Employee Screening Checks

[d000hg]

You have worked for the last ten years for your company surely.

Where your company sends you as a consultant is irrelevant for references surely ????

I think his permie employer is more interested in real life.

[KentPhilip]

And you can often blag references if you want to.

For example a few years ago, needing to cover for a few months of <cough> something that I better not go into </cough> I just googled "leisure activities in Canada" and found a canoe school just outside Vancouver, together with the names of the instructors.

I emailed them:

Hi, it's Kent here. I had a very nice time doing the canoe course with you this summer, but after going south to the states I'm back in good old Great Britain, and looking for a job.
Not sure if you remember me too well since the courses were quite full weren't they?
Since I need to provide an account of what I've been doing over the summer to a new employer, I wonder whether you would be kind enough to email a reference to confirm the dates I was training with you?

(These were from 6th June to 24th August 2009)

Many thanks, Philip

Not wanting to upset a potential future client, they emailed the reference through, saying they "think they could remember me" lol.


Didn't get the job..

[amcdonald]

You have worked for the last ten years for your company surely.

Where your company sends you as a consultant is irrelevant for references surely ????

[Bunk]

Did you think about which forum you should post this question?

To be fair, he doesn't exactly sound 'professional' does he?

[BrilloPad]

Okay Mr Troll, I will bite.

Its none of their business what business relationships your company entered into. Just give references for your limited or your umbrella.

[Dominic Connor]

The best way to describe pre-employment screening is £130

That's how much they charge, taking a profit.

So how thorough do you think these things are ?

They do look for "gaps", policy varies from firm to firm, but 2 months between contracts/jobs requires an explanation. It is a very box ticking mentality.

As long as you can get them or their agents to say "x worked here form y to z", then usually there is no problem.

This stupid process obviously misses the bad contractor who keeps being let go, but gives grief to a good one who has a gap because the market for his skills went soft.

At one large bank, they screwed me and the contractor around for a couple of weeks, such that they went over the two month "gap" and their dimwit checkers were saying "we can't approve her since we have no documentation for what she's been doing for the last two months".

Eventually we agreed that I in my official capacity as a Headhunter of the City Of London, would send an email from my work address that certified that she'd been looking for work.

Apparently the checkers were impressed by my "official status", for some strange reason, few people are.

[Paddy]

Hi all,

I've been accepted for a permanent job, subject to satisfactory references. I have worked for the last 10 years as a contractor and have had some very short contracts, most of which I have walked away from and a few I have been politely asked to leave.
These contracts are not on my cv, but I am worried now that this will all come out when the employer's agent (another company which specialises in employee screening), performs a check on me.
As a contractor, would I be recorded on company's HR databases? (Most of my work has been through agencies).
Can I get away with omitting these jobs if I am asked to provide my work history or is my work history traceable through some all-encompassing database or whatever?

Did you think about which forum you should post this question?

[mudskipper]

So who's worked with someone really crap called Martin? This thread needs a poll!

Or whose clientCo is just taking on an ex-contractor called Martin.

[centurian]

and a few I have been politely asked to leave.

Once might be.... well a one-off... but "a few"

[alluvial]

Like this?

or did you mean flak?

Bugger
I blame Android's predictive text.

[TheFaQQer]

You do realise that you've posted this on general and should get ready for some serious flack don't you?

Like this?

or did you mean flak?

[alluvial]

Bloody hell, walked away from most of them?
You do realise that you've posted this on general and should get ready for some serious flack don't you?

However, I seriously doubt that there is any sort of database outside of the government that they can access. So long as you can explain the gaps and can prove you weren't in gaol then you'll probably be okay.

Until you walk in and find that there are a load of people working there that you've pissed off in the past and you get hauled up to HR to explain your cv.

[scooterscot]

The truth will out, start clean and worry not.

[Martin12]

Hi all,

I've been accepted for a permanent job, subject to satisfactory references. I have worked for the last 10 years as a contractor and have had some very short contracts, most of which I have walked away from and a few I have been politely asked to leave.
These contracts are not on my cv, but I am worried now that this will all come out when the employer's agent (another company which specialises in employee screening), performs a check on me.
As a contractor, would I be recorded on company's HR databases? (Most of my work has been through agencies).
Can I get away with omitting these jobs if I am asked to provide my work history or is my work history traceable through some all-encompassing database or whatever?