Arleen Bradley Career Coaching

Recently, I have hearing my clients talking about their reference checks.  They feel that they are not getting jobs because of the references former employers are giving about them.  So I decided to do a little checking and found some fascinating information.

Fact or fiction?  When asked by your prospective employer, your former employer can only give out your job title, dates of employment and income.    The correct answer may surprise you.  Depending on the state you live, the information provided by a former employer can range from any factual statements relating to work to job performance.  

Additionally, some states allow the employer to include information such as performance evaluations, eligibility as to rehire, violations of federal, state laws or industry regulations, drug screen results, reasons for termination and/or disciplinary actions.  On the good side, a few states allow the company to report on promotions, awards and effort.

In some states, employers must get a written request from the employee to disclose information to a prospective employer.    Other states note that employees must be given a copy of the reference.  There are no states that will allow the dissemination of information that can be used to discriminate a candidate, such as, age, race, sex, etc.  Also, an employer can’t knowingly give information that is known to be untrue.  They can’t falsify information to prevent you from obtaining employment.  And they must give out the same type of information about everyone.

Corporations receive requests for references on former employees.  The information they give out depends on corporate policy.  And yes, the information that they provide is only the dates of employment, job title, and income.  The reason they do is because some of the information can be opinion and a matter of he said/she said and no way to prove anything.  Trying to fight the claim is time-consuming and expensive with no guarantee of winning.

So does that mean you can relax?  No, not really, fighting an unfavorable reference on you is just as hard.  Yes, you may win, but at an expense.  The typical attorney and court cost are something to consider, but the real cost is in your time.  Instead of spending time getting a job, you are using valuable time fighting something that is challenging at best.  If you were to win, some states will require you to continue to look for a job, and when you get one, you will lose some of your settlement. 

What can you do about it?  You have a couple of options.  One, you can hire a reference checking company to contact your references to see what they are saying about you.  Or have a friend do a reference check for you.  If you find out that a company or someone is giving out false and/or negative information about you, you have a few options.

1)      Instead of giving the name of your immediate supervisor, give the contact information for the human resources department.

2)      Give the name of a colleague in the company who will be able to give a good reference.

3)      Talk to your former boss and see if you can persuade him/her to give you a fair/factual reference because you need to work and their recommendation is preventing that.  It’s a long shot but    worth a try.

4)      Explain to your prospective employer about the situation and tell them an unfavorable review might be given.  Offer them your past performance reviews or such that will show them the value of your work.

An unfavorable reference shouldn’t be the end of your career.  It will make finding work difficult and longer, but you can do it.  If you know what you’re in for, you will know how to work around it.