[Texas_Tryhard]

(08-12-2014 05:32 PM)shameus_oreaaly Wrote:  

I feel, after 8 years in the workforce, I should know about this, but how often are references checked outside of secure industries, like law, confidential research and those that work with the vulnerable?
I've been fired before-not bragging, it's just happened-and it hasn't been an impediment to getting new jobs, even when I had nobody to use as a referee except the place I was fired from.
A guy I worked alongside reported the same; he got fired from FIVE contractor posts inside eighteen months, and had to seek out new agencies to get postings. He never had problems with his work history-he told me that once he gave the contact details of his immediate supervisor, who'd been personally responsible for dismissing him, and still got a new position.
Admittedly he's a technical worker, so maybe a new employer wouldn't be too stringent if his skills were up to par, but I'm surprised he and I haven't had more problems, even if a character reference like this one would be a bridge too far

I'm speaking from a position of experience, coming from a family who owns several businesses.

Unless there is a great deal of documentation from your previous employer regarding specific events that they cite in a "negative review", they can get in a ton of deep legal shit if they give a negative review that results in you failing to get the job. You can theoretically take them to court for either slander or libel that resulted in lost wages (from the potential job you weren't selected for). It's not necessarily likely that you'd win, however for the most part employers refrain from ever giving a negative review. HR in many large businesses refuse to give anything but a neutral review, stating the time you began and ended employment, and what you were employed for.

Depending on the level of your business they may call your references, but it's not likely they'll get anything negative. They just do it for positive reviews, in case your old employer has their shit together enough to have evidence of you being a bad employee, or in case your old employer is too stupid to know not to talk shit about you.