How to encourage people to call back about a background check

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m in the middle of a background check for a job with a law enforcement agency. Because this is a law enforcement agency, it requires more than calling the past few employers for the standard employment verification and three of my closest friends who can testify about how swell I am. The agency needs to speak to supervisors to ascertain my character and actual work habits and such. (No, I’m not going to be a cop. It’s for a clerical position.)

My most recent supervisor won’t cooperate. I called him today to ask him to call the investigator and he refused, citing that he can’t because it has to go to HR. I understand his position if all that we’re needed were dates of employment.

So here’s my question. What is the most efficient way for this guy to cooperate since he’s refusing? Should I go to his manager? (I’ve got a call in to the nice HR lady, but she hasn’t called back yet.) For that matter, should I wait for the nice HR lady to call me back?

The investigator has also made it clear that she will close it out if this guy won’t talk to her and I could lose out on a job offer as a result. If that happens, do I have any legal recourse against either the supervisor or the agency he works for that I left? (This is a state agency, if that helps.)

2

Go to HR - they will either clear him to speak or they won’t. He is concerned about the legal aspects and has probably been warned by HR NOT to speak about previous employees, so let them assuage his fears.

3

No one owes you a reference. If he doesn’t want to talk, you’re shit out of luck. If there was a way to coerce him to talk, he’d probably be…less than helpful…if you used it.

4

I talked to the nice HR lady today. She told me that, yes, there is a policy against supervisors giving any kind of a direct reference, but that the investigator was more than welcome to read my personnel file. It would have been nice to have that information two freakin’ weeks ago when there was still time for someone to look at them!

5

You should have talked to the HR dept at your old job to begin with…not your former supervisors fault. Don’t be a victim…own it.

6

I did. They didn’t say anything about an investigator being able to read my personnel file. No one did. It wasn’t until I talked to someone I knew in HR that I found out about that. If no one tells me, I don’t know.

I’ve been through these kinds of checks before. You hand over information to an investigator, get out of the way, and hope for the best. Once the information is in the hands of the investigator, it’s out of your control.