt weird just emailing to say hello? I believe we got along well, and he would remember me without prompting since our department was small and he didn't get a ton of grad students, but our relationship was not as close as say, that of a PhD student and his advisor.
---(2) What should I do about a work reference for my current job? I have a coworker in another department, but the same office whom I would trust to keep quiet, and another couple of coworkers from my [small] group whom have moved elsewhere in the company, but we're all at the same authority and work level. Would these references highly frowned upon by future employers? I'd be happy to furnish a copy of my very positive annual review in lieu of a reference.
---(3) How can I force myself to be better about staying in touch with coworkers, advisors, etc so I can worry less about this in the future? I'm rather introverted, and I feel this has harmed me throughout my life, and will continue to do so if I don't take some good, measured action here.

How to ask for recommendations without a specific need?

inatizzy — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:26:21 -0800

How do I ask for a recommendation from leaders in my community group if I don't have a specific need for one? (I am moving away and ending my membership in the group, but not currently job hunting.) I was invited to join the board of directors of a community group back in August and have been very involved ever since, taking on a lot of work and responsibility and doing it well. I'm leaving the group at the end of this month because I'm leaving town in a few weeks, and then moving abroad this summer.

I know that the President and VP think I've made a very positive impact on the group and they would surely serve as positive references for me. However, I have no need for their references at the moment because I won't be job hunting for another year or two. (After I return from volunteering/working in another country.)

I think that the traits I've exhibited in my work for this group (leadership, organized, creative, thoughtful, more...) are talents that I want to specifically draw upon in my next job, much more so than what I utilize in my current job, which is a basic office admin role.

But I am afraid that by the time I'm job hunting again, they'll forget the details about what I did well. Things like "her even temper and thoughtful nature provided balance to our formerly chaotic meetings", or "she reorganized the PR committee, noticeably improving its operation." So I'd like to get something from them now that captures the details. (And a friend of mine even suggested that I do so, without my even mentioning it! So I think this is pretty important to do.)

I'm nervous asking for references in any situation, but I especially don't know what to do now since I don't have a specific need for one. What should I ask them for? Will they think I'm being unreasonable asking them for this?

thanks :)

My girlfriend is English and is attempting to become an Australia Resident

Man_in_staysis — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:35:25 -0800

Immigrating into Australia: My girlfriend is English and is attempting to become an Australia Resident. Everything seemd to be going so well until this morning. My girlfriend is English and is applying to become an Australian Resident. Everything seemed to be going so well until this morning.

She is applying for a Permanent Migration Visa as a skilled migrant and is doing so via an Immigration Law "Specialist". From what we have been told by the lawyer, she needs the following for a successful application;

- Health checks
- Criminal checks conducted by both the UK and Australian police
- A permanent Australian job offer with a title on the approved list for skilled migrants, (in this case Project Manager/Administrator)
- Proof that she has worked as a Project Manager/Administrator for 3 years

We've done the health check, the police checks and she has a permanent job in Australia with the appropriate title and role. She has been working as a Project Manager for 3 years (1yr in Australia and 2+yrs in UK) and we have received all of the written references from her employers in Australia stating this. Her employer in London has been very slow in replying and are notoriously difficult to work with.

Yesterday, she handed over all their references to her Lawyer and explained she'd get the London reference in as soon as it arrived. Her Lawyer looked at the references and told her that they also need to include some other specific information which he forgot to mention to her before.

We put the frustration aside and went to work last night advising all her referees that she was terribly sorry but she's been advised that their reference must now include this extra information and could they see their way to getting another one back to her. We also sent this to her London employer who had yet to send the first one.

This was very frustrating and upsetting to do however, we were confident that it would all come back quickly as they were all very happy to supply the reference before. Also her London employer had not sent theirs back yet so at least they wouldn't have to do it again.

Then this morning, we received an email from her old work in the UK who said they had already sent her their reference, didn't we receive it? They then went onto say how much of an effort it was to put together (we actually wrote the reference for them, they just had to sign it) and that they were under immense pressure and stress from all sides and had very little time to do anything. As I said before, this employer is quite difficult and she also suffered quite a lot of bullying from management while she worked there.

Basically, we are very worried that they may not send it at all or even if they do send the reference, it may not be a true indication of what she did there. The prospect of them purposely hindering her visa application via this reference is also a possibility.

My question is, could the Dept. of Immigration, reject her Visa application simply because she either does not have the reference from her UK employer or because they have supplied an incorrect reference? Can the life of such a wonderful person hinge on the whim of a nasty employer with a history of workplace bullying?

Surely not? There must be some other way to prove she worked there in that role for 2 years.

In addition to this, should her application fail, what appeal options do we have and how would the failure of an appeal affect future Visa applications? We understand that we could become engaged to get her in but neither of us want to get married because it was the last resort and also you need to get married within 9 months.

Any help in this desperate hour would be greatly appreciated.

Is it okay to give the name of a hiring manager as a reference, too?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:48:53 -0800

Someone who is one of my best professional references wants to hire me! But now how do I offer good references to his large, corporate HR department? Mr. Men Tor was a supervisor and professional mentor to me a few places of employment ago. I have, since those days, used him as one of my best professional references. We had a terrific working relationship and remain in touch today, well over a decade later.

Recently he mentioned that there's a position under him that he would like me to fill. While I'm not entirely sure the position would work for me due to it requiring a vicious multi-hour commute, he has encouraged me to go through the process in any case and I'm game.

But I've reached a minor sticking point in how to proceed. Mr. Tor's company's HR department is sure to ask me for my professional references, however I have no idea if it's kosher to put his name down. Is giving the name of the hiring manager something that will look dodgy to your typical HR person? Or would I be viewed more favorably in that case? I have other professional references I can use but Mr. Tor is definitely the strongest of them and if it makes sense to offer his name I certainly would prefer to.

I know the obvious answer would be to ask him, but he has left the decision up to me as he doesn't know what his HR people would think, either.

For context: While we're both located on the west coast of the U.S., this company is a large national corporation with more of a midwestern/east coast culture. Both of us are web people, but the overall company is in the retail industry. The position is one of system engineering and administration, where generally I've found good references to be critical to landing the best work. I never faced this issue as a hiring manager in the past, but also wasn't subject to a tremendous quantity of HR involvement in my hiring process, so can't draw on my prior experience in the corporate world.

Would you be my reference?

needs more cowbell — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:20:01 -0800

What is the script for asking past employers if I can use them as a reference? What do I say in emails asking former employers if they'd be willing to be a reference for me (when applying for jobs)? This may be very basic, but I have horrid anxiety and totally freeze up about things like this.

I left these jobs on OK terms - I've never been fired or gotten bad reviews or anything - but I have a really limited pool of bosses or even coworkers to ask, so I feel like some of the people I ask might be kind of surprised that I'm asking them.

*Do I need to make small talk and ask them about how they or the company are doing? Do I need to give them an update on my life? (This part is tough for me because I've been unemployed for a while and I feel like I don't have anything specific to say.)

*I don't have one specific job in mind that I'm asking them to serve as references for...is that normal/okay?

*Is it weird to track someone down if they've switched companies? In one case this person was my supervisor for a six month temp job, so it feels strange and stalkerish to be hunting her down. (But I probably need to in order to compile at least three reference people.)

How do I export Google Scholar results to Excel?

loping — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:54:56 -0800

Does anyone know how to export Google Scholar results to Excel or some other manageable format? I'm trying to get some quick stats on where an article has been published, but there are 300+ results. Going through and typing the journal name/ publication date into my own file would clearly be a tedious task. ... or maybe there is source other than Google scholar that will accomplish my task.