What do you do when a social friend asks for job help?

[Anonymous]

I'm an attorney at an agency that a lot of people want to work for. I am also friends with a lot of attorneys. As a result, I often get requests from friends to pass along their resume, which I'm always happy to do. The sticky issue arises when the inevitable follow-up question comes from the hiring official, "Would you recommend this person?" In most cases, I have no basis at all from which to judge the person's work or whether she would be good at a job beyond the same resume that the hiring official is looking at. I'm afraid that if I say, "Well, I really only know Suzy from the pool, but she seems great," that it seems like I'm tacitly anti-recommending Suzy. What do others do in this situation?

[Anonymous]

I don't think there is anything wrong with saying you know the person socially and would recommend them based on that (if you would) but that you haven't worked with them or known them in a professional capacity.

[Anonymous]

I do not pass along resumes of people I cannot vouch for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not pass along resumes of people I cannot vouch for.

So do you tell people that you won't help them when they ask?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not pass along resumes of people I cannot vouch for.

+1
I learned this lesson the hard way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not pass along resumes of people I cannot vouch for.

So do you tell people that you won't help them when they ask?

I do help by giving advice, maybe connect them with someone so they can talk, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not pass along resumes of people I cannot vouch for.

+1
I learned this lesson the hard way.

+2
If I do pass the resume from someone I don't know in a professional capacity, I make sure that point is known. Just like a PP said, "Jane is a friend of a friend and her resume looks strong, but I never worked with her personally".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not pass along resumes of people I cannot vouch for.

+1
I learned this lesson the hard way.

+2
If I do pass the resume from someone I don't know in a professional capacity, I make sure that point is known. Just like a PP said, "Jane is a friend of a friend and her resume looks strong, but I never worked with her personally".

I'm the first PP to the thread. This is what I meant, but it's better said here.

[Anonymous]

I only recommend people that I know would be good for the job. If it's a friend or acquaintance wanting to apply who I don't feel like vouching for, I just forward it to someone who might be involved in the hiring process (even if its the secretary collecting resumes) and just say I know so and so and they are applying and i wanted to pass along the application. That's it.

[Anonymous]

"Just like a PP said, "Jane is a friend of a friend and her resume looks strong, but I never worked with her personally".

You could also say something like, "she seems bright," or "she presents herself well," or "she has a good personality." Most hiring decisions are based not just on someone's ability to do the work, but also her ability to get along with others, be a good team member and represent the office well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I only recommend people that I know would be good for the job. If it's a friend or acquaintance wanting to apply who I don't feel like vouching for, I just forward it to someone who might be involved in the hiring process (even if its the secretary collecting resumes) and just say I know so and so and they are applying and i wanted to pass along the application. That's it.

Thanks for this. Resume referral requests these days by job seekers via "social networking" is popular but ineffective when they can't be vouched for.

[Anonymous]

I "interview" them and have them do the leg work of finding a relavant listing for me to submit their resume to. I ask them to schedule the meeting with me. Mostly they don't follow through.

I work for a large consulting company and every mom/MIL's neighbor thinks I can get a job for their hairdresser's son who did a year at community college and fixes computers for his uncle's business. I used to help out people who followed through, but now that I'm working in Federal, I just ask "want to move to DC?" and if they say no, I tell them I can't help as I have no pull on the non-Fed side of the business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I "interview" them and have them do the leg work of finding a relavant listing for me to submit their resume to.

+1

[Anonymous]

If I only know the person socially, I say, "Well, I haven't worked with Jane. What I can tell you is that she has a nice personality and seems easy to get along with."