6th July 2005, 11:23 AM
What Voice of Reason said.
Since the early 90s I have always included two referees on my CV when cold-calling because that was what I was taught to do as good practice. I cannot recall any job adverts that did not ask for two referees from that time onwards. Admittedly, I got my first couple of jobs without referees but that was about a gazillion years ago. As was said in an earlier post, a CV does not tell you everything and it is safest for the employer to take up references. Of course, as someone who has had to do recruitment, I have received glowing references for some real tossers and I would not trust a reference from certain people now. This is just annoying and can be cause for legal action against the referee. On the other hand, a poor reference can be cause for legal action against the referee by the applicant. So you can't win. Some companies now have a policy of refusing to give references for any of their staff and get around it that way.
Anyway, two referees is not a new trend. References are not considered a guarantee; they are an indicator. If you need referees, ask your previous employer if you can use them as a referee before you leave them. The new employer has every right to approach your current employer anyway so you might as well use them as a referee. All it takes is a phone call to the relevant people. Regarding interviews, I actually had an interview for a digging job back in 1994 so they are not out of the question.
On a side note, if you do not get a job that you have applied for, you can query this and the company must prove that you have been given a fair chance at getting the job. By this I mean that they must prove that the person(s) they employed scored better against the job specification than you. Employment law is fun.
Eggbasket
There's nothing like a Dane ...
Since the early 90s I have always included two referees on my CV when cold-calling because that was what I was taught to do as good practice. I cannot recall any job adverts that did not ask for two referees from that time onwards. Admittedly, I got my first couple of jobs without referees but that was about a gazillion years ago. As was said in an earlier post, a CV does not tell you everything and it is safest for the employer to take up references. Of course, as someone who has had to do recruitment, I have received glowing references for some real tossers and I would not trust a reference from certain people now. This is just annoying and can be cause for legal action against the referee. On the other hand, a poor reference can be cause for legal action against the referee by the applicant. So you can't win. Some companies now have a policy of refusing to give references for any of their staff and get around it that way.
Anyway, two referees is not a new trend. References are not considered a guarantee; they are an indicator. If you need referees, ask your previous employer if you can use them as a referee before you leave them. The new employer has every right to approach your current employer anyway so you might as well use them as a referee. All it takes is a phone call to the relevant people. Regarding interviews, I actually had an interview for a digging job back in 1994 so they are not out of the question.
On a side note, if you do not get a job that you have applied for, you can query this and the company must prove that you have been given a fair chance at getting the job. By this I mean that they must prove that the person(s) they employed scored better against the job specification than you. Employment law is fun.
Eggbasket
There's nothing like a Dane ...