D.C. Area Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
WWYD: Being a Reference - UPDATED
I got a call from a staffing agency asking me to be a reference for a former co-worker. He never asked me to be a reference, and did not tell me he shared my name and number with anyone. I'm annoyed.
I like him personally, but I thought he wasn't great at his job. I pushed the call off by telling the woman we were supposed to refer these calls to HR, but she has subsequently called back, and I got an email from the former co-worker as well.
What do you do when asked to serve as a reference for someone who didn't do great work? His work wasn't disastrous by any means, but I thought he was lazy, and he had a terrible attitude by the end, exacerbated by issues he had with his direct supervisor.
Re: WWYD: Being a Reference - UPDATED
You have to be really careful when giving a professional reference. Is it possible to tell him that you would prefer to support him with a personal reference rather than a professional one?
I managed a team of 50-60 employees prior to coming down here, and in my business there was so much turnover, I was getting reference calls weekly. My company's policy, thankfully, was that we would literally get fired for giving any sort of professional reference, and only HR was able to give a professional reference, and even that they would only state whether the candidate was eligible for rehire or ineligible for rehire. Their had been a lawsuit several years back that an employee who had be justifiably fired had alleged that he had not gotten a job, despite several glowing references, based on a reference that a department manager (not HR) had given. The company chose to settle the suit - though I have no idea for how much, I don't think it was much.
Anyway, I think it would be one thing if you thought that this guy was a catch that the hiring company couldn't live without. It's pretty clear that that isn't the case, so I'd avoid it. Let him know if he contacts you again that you'd be happy to give a personal reference, but that any professional references need to be handled through HR.
I'd just say that it is company policy that you cannot comment on personnel issues and refer the person to HR to confirm dates of employment. If you don't feel comfortable saying "company policy" say "policy.' The person asking will infer "company" but you can mean "personal."
ETA: I would kindly, but firmly tell your former co-worker that unfortunately you do not feel comfortable serving as a reference. Don't go into details but make it clear that it's not OK. I always ask first - although now I have a few standing references who I just let know when I've applied for a new job so they're not surprised of they get a call.
If you don't feel comfortable being a reference, let this guy know and as others said, refer to HR. Me personally, I would tell the truth about his work.
I did some work in recruiting and vividly remember calling one guy's reference, it was his former co-worker, who said "Mike is a great guy...would I go out for a beer with him after work? Yes! Would I want him working for me? No!" - the guy did not get hired.
Many companies have policies against giving negative reference, so I would be very careful about giving a negative reference.
After seeking the advice of a million people and spending way too much time stressing about this, I decided I was comfortable saying that as I wasn't his supervisor and didn't work in his department, I really did not have the knowledge to speak about his work and its quality. I could, however, say that in the small way that my job intersected with his I found him to be a friendly and helpful colleague.
In the meantime, in the space of about 90 minutes, my former co-worker emailed me 4 times at 3 different email addresses and called me 6 times, at one point calling me every 10 minutes.
Hello....stalker?
Perhaps you can call back the potential employer and add "persistent" to the list.
yikes!
i have an old co-worker who i really like as a person but sincerely hope never asks me to be a reference. she is talented but her lack of timeliness and professionalism would make it hard to give a glowing review.