Don't Wear Flip-Flops to Your Interview by Paul Powers

Author:Paul Powers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Career Press
Published: 2015-07-16T20:04:38+00:00

How to Avoid Reference Glitches

As with everything else in job hunting, there are a few potential glitches that you might run into in the reference process. Not to worry, there are ways you can deal with all of them. The important thing is not to panic—stay cool—and work your way around them.

The “No-Reference” Policy

Some organizations have a “no-reference” policy. They may only provide dates of employment, job title, and salary. If you run into this, you can ask your reference if he would be willing to give you a personal reference. (If he won’t, he won’t. There’s nothing else you can do. Move on to someone else.) However, because you are asking people who already think highly of you to help, most of them will. Be sure to double-check where and how they prefer to be contacted.

It is perfectly appropriate to inform your interviewer that this particular employer has a “no-reference” policy and that you have asked for a personal reference. Most hiring managers have run into this before and know how to tread gently in this area, because if they come on too strong they will get little or no additional information.

The Negative Reference

There are two types of negative references. One is the back-stabbin’ SOB who you prepared, who indicated that he would say great things about you and then rips you up behind your back. If you have taken the time to prepare your references, this probably won’t happen, because you can usually see in someone’s eyes if they are being genuine with you. This goes to the point that even though you prepared a reference, you still may not want to use him or her. It is up to you to determine if the person, will in fact be a good reference for you. But on a rare occasion, you might get sandbagged. You’ll only find out about this if the interviewer shares it with you. Obviously, you’ll never offer this person as a reference again, but right now you need a response.

I suggest that you express your honest surprise and take the high road. You might say something such as, “I hope the fact that this person would say great things to my face and then turn around and say negative things behind my back says more about him than me. In any event, I would be pleased to have you speak with someone else who can comment on my performance in that job and see how they viewed me.” And then offer another reference. (This is another reason why you can never have too many references prepared.) This is damage control, but it’s the best you can do. Forget about this loser. Life and karma have many ways to balance the scales of justice. Remember, time not only heals all wounds, it also wounds all heels.

The other negative reference is someone (such as a former boss) who may not be one of your strongest supporters, whose name you obviously did not supply, but who is well-known and who may be called regardless of whether you supplied his name or not.

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