Employment reference -- What info did you ask from the previous company?

mandragora_2

Standard questions in my field give a range of tick boxes with options (usually 1-4, 1 being 'fab!') where you grade the employee's skills across the range of skills central to the job (teaching, so in line with the list of agreed national criteria), in addition to how long/what capacity/what responsibilities type questions and also would you re-employ, if not, why not & space for additional comments.

Teaching references can depend heavily on who's giving them - some heads see 'tricky' or under-performing staff as hard to get rid of, and I have seen a head give a glowing reference (all 1's and 2's in the tick box exercise) for a teacher who was known to be poor, and informally acknowledged as such. It's frowned upon among heads, and done less often nowadays than formerly, but it still happens.

For a teacher getting a fair reference can be a nightmare, as heads can also weight references the other way if you're good and likely to be difficult to replace, so it can mean that a glowing, justly deserved reference, can be suspect, and also that a great candidate can have a worse reference than a poor one. Teachers are usually required to give their current, or most recent, head teacher, as a referee, so it can mean you're stuffed if the head is playing silly beggars.

The way that teachers deal with this is to make sure that the second reference they give is from someone sane, who doesn't have an axe to grind - so for example, another senior colleague, or a head from a previous school to act as a counterbalance.

In one instance, my old head gave a reference that was so far off the mark that I just didn't recognise myself, nor the job described as the one I'd been doing (turns out he'd read the wrong job description!). Fortunately, I saw the reference before the interviews came up and in that case, not only provided the standard second reference but my line manager at the time was also good enough to write and fax off a third reference which more accurately reflected my role and history.

So sometimes references that undergo even the most exhaustive of checks and procedures, are not worth the paper they're written on because of the politics at play. For my part, if I know the referee and value their opinion, then it will carry some weight. If I don't, it will be one thing that informs my final opinion, but not the only thing. I'm much more interested on how they perform on the day - with kids; in interview; with colleagues.

DKLS

Undervalued wrote: »

Sorry but that is not a personal reference.

You could only be in a position to comment on most of those questions because of your work. If you answer them contrary to your employer's policy you are leaving yourself wide open to disciplinary action.

A personal reference would be based on your friendship with the candidate and you could comment in any way you like about his character and activities outside of the workplace.

We have different definitions of what a personal reference is. This particular reference was received in my personal email account, addressed to me from an agency, and refers to a job where I managed the candidate a year ago. Am in a different company now, so no risk of breaching some HR policy. I like the person so gave them a reference, if I didn't I would refer the agency back to the original HR dept.

Kynthia

Undervalued wrote: »

Sorry but that is not a personal reference.

You could only be in a position to comment on most of those questions because of your work. If you answer them contrary to your employer's policy you are leaving yourself wide open to disciplinary action.

A personal reference would be based on your friendship with the candidate and you could comment in any way you like about his character and activities outside of the workplace.

Is there a legal definition of a personal reference? I've given a personal reference for someone I used to manage and only knew through work, and wouldn't say they were a friend. Although I avoided negative regarding their performance and didn't mention their attendance I obviously discussed their good personality traits and how they were at work. I checked my employer's policy and this was fine to do as long as it was clear it was a personal reference and my views were my own and not on behalf of my company.

shortcrust

If you're talking about their employment then of course it's an employment reference. Isn't that really obvious?!