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I have been applying to lots of jobs some of them require references .Some of them have two and three spaces for references these are for retail/gas station jobs .The employeer asks that they be not friends or former supervisor's I would like to know why more and more employeers are making it mandatory to have a reference ? Some people like me are not social butterflies .
For those sort of jobs it may be more of a safety thing...ie they want to make sure that you're a legit person who is not going to steal from their company. I find it odd that they won't take supervisor references, though.
It looks good on paper to check employee's references, however it is really pointless. Anyone can find someone to give them a good reference or can easily fake it. Also almost no supervisor will risk divulging negative information as they can get sued. Most companies will only give title and dates of employment.
I have a family friend that agreed to be a reference .I only have past employeers as a reference one I am not sure about I walked on (I don't put them as they are my last employeer) even though they gave me a positive reference ????I just need to get more socially active that way I can them as a reference .
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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A good HR person or supervisor can tell when a person's reference is a friend who has been coached on what to say and will have questions that
bring out what they want to know.
I would always like a former supervisor, but in many cases as mentioned before they may be afraid to say anything for fear of suit, maybe that has made the employer exclude them. The best non-friend references left then are former customers or business associates, even former co-workers. The main reason for checking references is to find out about a person's work ethic and character, so it has to be someone that knows you well, and I would never give out a name without asking that person ahead of time.
if they are uncomfortable about serving as a reference, they will come off as evasive which always portrays a negative impression.
For my most recent job I used a former employer who had also left that place but is now a CEO elsewhere, and a former co-worker who I'd worked closely with on a major project. I called them both ahead of time and both spoke for 15-20 minutes with HR, and I got the job.
I actually had an application ask me for two references from family and friends. I found that weird and pointless.
Also, I find it strange that they said you can't use former supervisors. Aren't those the best kind of references?
Like some others said former supervisors are usually hesitant to give out more than confirmation and employment dates. If you were fired for cause maybe they would, but you probably wouldn't have listed them as a reference.
I had a background check come back recently and my previous employment listings just confirm title and dates of employment, even though there's fields for "reason of departure", "would re-hire yes/no", etc. I imagine a supervisor reference would work similarly.
More and more references are not being contacted. Employers want them, but it's more of a formality and hold over from long ago. Anymore, they run a BG check on you and call it a day. More and more, companies are hiring 3rd party companies to run checks on you because it protects the employer. If you have a clean BG and your resume looks promising, you will get a call.
On application I made the mistake of putting my last employeer as a reference even though I just remembered they don't give references ?I try not to,I really do as I walked out on them .
I have been applying to lots of jobs some of them require references .Some of them have two and three spaces for references these are for retail/gas station jobs .The employeer asks that they be not friends or former supervisor's I would like to know why more and more employeers are making it mandatory to have a reference ? Some people like me are not social butterflies .
One time, I sent in a resume to a temp agency. It was for a part-time job working at some booth at a shopping mall.
The agency emailed me back, stating that I needed to submit SIX references...By the way, it did not want me to use a friend as a reference...
I thought that six was too many...I did not follow up with that job...
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