Agencies asking for referees on initial contact

[Zippy]

No need for rudeness, as you say it's their job.

No, but I do recommend brusque. It tends to sort the men from the PPI salesmen.

[Contreras]

They need someone's CV to find a company name to search for someone on LinkedIn?

Yes. Particularly if it's a small company they would have not come across before. When an agent is reviewing CVs they're not just matching candidates to roles. That's partly why I don't have client co. names on my CV.

[jmo21]

Nope. Just the name of the company. He did give me an endorsement on linked-in, but it wasn't a big company so wouldn't have been hard to track him down anyway.

And they asked about you? That is pretty bad!

[jmo21]

If you put something like "did x for the finance director" or "reported to the finance director" and you mention the company name, it's not hard to google the company or find the company on linkedin then obtain the name of the finance director.

They need someone's CV to find a company name to search for someone on LinkedIn?

[SarahL2012]

his name was on your CV??!?

Nope. Just the name of the company. He did give me an endorsement on linked-in, but it wasn't a big company so wouldn't have been hard to track him down anyway.

[Support Monkey]

I politely advise them that i will be happy to give them my references after i have been for the interview, why would they need them before??

[SueEllen]

his name was on your CV??!?

If you put something like "did x for the finance director" or "reported to the finance director" and you mention the company name, it's not hard to google the company or find the company on linkedin then obtain the name of the finance director.

[jmo21]

I've had agencies get in touch with some of my clients even without permission. I only found out because the finance director at one of the companies sent me an email saying "given how many calls I've had to give you a reference recently you must be really busy".

I wasn't busy, I was between contracts and chasing down work - the agencies must have just googled his number when my CV landed in their inbox.

his name was on your CV??!?

[SarahL2012]

I've had agencies get in touch with some of my clients even without permission. I only found out because the finance director at one of the companies sent me an email saying "given how many calls I've had to give you a reference recently you must be really busy".

I wasn't busy, I was between contracts and chasing down work - the agencies must have just googled his number when my CV landed in their inbox.

[cojak]

No need for rudeness, as you say it's their job.

Just tell them you don't give references before interview.

[SilverSmith]

Live & learn quite how low they can go.

Thanks for that, I guess I've been lucky to date. As it is regular bad practice I will now consider being a good deal ruder to them.

The odd thing is that I have suddenly been hit by a load of them in the last fortnight (or so).

[cojak]

Not new (and not that low either, they can get much worse than that).

http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...eferences.html

[SilverSmith]

Hi,

Has anyone else noticed a massive increase in the number of agencies basically just pumping available contractors for their referee details? Is it a new trend or just something I've been lucky to avoid before? Of course I'm happy to give my references once I have a real prospect (after at least one interview) but I must have had five calls this week (and more last week) where they work at establishing a relationship (usually with promises of lots of jobs on the books or perhaps one that's a very good skill-fit, location & rate) then, once you have spent some time talking about your skills and requirements they casually mention that their systems (or perhaps the terms of their agreement with the client) need them to enter names for referees. Just names of course, no contact details (as if they didn't already have your CV with the company names on it!). As soon as you refuse (politely explaining that your referees are important to you and you do not wish them to be called unnecessarily) they get off the line as quickly as possible, usually with a grumpy "Then we won't put your CV forward". It's pretty obvious the jobs do not exist and all they want is names to cold call.

As far as I am concerned this is a new low in agent behaviour. I wish it would stop but my main concern is that it might be a reflection of hard times out there for agencies (not that I shed any tears for them but it suggests hard times for us too).

Any views?