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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry OP, that really sucks. I once checked someone's references, including their current job (they listed it as a reference and didn't check the box saying not to contact current employer). The reference was good, but later that day the applicant called me and said he'd been laid off. I felt awful! The fact that you clearly state you'll provide references upon request should make it clear not to contact employers without running it by you.

Did you offer a job to her/him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I've worked in federal government for 20 years. Federal government is always "offer conditioned on a reference." Never an interview conditioned on a reference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in federal government for 20 years. Federal government is always "offer conditioned on a reference." Never an interview conditioned on a reference.

It really depends on the agency and the office. IIRC, the OPM guidelines on reference checks are vague to nonexistent. The professional thing to do is contact references only after an interview and only after notifying the candidate, and the current supervisor should only be contacted if the agency expects to make an offer. Sadly, many offices pull crap like contacting references before interviewing or contacting current supervisors for five final round candidates when they expect to make only one offer.

[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.

You suck. Put that you do this in every job posting so we know not to apply there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I've worked in federal government for 20 years. Federal government is always "offer conditioned on a reference." Never an interview conditioned on a reference.

But only references should be contacted. If a person's current boss is not on that list, they shouldn't be contacted at all. I had this happen to me and didn't even get the job. I honestly thought about making a complaint against the person who reached out my boss also because I find that extremely unprofessional. Luckily it's harder to lay off or fire a federal employee but it does make things very uncomfortable when your boss knows you are looking.

[Anonymous]

All of these stories of people contacting colleagues and bosses without permission are awful. I would love to see the interviewers doing this get some serious payback - like wouldn't it be funny if the exact same thing were done to them next time they're on the job market.

I hope this isn't a trend.

[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.

You suck. Put that you do this in every job posting so we know not to apply there.

Indian Headhunter from New Jersey bodyshop

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these stories of people contacting colleagues and bosses without permission are awful. I would love to see the interviewers doing this get some serious payback - like wouldn't it be funny if the exact same thing were done to them next time they're on the job market.

I hope this isn't a trend.

Contacting a current boss without the candidate's knowledge/approval is pretty bad, but otherwise I don't agree with you. If I happen to know somebody who can give me an insight on the candidate, I will do so. In fact, I think it would reflect poorly on me as a hiring manager if I didn't do that. It costs me a lot of time and money to hire and train someone, and I don't want to make a mistake. And yes, it has happened to me as a candidate as well - my current boss called my former colleague to ask about me. I wasn't asked for a list of references before that call took place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I've worked in federal government for 20 years. Federal government is always "offer conditioned on a reference." Never an interview conditioned on a reference.

But the Feds can't fire you if you they find out you are job hunting.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. I guess I'm confused as to what companies are spending time and resources to check references before it is clear a job offer will be made/accepted. Small companies I guess, who don't do much hiring.

I work for one of those huge companies (couple hundred thousand employees around the world, around 70K or so in the US) and just because of our sheer size, we get tons of applications for most jobs we post. If we spent resources checking on every candidate that made it to the interview stage, I can't imagine how many millions of dollars that would be every year.

So no, this is not common practice.

It also surprises me because companies are damn risk adverse nowadays - there are all these weird rules to avoid getting sued if you don't hire someone a job. So even if this is perfectly legal, I imagine it would piss people off to lead to lawsuits. Companies spend a ton of money settling lawsuits that are completely frivolous, so I'm surprised for that reason, again even if it is totally legal, they would risk that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a job interview today for a job I'm well qualified for and very much interested in. Due to an un-diagnosed medical condition my work at my current job has suffered over the past couple of years. The medical issue has been resolved 100% (my company went above and beyond to help me as much as they could during this time), but for various reasons, I know it's time to move on.

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. Right before the interview started, I found out that the person interviewing me knows BOTH my bosses and had already talked w/ one of them. I know I had a stunned look on my face, but decided not to say anything and move forward the best I could. I felt like I rocked the interview -- was able to answer all their questions, wasn't nervous, asked them good questions, etc.

I'm beyond annoyed and kicking myself for not indicating on my resume that my current employer doesn't know that I'm searching for a new job. Of course, my resume said "confidential" but I'm now realizing that was not enough.

What, if anything should I do? I'm guessing they would not have brought me in for an interview if they heard anything negative from my current boss, but should I do any sort of damage control? I'm concerned that my one boss might have mentioned my medical issues.

And, yes, I've learned my lesson and will make it abundantly clear for other interviews that everything must remain confidential.

Sounds illegal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

PP, if you are contacting current employers of potential candidates without their express permission and before you are at the point of offering them a job, you are being incredibly unprofessional. You are endangering the jobs of people applying to work for you. Please, please stop contacting current employers before asking if it is ok. It is NOT a common practice and it is incredibly unprofessional. Most people are not in the position of being able to be honest with their bosses that they are looking for employment elsewhere.

Again, sounds illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a job interview today for a job I'm well qualified for and very much interested in. Due to an un-diagnosed medical condition my work at my current job has suffered over the past couple of years. The medical issue has been resolved 100% (my company went above and beyond to help me as much as they could during this time), but for various reasons, I know it's time to move on.

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. Right before the interview started, I found out that the person interviewing me knows BOTH my bosses and had already talked w/ one of them. I know I had a stunned look on my face, but decided not to say anything and move forward the best I could. I felt like I rocked the interview -- was able to answer all their questions, wasn't nervous, asked them good questions, etc.

I'm beyond annoyed and kicking myself for not indicating on my resume that my current employer doesn't know that I'm searching for a new job. Of course, my resume said "confidential" but I'm now realizing that was not enough.

What, if anything should I do? I'm guessing they would not have brought me in for an interview if they heard anything negative from my current boss, but should I do any sort of damage control? I'm concerned that my one boss might have mentioned my medical issues.

And, yes, I've learned my lesson and will make it abundantly clear for other interviews that everything must remain confidential.

Sounds illegal

What law makes this illegal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I wouldn't be surprised if a potential boss called up former colleagues. In fact, I expect them to as I also call the former colleagues of a potential boss to see how they would be to work with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What law makes this illegal?

Why wouldn't it be illegal? I'm more than sure if you lost your job because a potential employer told your current employer you were interviewing for a job there, that would be grounds for a lawsuit.