I don’t know how I feel about “off the record” references. This is rare for me. Usually, I pick a side, swing for the fences, and die on that hill. Often publicly via this blog.
In the most part, I loathe them. I think they’re cowardly, shady, and borderline defamatory. A greasy little whisper from a slimy toad’s mouth into the ear of a hiring manager. Some pointed little comment from someone too spineless to go on the record but still itching to swing the axe. I feel this because in my line of work, I’ve seen too many good candidates torpedoed by the cryptic “I personally wouldn’t go there” comment from someone with a grudge, ego, or unresolved daddy issues. Hiring Managers, understandably nervous, don’t tend to think about who they are asking, and why they may say what they say. Former colleagues may describe you as “not a team player“. Former colleagues may have also been bumbling along billing $15k a month with an hour long Pilates session each day as you broke the $600k mark. You guys were just on different teams. Maybe even playing a different game.
On these “off the records” (which are more common that not here), you don’t get to defend yourself against a rumour. You don’t get to appeal a character assassination. Instead, you get rejected for some made-up reason.
In fact, if you’re a candidate at the end of a recruitment process, and are then blindsided by a rejection for some innocuous reason, then you’ve most likely just joined the “off the record” club. Haere mai.
And yet, as much as I don’t like them, yesterday, I gave one. The call went like this:
Well-spoken woman: “Hi there, my name is **** ****** and I’m the HR Manager of **********. I was wondering if you could give me any information or opinions on someone we’re looking at hiring?
Me (not well-spoken): “Well it depends. Have I been named as a referee, or is this “off the record” (I prepare to say that I don’t give “off the records”.
Well-spoken woman: “Well it is off the record, of sorts, although you’ve already mentioned this person by name in a blog from 2021. So I suppose it’s already on the record! We actually use an AI tool to do background checks, and your blog was highlighted to us”.
Long-story short – the person I blogged about was such a walking red flag factory, and master of deceit, fraud and pure sociopathic confidence, that I gladly told the well-spoken HR Manager what I knew. Many of you will know this person, and you’ll find them should you bother to read the circa 45 blogs of 2021, and you’d all agree with me. I guarantee it. In this instance, not being honest would be like watching a mate get into a drunk driver’s car and saying “well I don’t want to interfere…”. Actually, it’s worse. It’s like watching your twinky 17 year old nephew signing up to a sleepover and pillow fight with Jeffrey Dahmer.
And this got me changing my mind. As much as I hate being on the losing side of an “unfair” off the record, I also sit here incredulous that some people ever get employed again. I’ve had people (oh alright then, person) work for me for many years, and spring up in a good job elsewhere, with us never having given a reference, official or otherwise. If you want my unofficial view on this person, I would rather change my name, move house, and join the witness relocation program than ever manage them again. No doubt another firm have since felt this pain, and a quick call would have saved them years of therapy. Or cancer.
So, back to the beginning. I don’t know what to think. Perhaps we have three options and we just need to all decide what should be standard. There’s the flawed system of official references, with no prejudice from “off the records”. Or, we embrace off the records like we do currently. Or, like the rest of the world, we scrap references entirely and do weird stuff like interview thoroughly and ask for tangible evidence of achievements. Nah, in a country of only 5 million, who am I kidding?
^SW
