Reply to Current Job Reference: Why do they ask this question?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just tell them they can't contact your current employer. That's very normal and they shouldn't have a problem with it. If they do, or insist on contacting anyways, that's not a company you want to work for.[/quote]

Well the federal gov't certainly has a problem with it! My husband was applying for a position at the SEC and they said it was required that they have a current supervisor even after he explained that it would put his current job in jeopardy. The feds just don't understand what cutthroat real world business is like and that you may not want your boss knowing you are looking at other jobs. It was very nerve wracking and he almost walked away. He was able to find a partner that he felt he could trust to serve as the reference. [/quote]
I ran into the same problem with a different agency, and it wasn't just to verify employment before making an offer. They wanted to contact every final round candidate's current supervisor even though they only had budget for one hire.[/quote]

Wow, that's horrible. They have no right to that information.  [/quote]

I'm a federal manager who will not hire you without talking to your current supervisor. I don't do it for all final round applicants, just right before I give you an offer. I've been burned by people who provided their friends as references and then turned out to be nightmares who we can't fire (especially people coming from other agencies who don't get a new probation period when they start at our agency). Unlike the private sector, we can be stuck with bad employees for life, so I'm not taking chances. [/quote]

And how's that working out for you? Have you not run into the common practice in the fed gov that if you want to get rid of some one, the best way to do it is to give them a great reference and make them some one else's problem. It's way easier and quicker than initiating the two year document, performance improvement, eventual fire, and then years of litigation afterwards - as I'm sure you know.[/quote]

It's actually working out great. I'm a lawyer in  practice area where everybody knows everybody. Nobody would risk their reputation giving a bad performer a glowing reference. [/quote]

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