Ziay!

rockin' randy

This is a company whose policy is to only resond to such inquiries by fax. They insist they don't give references, good or bad, only verify employment, salary, position, etc. Having someone call wouldn't work. Thanks!
No, they won't give references over the phone at all, not even good ones. To do so would jeopordize the job of the individual who gives out the information. Everything is to be faxed to the home office and done through HR.

Baby Girl

Call and pretend that you are an employer willing to hire you. Ask all the questions like Did this employee work for you, how long, how would you rate his work behovior, was he late any times. would you rehire this employee, and would you recommend this employee for a future job.

Jags

Pretty easy. Let your friend call up your previous company as prospective new employer and pass on the conversation details to you. Isn't it cool

Al W

The policy you mentioend is not that unusual. My question would be, why do you think they wouldn't follow the policy? Do you know that they gave a response outside of policy? If not, I wouldn't worry about it.

If you suspect something fishy, ask for feedback from the company you are interviewing with on what your references said about you. Your references can make or break you. Make sure your personal references are prepared prior to someone calling them. Make sure they know what company is calling and what the position is.

Monika Lewinskeeze

It doesn't really answer your question, but it's a good thing to know.

They often devastate a job hunters ability to gain employment. After leaving a job, a former employer is free to pass along negative information about you to prospective employers, and most state laws protect them from legal recourse provided the information is - job related; based upon credible evidence; and made without malice.

It is illegal for a former employer to purposefully give false information for the sake of harming one's reputation or preventing one from obtaining employment. In addition, personal information that is not job related should neither be asked about or provided by either a prospective or former employer. In general, it is inappropriate for a prospective employer to ask questions or a former employer to provide information about an individual's race, color, religion, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, disability status, marital status, ****** orientation, or parenting responsibilities.

Former employers who fear potential defamation and slander law suites have become crafty when answering employment reference questions. Rather than speak negatively about a former employee, some will opt to "No Comment" when asked critical employment questions regarding performance, termination, and eligibility for rehire. The inference of this is just as harmful to the employee as a bad reference, and if a prospective employer has to choose between two qualified applicants - one with positive references and the other with mediocre or bad references - who do you suppose they will choose?

Another common practice among leery employers is to refuse to give any information about an employee other than dates of employment and title. This is gross disservice to an employee who has dedicated years of faithful service to a company, yet gets no better of a reference then an employee who was fired for embezzlement.

Unfortunately, this policy is within the legal rights of an employer- provided the policy is an across the board policy that applies to all employees - not just a selected few. There have been cases successfully argued that an employer discriminated against an employee for not applying the same policy to all its employees.