Career Sabotage: The Influence of a Past Employer (635 hits)
The word was out on Janet Walters. Someone was telling prospective employers that they shouldn't hire her. It cost her at least twelve top job offers, kept her unemployed for over a year, and more than $100,000 of her retirement fund. Walters, not her real name, has since found work, but two years later she is still angry at her former boss for nearly ruining her life. Walters was able to stop her boss from spreading more lies, but she wonders how many other job seekers are not so fortunate. "For months I suspected that my former boss was saying something about me. The problem was I didn't know what she was saying or how to prove it" said Walters...
Job seekers can now turn the tables on their former bosses. Many are starting to check up on former bosses, colleagues and even trusted friends, by using professional reference checking firms. Let's face it. Companies have been checking out potential employees' backgrounds for years. "When you get right down to it, you just don't know for sure, who you can trust. There is simply too much at stake - your job, your income, your family's well being - to chance it that your references are positive and accurate" said Heidi M. Allison, Managing Director of Allison & Taylor, Inc.,
Ms. Allison stated that about half of the references they investigate are mediocre to down right negative - often to the surprise of the client. "People they believe are giving them a good reference are not" she said, "And just as many who have assumed they are getting a bad reference are not." The purpose of checking your references should not be to file a lawsuit. However, a candidate does need to know the quality of their references and whether former employers are passing on personal opinions, conjecture, rumors or accurate legal facts.
A poor or even luke warm reference can sometimes cost you the job you want. If you are worried about what a former boss will say to a prospective employer, consider using a reference checking service as seen in the Wall Street Journal. In business for 20 years, Allison & Taylor will confidentially contact your references, inquiring about performance - managerial skills, judgment, integrity, productivity, technical skills - as well as employment dates, job description and reason for departure.
