Job interview today and was told they had already talked with my current company

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I disagree with the other PPs. It is not unprofessional to do background and employment checks on potential candidates. That is actually a part of standard business. Whether you provide employment history or not, some employment history is available on-line. Confidential does not mean not to contact my employers, it means not to disclose any information in the resume. This differentiates resumes that are being distributed by the individual on a case-by-case basis vs those candidates that are posting their resume on job sites like Monster, etc and those that have publicly viewable resumes on LinkedIn, etc. What you need to include in your cover letter is that you do not wish your current employer to be contacted without prior consent. That tells them explicitly not to contact your current employer. If you failed to do that, then you have yourself to blame for not putting important information in your cover letter. Although most times you do background and employment history checks after a successful in person interview, if I have to work with a team of mixed people from management to technical staff to HR to vet a candidate, and I have a really good candidate coming in for an interview, who I may need or want to push through quickly if everyone likes the candidate, I may try to do background and employment checks before the interview. It's a part of the job. I will check the cover letter for special instructions and follow those guidelines.

Where do you work? I want to be sure neither I nor anyone I know applies to your company. Actually reaching out to someone's current employer before asking is not acceptable w/o the person's consent. Every job I have accepted called references and checked employment history only after I accepted the offer. So much can be gleaned from databases - including rough gauge of employment history. If you're in that much of a rush, ask the applicant for permission to check those databases.

To the OP, given the relationship between your bosses and the interviewer, you cannot say something that the boss could confirm with the interviewer (i.e., "They called me."). Just say you were being prudent in determining your value on the open market, that it would take an immensely compelling opportunity for you to leave, and that you're happy where you are. I don't know if I would broach the topic with your bosses or let them say something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I disagree with the other PPs. It is not unprofessional to do background and employment checks on potential candidates. That is actually a part of standard business. Whether you provide employment history or not, some employment history is available on-line. Confidential does not mean not to contact my employers, it means not to disclose any information in the resume. This differentiates resumes that are being distributed by the individual on a case-by-case basis vs those candidates that are posting their resume on job sites like Monster, etc and those that have publicly viewable resumes on LinkedIn, etc. What you need to include in your cover letter is that you do not wish your current employer to be contacted without prior consent. That tells them explicitly not to contact your current employer. If you failed to do that, then you have yourself to blame for not putting important information in your cover letter. Although most times you do background and employment history checks after a successful in person interview, if I have to work with a team of mixed people from management to technical staff to HR to vet a candidate, and I have a really good candidate coming in for an interview, who I may need or want to push through quickly if everyone likes the candidate, I may try to do background and employment checks before the interview. It's a part of the job. I will check the cover letter for special instructions and follow those guidelines.

Where do you work? I want to be sure neither I nor anyone I know applies to your company. Actually reaching out to someone's current employer before asking is not acceptable w/o the person's consent. Every job I have accepted called references and checked employment history only after I accepted the offer. So much can be gleaned from databases - including rough gauge of employment history. If you're in that much of a rush, ask the applicant for permission to check those databases.

To the OP, given the relationship between your bosses and the interviewer, you cannot say something that the boss could confirm with the interviewer (i.e., "They called me."). Just say you were being prudent in determining your value on the open market, that it would take an immensely compelling opportunity for you to leave, and that you're happy where you are. I don't know if I would broach the topic with your bosses or let them say something.

I get the feeling that PP is a corporate recruiter. Just hunch, but the ones I have encountered have been relentless and unethical in a way that aligns with the statements in that post.

OP, I agree with this last poster- don't bring it up but be prepared with this answer ("determining your value on the open market, etc") if you get confronted about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I disagree with the other PPs. It is not unprofessional to do background and employment checks on potential candidates. That is actually a part of standard business. Whether you provide employment history or not, some employment history is available on-line. Confidential does not mean not to contact my employers, it means not to disclose any information in the resume. This differentiates resumes that are being distributed by the individual on a case-by-case basis vs those candidates that are posting their resume on job sites like Monster, etc and those that have publicly viewable resumes on LinkedIn, etc. What you need to include in your cover letter is that you do not wish your current employer to be contacted without prior consent. That tells them explicitly not to contact your current employer. If you failed to do that, then you have yourself to blame for not putting important information in your cover letter. Although most times you do background and employment history checks after a successful in person interview, if I have to work with a team of mixed people from management to technical staff to HR to vet a candidate, and I have a really good candidate coming in for an interview, who I may need or want to push through quickly if everyone likes the candidate, I may try to do background and employment checks before the interview. It's a part of the job. I will check the cover letter for special instructions and follow those guidelines.

It seems that if the potential employee lost their job as a result, this would be grounds for a lawsuit? I'm not a lawyer - would be interested in a professional's opinion.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP that everyone is piling on. First, for "background" checks, yes, I meant googling, checking LinkedIn and other publicly available information, not an official background check. That is only done when an offer is extended AND accepted. As for contacting employers to expedite a good candidate, I've only contacted employers that were listed directly in the application. When people fill out web-based applications, our employer asks them to lists references that can be contacted. Unlike OP's situation, I would not reach out to someone that is not listed on the resume or on the application. I would not reach out to your former or current employer that I happened to know. If you put "References available upon request" or similar language, I would not pursue, or would contact you for references. If you put the references on the resume or include it on the application, they should be fair game to be contacted, that is essentially your explicit consent to contact them (on the application is specifically says only list references that can be contacted). If you don't want them contacted without your consent then detail it in your cover letter or just don't include the references when you submit your application. Also, i

[Anonymous]

Op, It's not ok. But to make you feel better - - bosses are people too. They look for other jobs too. They don't all want to stay. They aren't all happy. Don't assume they wouldn't have the humanity to wish you well. But, again, I agree it shouldn't happen this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP that everyone is piling on. First, for "background" checks, yes, I meant googling, checking LinkedIn and other publicly available information, not an official background check. That is only done when an offer is extended AND accepted. As for contacting employers to expedite a good candidate, I've only contacted employers that were listed directly in the application. When people fill out web-based applications, our employer asks them to lists references that can be contacted. Unlike OP's situation, I would not reach out to someone that is not listed on the resume or on the application. I would not reach out to your former or current employer that I happened to know. If you put "References available upon request" or similar language, I would not pursue, or would contact you for references. If you put the references on the resume or include it on the application, they should be fair game to be contacted, that is essentially your explicit consent to contact them (on the application is specifically says only list references that can be contacted). If you don't want them contacted without your consent then detail it in your cover letter or just don't include the references when you submit your application. Also, i

So, in this case, OP says:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in a very specialized field and didn't list my current job as a reference, but indicated that I would be willing to provide further references upon request.

and you said you would check. Did you misspeak?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP that everyone is piling on. First, for "background" checks, yes, I meant googling, checking LinkedIn and other publicly available information, not an official background check. That is only done when an offer is extended AND accepted. As for contacting employers to expedite a good candidate, I've only contacted employers that were listed directly in the application. When people fill out web-based applications, our employer asks them to lists references that can be contacted. Unlike OP's situation, I would not reach out to someone that is not listed on the resume or on the application. I would not reach out to your former or current employer that I happened to know. If you put "References available upon request" or similar language, I would not pursue, or would contact you for references. If you put the references on the resume or include it on the application, they should be fair game to be contacted, that is essentially your explicit consent to contact them (on the application is specifically says only list references that can be contacted). If you don't want them contacted without your consent then detail it in your cover letter or just don't include the references when you submit your application. Also, i

So, in this case, OP says:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in a very specialized field and didn't list my current job as a reference, but indicated that I would be willing to provide further references upon request.

and you said you would check. Did you misspeak?

No, I said that I would check the cover letter for additional instructions or details and that I did not think that "confidential" meant not to contact her references. I agreed in the message above that in OP's situation I would not have reached out to the unlisted reference. This means that I would consider any listed reference to be fair game. What I said in my first message was in disagreement with all PPs that suggested that contacting any references was unprofessional. I think any reference that you list can be contacted. If you don't want someone contacted, then you either omit them from the list (as OP did) or put specific instructions in your cover letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I disagree with the other PPs. It is not unprofessional to do background and employment checks on potential candidates. That is actually a part of standard business. Whether you provide employment history or not, some employment history is available on-line. Confidential does not mean not to contact my employers, it means not to disclose any information in the resume. This differentiates resumes that are being distributed by the individual on a case-by-case basis vs those candidates that are posting their resume on job sites like Monster, etc and those that have publicly viewable resumes on LinkedIn, etc. What you need to include in your cover letter is that you do not wish your current employer to be contacted without prior consent. That tells them explicitly not to contact your current employer. If you failed to do that, then you have yourself to blame for not putting important information in your cover letter. Although most times you do background and employment history checks after a successful in person interview, if I have to work with a team of mixed people from management to technical staff to HR to vet a candidate, and I have a really good candidate coming in for an interview, who I may need or want to push through quickly if everyone likes the candidate, I may try to do background and employment checks before the interview. It's a part of the job. I will check the cover letter for special instructions and follow those guidelines.

It seems that if the potential employee lost their job as a result, this would be grounds for a lawsuit? I'm not a lawyer - would be interested in a professional's opinion.

There is potential liability (even if rarely pursued). This is why most recruiters and hiring employers prudently require a signed release of liability from an applicant before contacting references. If it is an online application system, one of the many forms you click through is probably such a release and you probably clicked it and gave an electronic signature. It is also part of why those references rarely answer any questions. It is also why recruiters/managers who go cowboy and prematurely contact references against company policy, when they are not authorized to do so and do not have a release from the applicant, might get fired themselves. When you are dealing in people's livelihoods, you don't take unnecessary risks. You must check references, but you must do so prudently. There is potential liability on both sides of the coin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP that everyone is piling on. First, for "background" checks, yes, I meant googling, checking LinkedIn and other publicly available information, not an official background check. That is only done when an offer is extended AND accepted. As for contacting employers to expedite a good candidate, I've only contacted employers that were listed directly in the application. When people fill out web-based applications, our employer asks them to lists references that can be contacted. Unlike OP's situation, I would not reach out to someone that is not listed on the resume or on the application. I would not reach out to your former or current employer that I happened to know. If you put "References available upon request" or similar language, I would not pursue, or would contact you for references. If you put the references on the resume or include it on the application, they should be fair game to be contacted, that is essentially your explicit consent to contact them (on the application is specifically says only list references that can be contacted). If you don't want them contacted without your consent then detail it in your cover letter or just don't include the references when you submit your application. Also, i

So, in this case, OP says:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in a very specialized field and didn't list my current job as a reference, but indicated that I would be willing to provide further references upon request.

and you said you would check. Did you misspeak?

No, I said that I would check the cover letter for additional instructions or details and that I did not think that "confidential" meant not to contact her references. I agreed in the message above that in OP's situation I would not have reached out to the unlisted reference. This means that I would consider any listed reference to be fair game. What I said in my first message was in disagreement with all PPs that suggested that contacting any references was unprofessional. I think any reference that you list can be contacted. If you don't want someone contacted, then you either omit them from the list (as OP did) or put specific instructions in your cover letter.

That would be a weird, odd sore thumb in a cover letter.

[Anonymous]

^^ Yeah I'm still thinking the piling on was deserved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very common. I've never gotten an interview without my references being checked. And if they don't see my boss listed as a reference, they will contact boss too.

What field?

Fed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP that everyone is piling on. First, for "background" checks, yes, I meant googling, checking LinkedIn and other publicly available information, not an official background check. That is only done when an offer is extended AND accepted. As for contacting employers to expedite a good candidate, I've only contacted employers that were listed directly in the application. When people fill out web-based applications, our employer asks them to lists references that can be contacted. Unlike OP's situation, I would not reach out to someone that is not listed on the resume or on the application. I would not reach out to your former or current employer that I happened to know. If you put "References available upon request" or similar language, I would not pursue, or would contact you for references. If you put the references on the resume or include it on the application, they should be fair game to be contacted, that is essentially your explicit consent to contact them (on the application is specifically says only list references that can be contacted). If you don't want them contacted without your consent then detail it in your cover letter or just don't include the references when you submit your application. Also, i

Seems like you're back-tracking.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm so sorry this happened. I'm going to agree with the folks who recommended having some sort of "checking out the market" answer ready. Depending on your relationship with your boss, you may even want to just tell them you spoke with the company to do so. But don't do that unless you are in very good graces with your boss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is highly unprofessional, but it happens all the time now. People are terrible.

And do you really want to work for them now

That sucks


I had similar experience long time ago. Some company I interviewed with Calle my boss for reference.

I never went to new company. The owner was an asshole and I am convinced did this to screw me.

Be careful. The people at the new company should NOT have done this Something is off

[Anonymous]

NP here. I read this thread today and thought it was a truly odd thing for a potential employer to do. Fast forward to two hours later, during my own interview where one of the people screening me (a very recent hire herself) revealed that she knew and had contacted former colleagues of mine to get the scoop on me. Exact words. These former colleagues were NOT listed as references and I had specifically checked the box indicating it was NOT OK to contact the company the former colleague and I had all worked for. It really pisses me off because this is a breach of trust from the get-go.