Did Interview Employer contact references

godtabh

So did an interview last week. Went grand. They said if they were to offer me a job they would need to check two references. No problem.

Got a call from an old boss telling me that he got a phone call about the references. He didn't mind and as it turns out wants to get me in for a talk about going back so its all good.

Now I'm worried that they might have contacted the current job.

Whats the general way things like this is done? I thought they would offer me the job subject to references checking out.

January

Usually they check the references of the last two employers, they won't contact your current employer unless the ask you if it's ok to do so. At least that's what they did in my job... Where was it for?

godtabh

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Usually they check the references of the last two employers, they won't contact your current employer unless the ask you if it's ok to do so. At least that's what they did in my job... Where was it for?

My current employer is my second reference more or less. I've only had 2 permenant full time positions since I left college

The job is for ESBI.

the_syco

Erm... references are meant to be asked to be references beforehand. Otherwise, they may "forget" you worked there.

leeroybrown

I've been in a situation where HR needed to wait for a specific member of management (non-HR) who had decision making authority to return from a trip and sign off before an offer could be made to me. I presume they checked my references but it did add over a week before HR offered me the position. This job was with a very large company.

I would suggest that if they have checked at least one of your references then you'll almost certainly be contacted one way or another once an official decision has been made.

AARRRGH

Did you put your current employer down as a reference?

If you did, you can't really complain...

godtabh

I didn't give them any references. All I gave them was my cv.

I thought that they would ask me who the reference I would like the use.

When I got home there was a message on my phone saying that the same company wanted to talk to me about another position but no mention of speaking to any of my references.

leeroybrown

That's strange - so you listed your past experience but didn't explicitly list the references who were available for contact yet they went ahead and contacted your former employer?

Random

leeroybrown wrote: »

That's strange - so you listed your past experience but didn't explicitly list the references who were available for contact yet they went ahead and contacted your former employer?

This sounds very odd.

godtabh

leeroybrown wrote: »

That's strange - so you listed your past experience but didn't explicitly list the references who were available for contact yet they went ahead and contacted your former employer?

Thats whats happened. I though they would only ask for references if they offered me the job

BC

kearnsr wrote: »

I didn't give them any references. All I gave them was my cv.
.

Thats very odd.
Did your CV say anything like 'references available on request'?

I would be very surprised if any company contacted previous employers without asking you, how would they even have a contact name or did they just ring up and give your name?

Eoin

BC wrote:

Did your CV say anything like 'references available on request'?

I would be very surprised if any company contacted previous employers without asking you, how would they even have a contact name or did they just ring up and give your name?

If that's what happened, it's very bad form - this is exactly the reason you don't put your reference details on the CV in the first place.

godtabh

All that was on my cv was previous work experience.

It had the compnay I worked for but not who I worked for.

My old boss rnag me after he was speaking to them and said that he gave me a good reference but would I be interested in talking to them so thats the only reason I found out about it.

I've been speaking to my currnet boss today and he hasnt said anything so I assume that they havent contacted him.

I'm gona email HR now and see what they say.

BC

kearnsr wrote: »

I'm gona email HR now and see what they say.

I'd be interested to hear what they say, keep us posted!

godtabh

I spoke to HR. They said that it was a line manager who contacted to old job. She reckons that the line manager knew some one in there and contacted my the old boss and it was do so unofficially.

She said she was very sorry and it shouldn't have happened and that normally references would only be asked for after a medical was done.

Not sure if I believe this as my old boss said they rang for a reference and it wasn't just some one checking up on me.

Eoin

kearnsr wrote: »

I spoke to HR. They said that it was a line manager who contacted to old job. She reckons that the line manager knew some one in there and contacted my the old boss and it was do so unofficially.

She said she was very sorry and it shouldn't have happened and that normally references would only be asked for after a medical was done.

Not sure if I believe this as my old boss said they rang for a reference and it wasn't just some one checking up on me.

I guess there's no serious harm done if they didn't contact your current employer, but it's still not very professional. If the line manager did in fact know someone in the old company, I could see how it would be tempting to get an unofficial reference.

godtabh

eoin_s wrote: »

I guess there's no serious harm done if they didn't contact your current employer, but it's still not very professional. If the line manager did in fact know someone in the old company, I could see how it would be tempting to get an unofficial reference.

No harm was done I was just abit worried. It also reflects badly on the company.

ALso the way old boss said they rang for a reference rather than Mr Bloggs rang to talk about you would suggest to me a bit more offical than they are letting on

Eoin

kearnsr wrote: »

No harm was done I was just abit worried. It also reflects badly on the company.

ALso the way old boss said they rang for a reference rather than Mr Bloggs rang to talk about you would suggest to me a bit more offical than they are letting on

It does reflect badly alright, they didn't know for sure that it wouldn't land you in an awkward position.

godtabh

eoin_s wrote: »

It does reflect badly alright, they didn't know for sure that it wouldn't land you in an awkward position.

It has also opened the door for competition to any offer that they may make