YAJT: They want to check my references ... would like some feedback

[purbeast0]

So I've been going through rounds of interviews with this company for the past month. I went to my final round of interviews on Tuesday and at the end I spoke to the HR woman. She basically told me that I will hear back from them within a week, latest early next week cause someone is on vacation, and that it would either be an offer or them saying they are going to pass.

I told her that if she is to contact my references, could she please let me know before hand because my current job doesn't know I'm looking elsewhere. She was wondering if I had a previous job for references I could give her, and I do, but since this is my first "real" job out of college, in my career field, this one would definitely suit better. And my old one I had was a grocery store I worked in for like 8 years. They could tell her my work ethics and stuff about me, but nothing technical at all. She was very understanding about the situation and told me she wuold efinitely call me first if it gets to that point.

Well today she left me a message saying they want to check my references because it's gotten to that point. Now to me, that seems like it's pretty much saying they are going to give me an offer but they just want to verify my references first. However I do not have an offer out on the table just yet.

So my question is, would it be rude to call her back and tell her that I would like to know what kind of offer I would be getting before I go and tell my manager that I am looking elsewhere and he may be receiving a phone call? It would definitely look horrible on my part, if I go tell my manager I'm looking elsewhere, they call him, then make me an offer that is too low for me to accept. then I would be stuck in this awkward position at my current job.

And again, the HR woman knows my position and that it's kind of awkward for me to tell my manager this because it's my first real job out of college and the first time I've had to do this. So from your experience or point of view, do you feel that me calling her and telling her that I would like to know the ballpark offer before I go talking to my manager is a good or bad idea?

cliffs: read the 5 paragraphs above.

 

[spidey07]

???

Why would you list your current manager as a reference? That's asking for trouble.

Just let her know she can contact any of your other references but not your current boss.

and yes, it would be WAY out of line to ask for a ballpark. don't tell your boss anything.

 

[dabuddha]

I don't get the punchline.

 

[torpid]

You should never list someone as a reference unless they know you are looking for a job.

 

[hjo3]

If you're looking for a new job, you owe it to your current employer to notify them. Not doing so is pretty irresponsible.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: spidey07
???

Why would you list your current manager as a reference? That's asking for trouble.

Just let her know she can contact any of your other references but not your current boss.

and yes, it would be WAY out of line to ask for a ballpark.

well my current job is really my only professional references. it asked for 3 profesional references and 3 personal ones.

So yah, that's why I put my current manager on there. The 3 professional ones I put were my current manager, the CEO here, and also the whole engineering manager (the boss of my manager).

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: torpid
You should never list someone as a reference unless they know you are looking for a job.

true, and you should ask them if you can use them as a reference first.

 

[purbeast0]

and again guys, this is the first time i've tried to switch jobs in the professional world, so yes I'm a complete noob to this stuff.

 

[Stuxnet]

This is a complicated yet common situation. I don't think the HR woman is being as accommodating as she should be. She should be a little more understanding of your circumstances and should know how to appropriate deal with them. Standard practice - in your situation especially - would be to make you an offer (in writing) that is contingent upon a successful background check which would include contacting your current employer. That basically means "the job is yours and here are the details, but a poor background check would result in us rescinding this offer". That is SOP, so wanting to do this beforehand is a little out of the ordinary.

That said, if this is your first "real" job out of college, I would hope that your current manager would also be understanding of your situation. Surely he can't be thinking that you're going to be making your current position your lifelong career. If he knows you're wrapping up school, then he knows you're also looking for more lucrative, permanent opportunities. Hopefully he's the kind of guy that you can be open and honest with.

"Mr. Boss, I just wanted to let you know that now that I'm out of school, I've started looking for more permanent positions that are applicable to my field of study, and it's likely that you'll be contacted in the near future regarding any background checks that my future prospective employers could be conducting. Is there any reason you can think of that you wouldn't be able to provide me with a positive professional reference?"

If he's a professional, respectable man, he'll actually appreciate this little chat. Good luck.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: hjo3
If you're looking for a new job, you owe it to your current employer to notify them. Not doing so is pretty irresponsible.

Telling your employer you are looking for a job is career suicide.

HELLOOOOO unemployment line...

 

[Maximus96]

your professional references don't have to be your superiors. you could have put your co-workers or perhaps co-workers that left the company. thats what i did when i quit my first job. don't tell your boss unless you have something in hand. is it still possible for you to change your references and have them call other people besides your superiors?

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
This is a complicated yet common situation. I don't think the HR woman is being as accommodating as she should be. She should be a little more understanding of your circumstances and should know how to appropriate deal with them. Standard practice - in your situation especially - would be to make you an offer (in writing) that is contingent upon a successful background check which would include contacting your current employer. That basically means "the job is yours and here are the details, but a poor background check would result in us rescinding this offer". That is SOP, so wanting to do this beforehand is a little out of the ordinary.

That said, if this is your first "real" job out of college, I would hope that your current manager would also be understanding of your situation. Surely he can't be thinking that you're going to be making your current position your lifelong career. If he knows you're wrapping up school, then he knows you're also looking for more lucrative, permanent opportunities. Hopefully he's the kind of guy that you can be open and honest with.

"Mr. Boss, I just wanted to let you know that now that I'm out of school, I've started looking for more permanent positions that are applicable to my field of study, and it's likely that you'll be contacted in the near future regarding any background checks that my future prospective employers could be conducting. Is there any reason you can think of that you wouldn't be able to provide me with a positive professional reference?"

If he's a professional, respectable man, he'll actually appreciate this little chat. Good luck.

I'm not still in school, i'm currently at my first real job out of college. This september it will be 2 years here, so I basically have 2 years real world experience now. And in the computer science field, starting a new job with 2 years experience is a pretty big pay jump compared to gettting 2 yearly raises from an entry level position. From around he ballpark salary I will be making at the new job (pending I get it), it'll be around 20 - 30% more than I'm currently making (this is the ballpark we discussed when I first talked to the HR people at the very first phone call w/the company).

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: torpid
You should never list someone as a reference unless they know you are looking for a job.

true, and you should ask them if you can use them as a reference first.

Yes, that too. It's bad to be blind-sided by a call asking for a reference when you didn't know the person was possibly leaving or going to use you as a reference. Asking them in advance helps them prepare mentally for it so they don't just say whatever comes to mind the instant they are asked about you.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Maximus96
your professional references don't have to be your superiors. you could have put your co-workers or perhaps co-workers that left the company. thats what i did when i quit my first job. don't tell your boss unless you have something in hand. is it still possible for you to change your references and have them call other people besides your superiors?

Yes it is still possible for me to do that. For some reason I always assumed it would be your supervisors. She even told me she would call the manager at the grocery store I worked in for 8 years if that is one I wanted her to call, and I'm really good friends with that guy so it would be pretty good too.

If I can have them call co-workers, or ex co-workers, then yes that may be something I will also consider.

Again, I figured references were always supervisors or such.

<--noob to this

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Mwilding

Originally posted by: hjo3
If you're looking for a new job, you owe it to your current employer to notify them. Not doing so is pretty irresponsible.

Telling your employer you are looking for a job is career suicide.

HELLOOOOO unemployment line...

yah that's what I had thought too, which is the reason I did not mention it at all to them.

 

[torpid]

You don't want to list supervisors unless they have worked with you enough to give useful information. You want to list people who have worked with you on a regular basis who will be able to honestly describe what you are like as a worker. If you just list someone important at the company who barely knows your name, you never know what will happen. Of course, you are already at the point where they are about to extend an offer so it may be moot in this case, but some employers check your references earlier in the process.

 

[ailetlvo]

I'd try and find another professional reference that I could use. Scour and scour until you're certain there's no one else left.

At that point, it's time for you to research some stuff. I'm assuming you know the title of the position at the new company, so try and search online to see how much that position makes, and compare it to the prestige/stature of the company. Of course, this is all terribly ballpark, but you might be able to get an idea on how much they will pay you, thus enabling you to see whether it's worth leaving or not.

If you actually do all that, which you won't, but if you do you might have a better idea on which job you prefer, and if you go for the new one then you can tell your boss about the reference and not worry that you'll get low-balled by the new company.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: ailetlvo
I'd try and find another professional reference that I could use. Scour and scour until you're certain there's no one else left.

At that point, it's time for you to research some stuff. I'm assuming you know the title of the position at the new company, so try and search online to see how much that position makes, and compare it to the prestige/stature of the company. Of course, this is all terribly ballpark, but you might be able to get an idea on how much they will pay you, thus enabling you to see whether it's worth leaving or not.

If you actually do all that, which you won't, but if you do you might have a better idea on which job you prefer, and if you go for the new one then you can tell your boss about the reference and not worry that you'll get low-balled by the new company.

Eh i think you misread something. When I talked to the HR person upon the first phone interview, a number in $$ was put out there, and I said I was looking for around that and they said okay.

torpid, the job I'm looking for is going to be a software engineering positon. I definitely have supervisors from previous jobs that I have worked with 5+ years that I could put on there, however that job they supervised me for was not technical at all - it was at a grocery store.

would putting them down as professional references be sufficient enough? or not due to it not being technical at all?

 

[torpid]

I would try to get some peer coworkers you can trust on there (after asking, of course) and not worry about your current supervisors. That is what I did in the past when I didn't want my employer to know I was looking. It was also for a 2nd job.

 

[cavingjan]

Always ask permission first for a reference. If you worked for me, you probably would've lost your prospective job simply due to the fact that our parent company will not allow us to say anything more than you worked for us. Which is not the point of a reference. It is ok to be moving on to a new job. It is common courtesy to tell your boss that you are looking. If the company is a decent and reputable one, it will not effect your current employment or pay raises at all. New job searches (at least when you are not miserable at your current job) can take a long time as YOU can be more selective on your future employer.

The same goes for refernces for security clearances.

 

[xchangx]

First of all, do not call outright and ask them to give you an offer before they contact your references.

If I were looking to hire you and there were other candidates, I'd pass.

Just kndly ask her not to contact your current employer. Give her another reference.

 

[xrax]

professors work as references.