Job application questions

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a job application I need to fill out and return before an initial screening interview on Tuesday. It’s in a very early stage right now. I haven’t done the screening interview, and I’m not even sure I want to leave my existing job (I’m pretty happy, but this new one sounds so wonderful that I wanted to explore it).

So, given that I don’t know that I want to leave my existing position (and it’s a long way from me being offered the new job), how do I handle the request for three references? I’ve been in my current position for more than 12 years, so any references from a prior employer are pretty out of date. I know a couple people who have left my current company, but by the time I get to that third name, the person either hasn’t worked with me in a while or didn’t work with me on a day to day basis. It seems early to ask for references, but it’s on the application.

Also, they’ve requested the names, addresses, supervisors, and phone numbers for all my previous employers. None of them are around anymore. They’re all financial services companies and, as is common in that industry, there have been a lot of mergers/buyouts, etc.

I was thinking I can get two really good, recent names with the third one being a bit older. I’d then explain that if we move forward, I can give them other, more recent, names of people I currently work with, but I’d rather not do that at this point. Is that acceptable?

As to the contact info for my former employers, I can find the HR contact info for the current companies that bought out the ones I worked for. I really don’t know what else to do.

Any suggestions? As mentioned, I’m not in any kind of unpleasant situation at my present job, so I really don’t want the jeopardize that. But this new position does sound very appealing (lots of ability to grow and an exciting new company), so I want to put my best foot forward.

I get the impression the application is mostly a formality (if we move forward there will be lots and lots of interviews, etc.), but I don’t know that for certain and I want to do the right thing.

2

I’m in this same predicament right now, so I’m going to keep an eye on this.

  1. I don’t keep up with past co-workers. Call me an anti-social, but with one exception, I have no desire to maintain contact with any of them. Doubly-so for ex-managers.
  2. Who do they think I’m going to supply to them as a reference? My parole officer? No! I’m going to bribe the one and only friend I’ve trust enough to say nice things about me.

So what am I supposed to do?

Perhaps we could start a business that does nothing but provide referrals for a fee?

3

I work in HR - not in recruiting directly, but I work with them often.

Most recruiters in my experience will be very understanding of you not wanting to burn any bridges with your current employer or tip them off that you are looking at a new job. My recommendation is to give the best and most current references you can that would not compromise your current job, and explain your situation and that you would be happy to provide contacts from your current job later in the process.

Reference checks are time consuming, so recruiters are not going to be checking them until after they’ve interviewed you and have decided you are a potential hire. The interview should give you the opportunity to describe your current situation and assure them that you would be happy to give them current contacts if they are interested in hiring you.

The other option is to go ahead and provide them with your current employer’s contact information now, but ask them not to contact anyone in your current company yet. This is also pretty common.

4

Yes, in early stages, I’ve not had a problem with just stating, “references available on request.” IME, reference checks don’t happen until after the interview anyway.

5

Thanks so much. For the application I supplied the name of one associate I currently work with (and trust since I’ve been her reference) and two others that left the company about two years ago. In case they’re concerned that those two aren’t recent enough, I mentioned that I was prepared to supply additional references later in the process if that’s desired.

I don’t think they’ll actually call anyone till much later. However, I was reluctant to do so much as ask anyone I currently work with other than the one individual.

It was a bit of a conundrum for me since very few people have left my current employer recently. That makes it difficult! A couple years ago, this would have been easy. I could readily find someone who had left within the prior six months. That’s not the case now. I’ll bet that’s pretty common and hope my references don’t raise any red flags because two are from a while back.

Oh well, I guess I’ll find out!

dmatsch, I’m lucky in that I’ve kept in touch with former coworkers (although it’s been easy for me since, as mentioned, not many leave these days). Do you have suppliers, vendors, etc. that you could ask? Or perhaps someone in another department that works with you but isn’t in the same gossip circle as your area? Years ago (many years, so this may be out of date advice), I could usually find someone on maternity leave. They were generally more than happy to have someone else leave the company so there would be a good place for them when they returned.

6

I have actually had my job references checked BEFORE the first interview, so it’s not common but it does happen. It seems like a big waste of time, but I can think of three places this year (all hotels) that checked them.

My references call me to let me know who’s checking on me :slight_smile:

I put references available upon request, but some of the online applications, make you actually fill in names of references in order to complete the application