A poor or lukewarm reference may be sabotaging your efforts to nail that job. Reference checks are vital to an employment decision the higher the position being applied for in the organisation.

Although you may have provided a list of suitable references, employers know that these are likely to provide glowing recommendations, which may not necessarily be totally factual and the perception is even more so if you did not include your previous supervisor as a reference.

Hence, based on the information contained in your résumé and completed application form about your previous employers, most companies will direct their reference checks to two information sources - the Human Resource (HR) Department and your former supervisor.

The HR Department is usually contacted to verify general personnel data, such as your job title, employment dates, attendance record, etc., while your former supervisor is contacted to check on performance-related matters, such as your interpersonal and leadership skills, quality and quantity of work output, ability to meet deadlines, relationship with customers, ability to work as the member of a team, etc.

Most supervisors and HR managers will not jeopardise your chances by saying outright negative things about you, but what they don't say can be just as harmful. Also, sometimes, despite their efforts, there's no escaping a poor reference. For instance, if there were major differences and "bad blood" between you and your supervisor that led to a rather unpleasant separation, is there a diplomatic and harmless way to answer these popular reference-check questions, 'Could you fully describe the circumstances and reason for the separation?', and 'Would you personally rehire this person?' I think not. So what can you do?

1. According to many career experts, it is best to seek a new job before leaving your present job, especially if there are conflicts between you and the person to whom you directly report. This way you can delay contact with your employer (and avoid a bad reference) by requesting that your company not be contacted until an offer is made. Most employers will honour this request as they fully understand the unpleasant situation that may be created should your current employer learn of your job-seeking activities.

2. If you couldn't tolerate your job long enough to get another before departing, and if you cannot eliminate the company from your résumé, you may do one of two things:

At the interview, indicate that there were differences of opinion between yourself and your previous employer, and that the reference from him/her will not be positive. Make your explanation objective and honest, but not negative. Don't appear to be bad-mouthing the individual or the company.

Negotiate with your past supervisor what he/she will say about you when contacted by prospective employers. If you left in a really volatile way, allow a few weeks to pass (cooling-off period) before initiating this conversation.

Let all your references know that you are job-hunting, update them on your career goals, and enquire if you can count on them for a good/ positive reference.

Also, you can cultivate your positive references by staying in touch with former employers with whom you had a relatively good relationship and keeping them abreast of your career progress. Your achievements and advancements will engender positive perspectives about you, which could eliminate any negatives he/she may have perceived during your employment.

Patricia Grant-Kitson is a human resource management and training consultant.

patriciaktsn@yahoo.com

Beware that even references you perceive as positive may harm your chances, as negative motives, unknown to you, could surface. So contact all your prospective references to get their approval/permission to use them as references before identifying them.

Beware that even references you perceive as positive may harm your chances, as negative motives, unknown to you, could surface. So contact all your prospective references to get their approval/permission to use them as references before identifying them.

Bad references may be sabotaging you!