Asked to provide a reference for a friend

Undervalued

Penguin_ said:

Our company policy when asked for a reference is to simply confirm the following:

Name
Job Title
Date employed from (& to if necessary)

That is all we provide.

It may be. However whilst fairly common that policy is far from universal. 

ohreallƳ

Tabieth said:

You can’t predict the future so, unless you lie / mislead, you’ll be fine. 

Past performance is an extremely strong indicator of future performance.

Op, let HR provide the reference, if you are keen on contributing do so on the basis that your input is that of personal testament.

General_Grant

I was interested in the potential employer requesting two references in respect of the current employment - one from the actual employer (presumably through HR) and also from a work colleague. 

I've not come across that before.  If it was actually specifically requested to be from a work colleague rather than a personal reference which might happen to also be a colleague, then that seems a new approach.

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

ohreallƳ said:

Tabieth said:

You can’t predict the future so, unless you lie / mislead, you’ll be fine. 

Past performance is an extremely strong indicator of future performance.

Op, let HR provide the reference, if you are keen on contributing do so on the basis that your input is that of personal testament.

I disagree withe first part of your response.
People have to be given a chance to move forward.
People can and do change over time.
In many cases a new role in a different organisation can work wonders.

lincroft1710

Ordinary_Yet_Unique said:

ohreallƳ said:

Tabieth said:

You can’t predict the future so, unless you lie / mislead, you’ll be fine. 

Past performance is an extremely strong indicator of future performance.

Op, let HR provide the reference, if you are keen on contributing do so on the basis that your input is that of personal testament.

I disagree withe first part of your response.
People have to be given a chance to move forward.
People can and do change over time.
In many cases a new role in a different organisation can work wonders.

I disagree with the second part of your response.

No right in employment law that people have to be given a chance to move forward

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

lincroft1710 said:

Ordinary_Yet_Unique said:

ohreallƳ said:

Tabieth said:

You can’t predict the future so, unless you lie / mislead, you’ll be fine. 

Past performance is an extremely strong indicator of future performance.

Op, let HR provide the reference, if you are keen on contributing do so on the basis that your input is that of personal testament.

I disagree withe first part of your response.
People have to be given a chance to move forward.
People can and do change over time.
In many cases a new role in a different organisation can work wonders.

I disagree with the second part of your response.

No right in employment law that people have to be given a chance to move forward

Which demonstrates how inhumane the law can be.

lincroft1710

Ordinary_Yet_Unique said:

lincroft1710 said:

Ordinary_Yet_Unique said:

ohreallƳ said:

Tabieth said:

You can’t predict the future so, unless you lie / mislead, you’ll be fine. 

Past performance is an extremely strong indicator of future performance.

Op, let HR provide the reference, if you are keen on contributing do so on the basis that your input is that of personal testament.

I disagree withe first part of your response.
People have to be given a chance to move forward.
People can and do change over time.
In many cases a new role in a different organisation can work wonders.

I disagree with the second part of your response.

No right in employment law that people have to be given a chance to move forward

Which demonstrates how inhumane the law can be.

I don't think there not being a law which says people have to be given a chance to move forward is "inhumane".

ohreallƳ

Ordinary_Yet_Unique said:

ohreallƳ said:

Tabieth said:

You can’t predict the future so, unless you lie / mislead, you’ll be fine. 

Past performance is an extremely strong indicator of future performance.

Op, let HR provide the reference, if you are keen on contributing do so on the basis that your input is that of personal testament.

I disagree withe first part of your response.
People have to be given a chance to move forward.
People can and do change over time.
In many cases a new role in a different organisation can work wonders.

That's ok to disagree.  

I come from decades of both managing a dept (NHS) and then becoming a trades union officer, so having been involved on both sides, so to speak, I am a firm believer in looking at past behaviours.  

Individuals may change but I've not encountered many.