When an employer checks a job applicant's employment history, do they just have someone call a former employer and say, 'did so and so work there, and if so, what was his/her title and dates of employment?" is this usually done over the phone or is the information requested some other way?

I thought pehaps someone on POL would know about this.

TIA!

E

I'd like to know how long they keep the info. No point in putting an old job on a resume after a certain period.

That's the basics of it, yeah. It can be done with a phone call. Anything more has to be considered as a reference rather than a verification.

Well, applications usually tell you how many years' employment history you have to list. It's usually at least the last 10 years, or sometimes, like, your last three employers.



They're usually verified by phone and little more than dates of employment, because people have sued successfully when an employer of, say, 10 years ago, has something bad to say about you, preventing you from being hired in the present, when maybe whatever problem you were having has been resolved in the meantime.



Some law firms also check your criminal history and your credit (the one I work for does).

Someone told me that employers are allowed to say whether or not they would ever rehire you.

A few years back, someone called trying to find someone to talk to in reference to one of my old bosses.

Most of the people that knew him had moved on to other jobs. I told the lady that most of the people that new him had moved on.

Then she asked me a few questions, saying it would be a different kind of interview since there was no one else there that could answer her questions. So it was a reverse check, with me, the employee answering the questions about him as a boss.

I gave him a good review. He was a very nice boss.

Thanks everyone for your replies. Scentsablyurs, I have heard this is being done more and more on purpose - asking for references from supervisees and co-workers (not just from supervisors) - very often you get a VERY different picture if you talk to someone that person supervised (IF the supervisee is willing to talk - but then refusing to answer such questions says a lot without saying anything, y'know?)

You make yourself liable if you give a reference like that. We're not allowed, at my job. Anyone calling for a reference gets referred to Personnel.

With such a policy, the good people go unnamed while the bad eggs move on to torment new coworkers. It makes no sense to me why my company won't give anyone a GOOD reference. They discourage letters of recommendation, too.

where i've worked, the official policy was always to refer calls to HR. HR could only say when you worked there and what you did. they might have been able to say whether there was something that would preclude you from being rehired - but they couldn't be specific.

on the other hand, at one job, we would overhear our boss give terrible "reviews" of former employees to potential employers. she wasn't supposed to, but that didn't stop her. she's one of those for whom nothing and no one is ever good enough.

as a manager, i've given only the basic information about former employees.

Some companies, especially government agencies, have rules about how much information can be given by phone. Generally, they can verify employment by giving the dates of employment, title, and salary. They will usually not give information regarding performance. In that case the person doing the background check can request in writing a copy of the person's personnel file. I'm doing reference checks right now for a County Administrator position and I am having no trouble obtaining the information we need -then again, these folks were listed as personal and professional references. There are laws however that prevent a past-employer from saying negative things about an ex employee that could lead to that person not obtaining employment.

Irinadax, you can get salary info too? Just by making a phone call? This is always with the employees permission, is that right? I thought the only info that could be given out w/o permission was the fact of employment, title and dates of employment.

Does this mean anyone can call a past employer of mine (or anyone else's) and find out how much they made? Please tell me this requires the applicant's written permission!

Ellen, I've worked as a researcher in an executive search firm. It was common practice for the recruiters to ask the applicant what their current salary is, and that would be confirmed as the recruitment process went on. I don't think there was ever a case of cold-calling the HR department and asking how much someone made, but something more along the lines of 'can you verify that Ms. Weezil's salary was approximately $85k plus bonuses?' would be asked.