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: TempNet Articles :
Back-Door Referrals... It's Where the Truth Lies
Author: Gregg Dourgarian
Date: 27 Apr 2006
Back-Door Referrals, It’s Where the Truth Lies
By Gregg Dourgarian
President and CEO, TempWorks Software
Front-door referrals rarely serve any use. "Yup, I checked his
references," says the HR Manager. This is a sure path to employee hell.
We dodged a bullet recently when after getting glowing front-door
references, we dug deeper and found a back-door reference that tipped
us off to a likely problem.
Front-door referrals also serve little use in high technology markets
like software. At TempWorks, we get requests for referrals all the
time. Who would give out a negative referral? Actually, I interviewed a
bright sales person once who suggested responding to referral requests
from prospects by offering either a positive or a negative referral. He
maintained that doing so establishes the sales person as a true partner
helping the prospect out with due diligence. We courted this sales
person too slowly, and he took another job - I'm curious if anyone has
ever tried his technique.
Front-door employee referrals have grown even more useless over the
years as employers have learned the hard way not to fess up on the
weaknesses of former employees. This has led to some clever
sleight-of-tongue by enterprising HR managers responding to reference
checks:
For the office drunk:
"I feel his real talent was wasted here."
"We generally found him loaded with work to do."
"Every hour with him was a happy hour."
For an employee who is not worth further consideration as a job candidate:
"I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment."
"All in all, I cannot say enough good things about this candidate or recommend him too highly."
For a dishonest employee:
"Her true ability was deceiving."
"He's an unbelievable worker."
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Top Resources, Inc.
Top Resources is a certified woman owned business serving the Kansas City area for over 40 years. We offer temporary, temp-to-hire, direct hire...
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09/22/10
TempNet Fall 2010 Conference TempNet members can look forward to a tranquil resort setting at a discount price for the Fall meeting in Palm Springs this year. Our guests will enjoy Spanish-style casitas with an incredible view of the mountains and the on-site golf course. The resort waterpark will be hard to resist, so plan your schedule to spend a couple extra days!
The agenda will return to our regular Wednesday reception - Saturday noon format. Speakers to be announced soon!
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