Former Co-Workers Could Be Sabotaging Your Interview

Jack Kelly wrote an article for Forbes where he pointed out, “You can get sabotaged when applying for a new job. There have been many instances when a job hunter with all the right skill sets and experiences was knocked out of contention due to disparaging comments made by former employees.

Recruiters refer to this as a “back-door” reference. On an unofficial basis, behind the scenes and without the candidate’s knowledge, former colleagues get Bad reference wind that a person is interviewing and go out of their way to deliver unflattering opinions about the person to people at the new company.

Now, human resources, the hiring manager or other executives at the company are placed in an awkward position. They’ve received an unsolicited negative reference citing issues of the person not being a team player; they botched a big deal; are difficult to work with or some other action that raises red flags.

Some managers may elect to halt the interviewing process, offering vague comments to the candidate that they are going in a different direction, placing the role on pause or have already isolated a person for the job.”

He asked a number of us whether we were seeing this.

I replied:

Heck, yeah, this happens and should happen. If someone is seen by an existing employee as a problem hire, there is no difference (except time saved) between doing the entire interview process and THEN checking a reference and finding this out. It is why people need to conduct themselves in a world-class manner in all their interactions with people because if you offend or hurt someone a bad reference will show up. The only difference is this one occurs without you interviewing. To me, “stabbed in the back” is too strong a statement. After all, in my experience, I have seen people told to not use someone as a reference and then they apply to a job at a firm where this bad reference exists.

Ruth Sternberg replied to my message, “Jeff, I get what you’re saying here, but one must consider the source when checking anything out – whether it’s a rumor about a corporate takeover or someone’s behavior in a workplace.

And we also must consider, IMO, that people have all kinds of personalities. There’s simply no way to correct for every possibility. What if a co-worker just doesn’t like you for some unspecified reason? What if they’re jealous of your advancement? Ya gotta use some common sense, if such a thing exists.”

To which I responded:

I hear you. If an employer is doing a back door reference, usually it is to an employee in good standing whom they trust. If they waited until the end of the process, the same result would occur with too much time wasted. If they waited until the process began and an interviewer asked, “So. Ruth/Jeff work here. If we asked her/him about you, what might they say,” it is also going to wind up being a dead issue because if the person was unaware and said, “I think they will give me a great reference,” and we didn’t, they’ll be rejected. If they are aware of a bad reference being forthcoming, there is a 1% chance they will overlook it and accept what “the outsider” says. Worse yet, would this person join knowing that someone spoke ill of him/her and, if they did, would the source of the bad reference stay knowing they were ignored?

ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us

He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.

I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.

Website: w ww.TheBigGameHunter.us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/T heBigGameHunter

Courses: www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses

Main YouTube: www.JobSearchTV.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/j effaltman

Facebook: http://facebook.com/n obscoachingadvice

Podcast: anchor.fm/nobsjobsearchadviceradio

Video Podcast: Spotify

Twitter: http://twitter.com/j effaltmancoach

Medium: jeffaltmancoach.medium.com

Resume & LinkedIn Profile critiques www.TheBigGameHunter.us/critiques

My courses are available on Skillshare

CareerFitter offers a free test and if you want career recommendations, upgrade to the paid version https://www.TheBigGameHunter.us/career

We grant permission for this post and others to be used on your website as long as a backlink is included to www.TheBigGameHunter.us and notice is provided that it is provided by Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter as an author or creator.

Former Co-Workers Could Be Sabotaging Your Interview