In the last few posts I have been discussing the realities that while it’s true that many companies do have reference policies in place that prohibit them from giving out anything but limited, prescribed information, many do not, says Allison & Taylor Reference Checking. Additionally, even companies with reference policies in place cannot ensure that their employees will necessarily abide by such rules.
Here are some actual examples of questions and responses in references checked by Allison & Taylor:
Some references will refuse to rank a past employee due to an unfavorable impression:
- “No comment, they could not do anything correctly in the position they held with us”
- “Let’s save time. Basically, you could rank them inadequate in all areas”
When questioned about strengths and weaknesses:
- “I cannot think of any strengths, only weaknesses”
- “I’m sure there must be some strengths but nothing jumps out at me.”
- “Weaknesses seem to stick in my mind … I’d have to really think about any strengths”
- “I’d rather not comment – you can take that however you want”
Regarding Eligibility for re-hire: Is this person eligible for re-hire?
- “He is not. I’m really not supposed to say much but he was unreliable and sick at lot.”
- “Probably not – she had a hard time working in a team environment.
- “No, but I can’t say why.”
- “Probably not, but it’s just a suspicion of mine.”
- “No, because he didn’t want to work here and made it clear he didn’t want to work here.”
- “I wouldn’t re-hire him. He was disorganized and dishonest.”
- “No, it was the departure – kind of burned his bridges when he left.”
- “No, she stole from the company. We have an investigation pending.”
Come back next time to read more about what some employers actually say