When to give references

browler

Evening all.Just wondering what would be the best thing to do in the following case:

Say for example a role has two interview phases and you do particularly well in the first short listing phase.The interviewers asked for my references which I said id forward via email but I still dont know if I am going to be called for the second phase, should I wait untill the notification for the second phase before submitting ?. Not entirely confident that one of my previous employers would give me the best reference you see.

Thanks for yere help.

Karoma

Give them when you are asked to do so. Otherwise, they'll assume you don't have "the best reference"(s) anyway and won't make it to the second phase.

00112984

If the guy who won't give you a good reference is part of a fairly large company, give contact details of HR and not him directly.

The potential new employer will be looking for two things-
1) Confirmation of employment dates
2) Confirmation of whether you were subject to any disciplinary proceedings.

If they push you to give a more "personal" referee you could always say that the guy is away on hols, give them HR's contact details and another referee who'll be better.

grainne_t

I would give the references, but request that they are not contacted until there is an offer on the table.

Eoin

grainne_t wrote:

I would give the references, but request that they are not contacted until there is an offer on the table.

Absolutely, I'd never give a reference if I hadn't even made it to the 2nd interview stage or not.

Ibjiba

grainne_t wrote:

I would give the references, but request that they are not contacted until there is an offer on the table.

This is exactly what I do as well. I give them the references and let them know how they are connected to me (former boss will probably have bigger impact than former colleague). At the same time I ask them to understand my discretion and not contact them unless things progress.