References before final offer

[potemkin]

Still waiting

I went for an interview 3? or 4? years ago organized by Square One. Phoned 'em up afterwards as requested. 'So how did I do?' Iasked. 'We'll phone you back' they said.

Still waiting for the call from these ignorant, rude, useless people. Agent's initials were TH btw (now departed)

[Olly]

the annoying thing about them is they have quite good clients and a lot of roles....
I did a year through them at a good rate with only a mildly shaky start although i think at the end of the were part of the reason the whole contract folded.

There are no agents I would "avoid" currently, I think that would only come if invoices weren't paid, just some I treat with utter distrust. Square One are currently top of that list, or rather one of their agents is (H.O.)

Er....
P.S. Why not give the references if you're not that bothered. It's not really a biggy is it, I'd dig a bit first though.

[nomadd]

I've been d1cked around beyond belief by Square One and an agent with the initials SR. I can't be bothered going into it but I'd avoid Square One like the plague.

+1

No.

+100

Nomadd

[oliverson]

I've been d1cked around beyond belief by Square One and an agent with the initials SR. I can't be bothered going into it but I'd avoid Square One like the plague.

[Olly]

I had a lovely one from Square One like this...
From the get go the repeatedly said things as fact when they didn't actually know or were deliberatley untruthful.

Anyway...interview was complete waste of time. Surprised to hear from Square One that the client had asked the agent to run a CRB check and there were some forms to fill in.

Forms duly emailed, refs, originals of degree certs etc etc....CRB just requires proof of identity...so got suspicious.

Called client, they'd told agent not interested the day before. Called agent, "so when did client request CRB check?", "oh this morning, it's a good sign isn't it?"

[nomadd]

Agent is now saying the company has "shown great interest"...

Sorry, but that is the agent realising you haven't got the job. And then raping you for contacts before telling you the obvious in a couple of days time.

Nomadd

[darmstadt]

For the upcoming contract they said they couldn't put me forward without references (yeah right) but I quite fancied the project so I said I would see what I could dig up (they did promise not to contact them without asking me first and that they would not make any 'sales' talk!) I got back and said that I couldn't give my last project as it was government and I signed documents to that fact, the previous one to that they don't give references so I gave them a couple of guys in the USA that I had worked with and guess what...they never contacted them and I still got the contract.

[minestrone]

There is a good chance they are trying it on but a resonable chance that they are telling the truth. I would ask for an HR/Line manager contact at the client and say you will send them on. If they are genuine then I would say they will probably be OK with that. And also the client may be genuine but the most agents will not pass up the chance to get info from the references you provide.

[Mehmeh]

I would say sure, but to forward the reference details to the end client only.

No reason that the recruiter should see these IMHO.

[TheBigD]

My current gig (public sector), I had to provide references before a written offer would be sent out. Didn't realyl want to do this after reading many of the posts on here. However, I did send the references and a few days later, got my contract. I queried it with the end client and they confirmed it was there policy to check references before making a formal offer. Is your potential client local government? If it is, it may be a genuine request.

[badger7579]

The agent is trying to scare you into sending him references.

Tell him he can have them after the contract is signed.

[lje]

I think when people advise you not to give references too early it's because agents are often only after your references so that they can get the contact names of managers who they could sell their services too. It doesn't sound like that's the case for you so I'd go ahead and give them my reference details.

Having said that it sounds like they're mucking you about a bit. How serious do you think the client is?

[Ripley]

An update - just got a message from my current client that they had been contacted by the company HR people for a reference. So I must be fair to the agent - they were not blowing smoke and the insistence was on the company's part. I had been tempted to refuse to give my current client on principle prior to a formal offer, now I'm pretty pleased that I let it go.

Having said that, I think a company could put off good contractors with this insistence as it could be very awkward depending on the situation.

[Ripley]

Searching through previous threads I've seen one poster (Nomadd) state that they only provide references after interview and a final offer.

I'm in the situation where I've interviewed with the client twice for a 3 month contract. Agent is now saying the company has "shown great interest" and want references from current and prior clients, prior to making a final offer. I have been given a monetary range but negotiations won't happen until after the reference check - Agent says this is the company's standard way of doing things.

I'm just asking here - if this is a standard? I mean in terms of my current client being contacted prior to final offer? I've been doing fixed-price tender work for the last few years so I'm out of the loop in terms of on-site contracting norms.