MEMBER LOGIN
 UserID:
 Password:
: 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."






Is Your Organization at Risk Without a Sufficient Backup and Recovery System? 20 Jun 2007 Terri Roeslmeier, President, Automated Business Designs, Inc.
Visibility Generates Trust - Trust Generates Sales - Just Ask Bill Gates 12 Jul 2006 Gregg Dourgarian, CEO, TempWorks Software
EMPLOYERS BEWARE OF RESUME FRAUD 08 Oct 2002 Sue Romanos, CPC, CTS, President of CAREERXCHANGE
HOW TO DEAL WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE AT WORK 22 Jul 2002 Denise R. Sutton, Founder & President, A.J. O'Neal & Associates, Inc.
Thrifty Selling 22 Jul 2002 Karen Connor - COATS
The Niche Market Fallacy 13 Jul 2007 Gregg Dourgarian
Member Information
FEATURED MEMBER
Career Center, Inc.
Career Center Inc is a multi office staffing company located in New Jersey specializing in Temporary Staffing, Direct Hire, Medical Staffing, and...


 
FREE NEWSLETTER
 
Subscribe now to our free newsletter to be notified regulary of news & events!

Enter your e-mail:

 
NEWS & EVENTS
09/24/08
TempNet Fall 2008 Conference MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

TEMPNET 2008 FALL CONFERENCE
SEPTEMBER 24 - 27, 2008
EMBASSY SUITES HISTORIC CHARLESTON
CHARLESTON, SC
www.embassysuites.com
843-723-6900

Call before August 28 and ask for the TempNet rate of $224 for this all suite hotel. Reservations online at http://embassysuites.hilton.com/en/es/groups/personalized/CHSESES-TMN-20080921/index.jhtml






[more]

02/18/09
2009 TempNet Annual Conference and Trade Show FEBRUARY 18 - 21, 2009
RANCHO LAS PALMAS RESORT
41000 BOB HOPE DRIVE
RANCHO MIRAGE, CA
(866) 423-1195


Mark your calendars now, and make your reservations by calling (866) 423-1195. Ask for the TempNet rate of $274 (including resort fee)

[more]