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Possible bad/malicious reference
FF
Once Upon a TimeIn OaklandRegistered User regular
Once Upon a TimeIn OaklandRegistered User regular
Small bit of backstory here.
My lady friend has been trying for a couple months now to get a job here (Bay Area, CA). She moved here from MO a few months ago.
She's been applying to a large variety of places, from Graphic Design positions all the way down to supermarkets. So far she's only gotten a couple of interviews, all other applications have, apparently, been rejected outright. We're trying to narrow down possible causes. One problem may be is that at her last job she quit. (though it sounded like they were out to fire her anyway)
From what I hear, her previous employer had a lot of, somewhat scummy guys, she was harassed at work, etc. So my worry is that her previous employer may be being vindictive and giving a very bad reference to possible new employers.
I don't know if it's illegal for them to do that (someone told me it's not). If it is legal for them to say whatever they want, is there some way to counteract what they're doing? Should that particular employer be left off of her resume?
My lady friend has been trying for a couple months now to get a job here (Bay Area, CA). She moved here from MO a few months ago.
She's been applying to a large variety of places, from Graphic Design positions all the way down to supermarkets. So far she's only gotten a couple of interviews, all other applications have, apparently, been rejected outright. We're trying to narrow down possible causes. One problem may be is that at her last job she quit. (though it sounded like they were out to fire her anyway)
From what I hear, her previous employer had a lot of, somewhat scummy guys, she was harassed at work, etc. So my worry is that her previous employer may be being vindictive and giving a very bad reference to possible new employers.
I don't know if it's illegal for them to do that (someone told me it's not). If it is legal for them to say whatever they want, is there some way to counteract what they're doing? Should that particular employer be left off of her resume?
Huh...
FF on
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Doesn't look good, but it's better than the last boss being an asshole and lying about your work history.
Perhaps the problem is her work experience, or how she is portraying herself in her applications and/or resume.
Also, there are laws governing what references can and can't say to potential employer.
After all, if she's applying to places where there's lots of other applications, why would they spend time during the day calling refs to turn someone down, when they can simply turn her down because they don't like something that's obvious on the resume?
More importantly, though, her experience is standard in the job market. How many jobs have you/her applied for in your life? It's rare to only apply to one place, get an interview, and then get the job. Usually, people apply for a lot of different positions, some more of a longshot than others, and will only get a call back on a small handful. After all, if she has lots of school/job experience, why would a supermarket want to hire her? They figure she's just working there for some easy money and will quit as soon as something comes along in a few weeks. And if she has lots of other experience, is she changing her resume for each job, or simply sending out the same one? If she lists HTML skills, a supermarket will simply stop there and trash the app. If her work experience looks to bbe entirely retail, a graphic design firm may not give a damn.
The reason they gave is that if an employer decides not to hire someone because I were to say "he was a freakin' jackass" or something, it would be very, very easy for that person to sue my company for it. My supervisor called it "blackballing".
also:
I'd recomend against saying, "do not contact," as that looks worse. SAme goes for saying anything bad about the old place in an interview.
In a real bad case - for instance, let's say your last boss was into sexual harrassment and you quit - they might say things like 'they were late 90% of the time' just to fuck your life up. I've had bosses that would go to these lengths, and in these cases it's best to either leave that job off the application or say 'don't contact'.
It's a bad idea to get into why you don't want them contacted, though. I would never hire someone that talks shit about his last job, unless I brought it up first.
To the OP: I live in the Bay Area. I'm lucky enough to be in a high-demand field, but when I worked other jobs (retail, menial office, etc) it took on average 60-70 applications to get hired. Starbucks is a good job to get in the meantime just for the cash flow.
Record the conversation, if she says ANYTHING negative about your friend, it is completely illegal and a violaiton of labor laws. The most she can say is something along the lines of "I refuse to comment."