References before interview

[cojak]

If an agent asks you for references before an interview he is fishing for leads and will pi** off any former boss whos contact details you provide as they will be hounded forever more by pimps calling of the slim chance that they may get a drink out of it. Much less chance of being reemployed by a former client if you do this.

If the pimp tells you that he needs the references to verify your identity re the 2003 law etc, then a copy of your passport certified by a brief is better than anything else that I can think of for this purpose and is better than a verbal reference with someone that may have never met you or has vague recollections of you working under them for, or better still your mate from down the pub who has even less of a recollection of you after last Friday night!

Like any personal data (and you may potentially be giving someone elses personal details without their prior consent), I always question for what purpose it will be used for and who will receive it. If I am not satisfied that the pimp is being straight with me, then a call to said client at said company will usually suffice in confirming if the pimp has a genuine job offer or is fishing at my expense (as is usually the case 99.999% of the time). If the pimp cant tell you who he will be sending your reference details then...well if he doesn't know then there is no job offer.

WHS with bells on...

Welcome pzz76077: you'll make afine member of the team!

[DodgyAgent]

Well to be fair, I spoke to one of my referees and he said he didn't feel a sales pitch at all. Agent was more interested in finding out if I had definitely worked with a certain technology.

You all misunderstand me, believe me I have told many an agent to piss off in the past but that was when I knew nothing about the the job or client. On this occasion I do.

Another one

[DodgyAgent]

Hiss orf I`d rather be a rent boy to larger dudes. Seriuously I was amazed also hence why I asked my referees to give me feedback on any contact with the agent. maybe the agent was a trainee and wasntyet fully trained

Nonsense. Agents are human () and are past masters at following the line of least resistance. (lazy in one word). They are not going waste time following up references on Cvs unless they know that the client is going to at least interview the candidate. If I found any of my guys wasting time doing this (unless they are using the references to get leads!) I would fire them on the spot.

Just imagine you have four good CVs for a job that is open to a couple of other agencies. You dont submit them until the references have been checked. You then have to chase up eight managers some of who may be on voicemail or on holiday or just plain dont want to talk to you.

By the time the references are checked the other agency has got their CVs in arranged the interviews made the placement and are chasing up only two references.

You have to be an agent or a one in a million exception.

[SuperZ]

Agent posting alert

Hiss orf I`d rather be a rent boy to larger dudes. Seriuously I was amazed also hence why I asked my referees to give me feedback on any contact with the agent. maybe the agent was a trainee and wasntyet fully trained

[pzz76077]

No need to give references before job offer

If an agent asks you for references before an interview he is fishing for leads and will pi** off any former boss whos contact details you provide as they will be hounded forever more by pimps calling of the slim chance that they may get a drink out of it. Much less chance of being reemployed by a former client if you do this.

If the pimp tells you that he needs the references to verify your identity re the 2003 law etc, then a copy of your passport certified by a brief is better than anything else that I can think of for this purpose and is better than a verbal reference with someone that may have never met you or has vague recollections of you working under them for, or better still your mate from down the pub who has even less of a recollection of you after last Friday night!

Like any personal data (and you may potentially be giving someone elses personal details without their prior consent), I always question for what purpose it will be used for and who will receive it. If I am not satisfied that the pimp is being straight with me, then a call to said client at said company will usually suffice in confirming if the pimp has a genuine job offer or is fishing at my expense (as is usually the case 99.999% of the time). If the pimp cant tell you who he will be sending your reference details then...well if he doesn't know then there is no job offer.

[SlimRick]

Might I suggest a couple of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/O2-Pay-As-You-...3A1%7C294%3A50

[NadJ]

Well to be fair, I spoke to one of my referees and he said he didn't feel a sales pitch at all. Agent was more interested in finding out if I had definitely worked with a certain technology.

You all misunderstand me, believe me I have told many an agent to piss off in the past but that was when I knew nothing about the the job or client. On this occasion I do.

[Not So Wise]

How things are meant to be:
To comply with the Employment Agency Regulations 2003 (the whole Opt in/out thing) agency should check your identity and references before submitting your CV to client

How things are: 99.999% of the time if agency asks for references at any time it is generally a blag to get potential sales leads

[Turion]

I once had this and actually allowed it. Both referees were treated well apart from a final 'please consider us if you need candidates in the future'. The recruiter later came through and offered me two interviews, one at the company he inititially mentioned as the reason he needed the references up front so it was cosha after all

Agent posting alert

[SuperZ]

I once had this and actually allowed it. Both referees were treated well apart from a final 'please consider us if you need candidates in the future'. The recruiter later came through and offered me two interviews, one at the company he inititially mentioned as the reason he needed the references up front so it was cosha after all

[DimPrawn]

[Turion]

You've let yourself be blagged by a scumdog agent

Ask yourself - why does this contract need refs b4 your CV is even put forward. The client may not even be interested in your CV. Even in permie jobs, no refs are taken before offer made and accepted.

There is no job for you. You just gave two leads for nothing.

[DimPrawn]

Are you blind? See sticky above this post.

[NadJ]

I know that traditionally when you hear an agent say they require references prior to any interview, they are talking out of their ass but anybody here have experience of an occasion where they thought that this was a genuine request to satisfy some internal policy?

An agent has been in touch recently, given me lots of information regarding a job and even named the client but says he cannot proceed until he has two references from previous two contracts. I gave him the details but one of my referees is being a lazy barsteward right now and not getting back....as such no interview for over a week!