Verification? Who needs that?
Aug. 19th, 2019 08:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
callunavThe funny thing about the job I accepted last week, just to follow up, is that I think they dropped the ball on checking my references.
A lot of places do what I said this one was doing: check references at the same time as doing a criminal background check (CORI) and any other official checks the job requires. (In IHT, they do a driving record check, since you're driving around to different people's homes all day. This one asks for a urine screen, which I would object to, I think, if I weren't in a state where pot is legal. I don't actually use pot - I disliked the effect the one time I tried it - but it's the principle of the thing.) This makes sense from their point of view because reference checks are time-consuming and annoying, so why go through them for someone who isn't serious?
However, no one has actually asked me for my references, and when I specifically asked 'So, is the offer contingent on anything besides the CORI and the urine?' they said that was all.
So maybe--
I can't imagine that reference checks aren't supposed to be involved somehow. I always think about it as a way to find out if this person actually is desirable: "Hey, is she any good at the work? Does she come in on time and complete tasks properly? Is she nice to work with? What was the biggest problem you had with her?" But it was recently borne upon me that it is, more basically, a chance to verify that some things on the resume are actually true, and I haven't just made up a plausible work history out of whole cloth. And even if someone is very enthusiastic, it seems to me that that last should be a hoop they jump through.
I don't mind for myself. I know my resume is accurate and that the people I would have given as references would have said at least fairly nice things. But it is a slightly peculiar experience, nonetheless. Also, of course, I have the lurking fear that I'll be just about to start the job when suddenly everything will screech to a halt while they realize they have to check them anyway.
A lot of places do what I said this one was doing: check references at the same time as doing a criminal background check (CORI) and any other official checks the job requires. (In IHT, they do a driving record check, since you're driving around to different people's homes all day. This one asks for a urine screen, which I would object to, I think, if I weren't in a state where pot is legal. I don't actually use pot - I disliked the effect the one time I tried it - but it's the principle of the thing.) This makes sense from their point of view because reference checks are time-consuming and annoying, so why go through them for someone who isn't serious?
However, no one has actually asked me for my references, and when I specifically asked 'So, is the offer contingent on anything besides the CORI and the urine?' they said that was all.
So maybe--
- the person who interviewed me was supposed to check my references herself, and didn't because she was just that enthusiastic (flattering, though vaguely worrisome as far as professionalism is concerned)
- the person who interviewed me didn't because, although she has been there for 3 months, I am her first actual hire and in her last workplace they did checks the way I described above, so she just assumed it and said 'Hey, offer her the job,' to HR, and they just assumed she'd already checked the references already.
I can't imagine that reference checks aren't supposed to be involved somehow. I always think about it as a way to find out if this person actually is desirable: "Hey, is she any good at the work? Does she come in on time and complete tasks properly? Is she nice to work with? What was the biggest problem you had with her?" But it was recently borne upon me that it is, more basically, a chance to verify that some things on the resume are actually true, and I haven't just made up a plausible work history out of whole cloth. And even if someone is very enthusiastic, it seems to me that that last should be a hoop they jump through.
I don't mind for myself. I know my resume is accurate and that the people I would have given as references would have said at least fairly nice things. But it is a slightly peculiar experience, nonetheless. Also, of course, I have the lurking fear that I'll be just about to start the job when suddenly everything will screech to a halt while they realize they have to check them anyway.