professional reference checking company provides a legally supportable report and may even offer services to help you neutralize a bad reference. 5. A friend might not answer your reference’s return call in a professional manner. Your friend might not be able to take a reference’s return call, if it is necessary. There is also the possibility that someone else would take a return call instead of your friend. Also, a suspicious reference might check their Caller ID and perceive what you are up to – not a situation your want with your all-important reference. 6. A friend might “sugar coat” negative information about you. It’s hard to be the bearer of bad news, especially to a friend who may not be receptive to hearing some unflattering information. 7. If suspicious of the interviewer, a formerly good reference may become a bad one. If your reference suspects they are being manipulated, you could lose their trust and willingness to act as a favorable future reference. Don’t make the mistake of thinking a casual call from a friend takes the place of a check by a professional reference checking organization such as Allison & Taylor Reference Checking, who confirm that approximately 50% of all reference checks they conduct reveal negative information. Good references are one of your greatest assets when looking for a job, and employers take them very seriously. Make sure yours measure up. CHAPTER 8 What Information Can a Former Employer Legally Provide? You’ve come through the job application process with flying colors and your prospective employer has told you they need only confirm your job references before making you that offer. You’ve heard that your references can only (legally) confirm your former title/dates of employment; you’re almost home free, right? Not so, says Allison & Taylor Reference Checking . While legal and/or corporate guidelines may indeed state that only your employment dates/titles can be confirmed, countless job candidates have learned, to their dismay that this policy is not always adhered to. Despite the fact that the topic of job references is frequently addressed by state law, many references can – and very frequently do – offer considerably more commentary to a prospective employer than simply verifying your employment dates/title. As a result, many job-seeking candidates who expected a favorable (or at least neutral) assessment from their references unknowingly lose out on employment opportunities that are “torpedoed” because of a negative reference (s). How do you know if one of your references is offering negative, wrongful, perhaps unlawful input about you to a prospective employer? Once identified, how can this negative input be addressed? First, understand that any negative input a reference offers about you is not wrongful or unlawful per se. Negative input may be illegal – some categories include discrimination, defamation, retaliation, disparagement or sexual harassment . If a third party can document that a reference’s communication was wrongful, inaccurate, malicious and/or may fall under one of these categories, you may indeed have the ability – through an attorney – to pursue legal recourse. In situations where a reference’s negative input is or is not unlawful but is restricting your ability to secure future employment, it can typically be addressed through the generation and transmittal of a Cease-&-Desist letter (again, through an attorney). Remember, unless required by law (and most states do not require that a former employer disclose information about your prior employment), former employers are not required to even respond to a reference request. Cease-and-Desist letters are typically issued by the attorney retained to represent you, to the senior management of the company where the negative reference originated, alerting the management of the negative reference’s identity and actions. Typically, the very act of offering a negative reference is against corporate guidelines, which normally state that only a former employee’s title/dates of employment can be confirmed. The negative reference is cautioned by
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