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

  • 20-11-2015 9:14pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10


    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.


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,420 ✭✭✭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.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,795 Mod ✭✭✭✭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.


  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 51,690 Mod ✭✭✭✭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


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,260 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


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

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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,623 ✭✭✭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.


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  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 51,690 Mod ✭✭✭✭Stheno



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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,623 ✭✭✭thegreatgonzo


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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,126 ✭✭✭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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,434 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 10,718 Mod ✭✭✭✭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!


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