references before interview

skyblues87

I have a situation I have never come across before and could use someadvice. I work as an IT Manager and have been with my current employer for 6.5years.

I have seen a job advertised locally that I am interested in (much betterpay etc) and I am working on my application however I'm not in a position whereI'm desperate to leave my current job or really looking. It was just somethingthat happened to catch my eye.

Now the situation I have is that the application states references will betaken up before interview which could cause me an issue. My manager is not thekind of person who would react well to this and if he was to get a referencerequest and I didn't subsequently get the job I have no doubt life would bemade very difficult for me to the point where I would probably be pushed out ofmy current position (it's happened to others here before) and given the stateof the job market where I am based that wouldn't be a good idea.

What would you do in this situation? There is nowhere on theapplication form where you can ask for references not to be taken beforeinterview. I guess I could put something in a covering letter but that mighteither be ignored or be a mark against me.
Not sure what to do at the moment, want to apply for the jobbut don’t want to shoot myself in the foot!

dandelionclock30

I'd send them an email asking if it was o.k for them to take up the other reference first, e.g the second reference which is usually not the current employer.I would just say that I wished to be considered for the job but it would be difficult giving the current employer at the present. They will then tell you if its o.k or not. If you have to give the current place then you are in a difficult position really, if they are that bad. You would just have to decide if you want to take the risk or not.
To be honest, I've only heard of companies asking for references prior to interview in jobs where theres very strict recruitment requirements.

skyblues87

I was thinking of doing that and hoping they would hold off on asking my current employer. Bit odd really, never seen that before and I would have thought a lot of people would be a bit wary of alerting their manager to the fact they'd been applying for other positions!

RobTang

Generally speaking, asking for references before an interview is a red flag for the fact the job ad is a fake.
Although if its application is direct to the company there's possibly some really rare case where its actually needed.


No one needs to know your references before an interview, checking up on someone before you've decided they can do the job is just silly.

LittleVoice

RobTang wrote: »

Generally speaking, asking for references before an interview is a red flag for the fact the job ad is a fake.
Although if its application is direct to the company there's possibly some really rare case where its actually needed.


No one needs to know your references before an interview, checking up on someone before you've decided they can do the job is just silly.

Not that silly. If they want to move quickly to getting someone started in the job, they need to have satisfactory references so that they can offer the job unconditionally and the successful candidate can resign from their current position straight away and not have to wait for the referencing process to take its course.

RobTang

LittleVoice wrote: »

Not that silly. If they want to move quickly to getting someone started in the job, they need to have satisfactory references so that they can offer the job unconditionally and the successful candidate can resign from their current position straight away and not have to wait for the referencing process to take its course.

I still don't buy it, it would really make sense if you wanted to offer the job on the day of the interview anything longer and they could just call up reference (i.e. given at the interview).
In any case this time would be much shorter then your candidates notice period, which for higher level positions in IT can be 3 months.


Not to mention hiring people is expensive, if your snap decisions (ie moving quickly) I would assume they are desperate which does not bode well either.

[Deleted User]

Almost all NHS and LA jobs check your reference prior to interview.

Many companies requiring a quick start would do this also.

It doesn't raise any flags for me, but I would ask them if your current employer could only be approached if successful at interview.