Can potential employers ring up your past employers without your consent?

Purpleskies

Googled this and got some strangely conflicted answers. I thought the answer was "no" but some are saying they can and do regularly.

So, the question is: can a company contact your past employers just to confirm that you actually worked at that company without asking you first?

This is assuming you've applied for a job with them and given them your CV with a list of references.

(Also, I'm not just talking about your current employer, I mean all your past employers)

Thanks for the help anyone can give, it's much appreciated.

esforum

There would be a reasonable assumption that by putting someone down as a referee and providing that persons contact information you are consenting to them being contacted.

Outside of that, data protection would not prevent a company from stating that you did or did not work there in the past. How much information they could give is debatable I suppose.

Manach

On the one hand, sure they can as the Data Protection laws would not really cover this under privacy. On the other, they (assuming HR here) are under no obligation to response to their queries.

Stheno

esforum wrote: »

There would be a reasonable assumption that by putting someone down as a referee and providing that persons contact information you are consenting to them being contacted.

Outside of that, data protection would not prevent a company from stating that you did or did not work there in the past. How much information they could give is debatable I suppose.

Agree with this.

OP simply put down references available on request and don't list them

godtabh

why put down the references if you didnt want them contacted?

References supplied upon request/job offer I thought was the norm

thegreatgonzo

I think the OP means contacting people you worked for but who you haven't named as referees? Just those listed under employment history.

Stheno

Purpleskies wrote: »

This is assuming you've applied for a job with them and given them your CV with a list of references.

thegreatgonzo wrote: »

I think the OP means contacting people you worked for but who you haven't named as referees? Just those listed under employment history.

See what OP posted

thegreatgonzo

I just took 'all your past employers' to mean everyone in the employment history. Sorry OP!

3DataModem

If I have a contact in a company, I'll pick up the phone with or without permission. I'm in a fairly close industry though.

Mrs OBumble

There's nothing to stop them doing it.

Ok, so they might be breaking a law or two. But so what, you probably drove 1-2km over the speed limit on your way to the job interview, too.

The reality is that this happens, more often than you might think. I've more than once taken an off-the-record phone call from a friend in the industry and given a candid assessment of a former colleague.

Jim2007

You should assume that anything you put on a resume can potentially be verified by a future employer. It can be formal as in contacting the company or spring from the fact that they know someone who works at the same company as you do.

On several occasions I've been asked for my opinion of people who I have worked for in the past simply because the recruiter knew I'd worked for the same employer in the past. The most common technique I have experienced is having the paragraph written by the candidate read to me and being asked if I thought it was accurate. Some not so much!