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One of the more interesting things I have learned in my almost 15 years in this business is that this industry is much smaller than you might think. Since leaving school, I have worked in six different states across this country and what amazes me is how the people who I have worked with in other states and in years past keep popping up on my radar screen through one way or the other.
The reason I bring this up is recently I was contacted by a company’s HR person in regard to a person who I had worked with in a previous job. This person who was applying for a position did not use me as a reference, but just by chance, I had a professional relationship with the woman who heads up this company’s HR department. She recognized the company the applicant had listed on the persons’ resume as a company I had worked for in the past and the woman in the HR department decided to contact me on her own.
Now here’s the issue at hand, I could not in good conscience recommend this person for this job or any other job. I am not going to go into details why, but bottom line is when people ask me to be a reference for them, I ask myself one simple question, would I want to work with this person again? The answer for this particular person was no. Now even though I would not feel comfortable recommending this person, the last thing I want to do is to stop someone from getting a new job and being able to support their family.
So here’s the question of the day folks…. What do you do in this scenario? Do you recommend the person? If you do, do you believe that you are putting your own word and reputation on the line if this person does not work out? Or do you stick to what you believe and tell the HR person that you do not feel comfortable recommending this person?
Let me know your thoughts and I will then update this to tell you what I decided.
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This is a similar predicament a friend of mine was in a few months back. I would say that if you tell them this person is a-ok, it weighs on your reputation. Honestly, I think the best approach would simply to be to tell the HR person what you said here with some phrasing. While you are unaware of this persons present work method, in the past you had issues working with them. I don’t know if I’d say outright “I wouldn’t hire them.” So much as just informing them of what you think may be of difficulty for them. Ultimately, are you not supplying information? This person could have changed. Is it not HR’s job to decide whether to give them a chance?
Nathan,
All very good points and I absolutely agree with you. Thanks for the comment.
Hi Cord
I agree with Nathan. It’s your reputation (and conscience)! I would be similarly diplomatic eg “if given the choice of working with X again, as I remember him (or her) back then, I would choose not to. But X may have changed since then”.
By all means you need to be honest, though diplomatically so. If you say something along the lines of; “knowing what I know, I would not choose to work with (that person) again; but I am not all-knowing and each situation is unique” - I think you make your point without appearing overly negative. Also, I think it partly depends on whether the past issues are character-related (very poor prognosis), or performance-related (maybe the past job was a mismatch?). Those differences would lead me toward a more or less blunt appraisal.
Cord,
At the end of the day, it is the other persons responsibility to get a job, not yours to get it for them. That includes taking good care of their professional reputation. If you are being asked your opinion, you give it. It is not your responsibility to cover for anyone else’s inequities.
Personally, I’m a little worried that you are even considering this question. When all else fails, I know that I can always count on you for brutal honesty. It’s pretty much your personal brand. If I ever recived anything less from you, it would greatly hurt my personal opinion of you.
Unless, of course, the recommendation is for me, in that case you lie your ass off and tell them how talented and amazing I am.
Thanks for another comment worthy post.
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
Mark Twain
Meg, Steve and Adam,
Thank you for your comments. You all make great points and I absolutely agree with you. Adam - Specifically to address your concerns, it is not something that I considered at all, I am all about honesty, but as I get older, I have seen how things I say can have big impacts on other people’s lives.
As I said, even though someone I worked with was not my cup of tea, I do not want to be the person causing someone’s family to be hurt because they cannot support them.
UPDATE: Let me tell you exactly how I handled this. When the HR person called me and she asked me about the applicant, I said these exact words to her, “I am sorry, but I would not be comfortable providing a recommendation or any further information on this person.”
Since I have a relationship with the HR person, she pressed me to talk to her “off the record”. I told her that I do not have anything further to say in regard to this person.
I believe that I did not have to say anything negative about the applicant, but at the same time, my lack of information spoke volumes.
Let me know what you think.
Perfect handling of that Cord. Even better that you did not speak off the record. That is just opening up a can of worms.
Matt - Thanks… That is how I have handled it in the past..
I think the only party qualified to give an opinion is the previous employer, because they are the only ones who have access to all aspects of a persons employment data.
There are companies who I have worked with extensively, and who also would only be willing to say “yes we worked with Andy…” and not give an opinion based on company policy.
In fact that particular company was a law firm which I dealt with for 2 years and clocked up a $50,000 bill.
I wouldn’t have problems recommending them as a company, but some issues can be extremely complicated, and it is best to avoid them.
Great points. It surprises me how many people I continue to work with who I met many jobs ago. The best of us - from our perspective - continue tapping each other’s skills at new opportunities. First hand reputations.