Job References

After a hiring manager asks the basic questions, she might dig a little deeper into your work performance. Common performance-related questions will cover strengths, areas for improvement, ability to work in a team and biggest accomplishments.

The things employers are asking:

☛ Employment verification.

☛ Workplace performance.

References are often the last step in the screening process before an employer extends an offer. While every company has a different policy on references, most still ask for them. What a reference says or does not say, can sometimes make the difference between getting an offer or not.

The standard questions a hiring manager will ask are ones related to your employment. The employer will want to verify that you did indeed work with this reference, the dates of your employment and the reference's relationship to you. Employers also want to know why you left. It is very important that their story matches that of the candidate. If the candidate says it was a mutual parting but the reference says they were let go or laid off, there will be a problem. The candidate should always be truthful when asked why they left, as the potential employer will check out their story.

Employers usually ask for a job reference page (a list of people who can vouch for your skills and qualifications) before they make a hiring choice. That means you need to have a reference page ready so when someone asks for one, you can respond quickly.

A job can be defined in different ways:

☛ A paid position of regular employment.

☛ A task or piece of work, especially one that is paid.

☛ To do casual or occasional work.

☛ Buy and sell as a broker-dealer, especially on a small scale.

If you are worried about what kind of reference you will get from your old boss, you can always politely ask whether or not you are safe using her as a reference. Unless your former boss is crazy or malicious, she is unlikely to be so committed to thwarting your job search that she would lie to you about this. But if you do not trust her to be candid with you, you can have someone else call and do a reference check on you. There are companies you can hire for that, but there is nothing that says you can't have a friend do it for you for free.

When you provide your old manager's number, the potential employer assumes you have told her to expect the call. It is assumed that he/she is going to be ready to talk about you and it does not look great if her first response is, "Who?" You also want to make sure that your references are available, not out of town or otherwise unreachable.

It is a myth that past employers can only confirm dates of employment. It is both legal and common for employers to give detailed references and a surprising number of references are either lukewarm or bad.

If your company has a policy against giving references, it is usually human resource types who adhere to the letter of these policies, individual managers are often willing to give more detailed references, no matter what the policy says.

Employers may call anyone you have worked for or who might know you, they do not have to limit themselves to the formal list of references you provide. The only person who is typically considered off-limits in reference-checking is your current employer.

Here are eight things about the reference-checking process that you might not know:

☛ Employers do not always stick to the references on the list you gave them.

☛ "We do not give references" is often a lie.

☛ References are often highly subjective and opinionated.

☛ It looks bad when a reference you provided was not expecting the call.

☛ You can find out what kind of reference someone is giving you.

☛ You might be able to neutralize a bad reference.

☛ If all else fails, consider warning prospective employers that the reference might not be positive.

☛ Letters of reference are rarely worth your time.

The length of the association will help establish the credibility of responses to other questions. Obviously, if the reference worked with the candidate for several years, the responses will carry more weight than if the length of their association was only a few months or less.

Here are the various types of references:

Employment References

Reference lists

Reference requests

Referrals

Professional references

Personal references

Reference letters

No one puts critical information in reference letters, so we know they do not count for much. Besides, when hiring managers get to the point when they want to talk to your references, they want to talk to them-on the phone, where they can ask questions and probe around. They want to hear the tone of your reference's voice, hear where they hesitate before answering and hear what happens when they dig around about potential problem areas.

Examples:

☛ Janine provided a personal reference for Katherine recommending her for a job at the local coffee shop.

☛ Mike asked his neighbor for a character reference when he applied to the accounting firm.