How much care and attention do you put into your employment references during your search for a job? For many job seekers, this important part of the hiring process is often overlooked.
A new study from CareerBuilder cautions job seekers about the references they cite when applying to companies. The study was conducted by Harris Interactive and included 2,494 hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,976 workers across industries and company sizes.
Results show that 62 percent of employers said that, when they contacted a reference listed on an application, the reference didn’t have good things to say about the candidate. And a scary 29 percent of employers actually reported that they have caught a fake reference on a candidate’s application.
Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder, Rosemary Haefner stated that before choosing someone to, job seekers must ask themselves whether the potential reference understand the full scope of their responsibilities. Haefner also explained that your job references should include your biggest cheerleaders.
Here are a few questions answered by this study:
Do references always know they’re being listed?
The results showed that 15 percent of workers reported they have listed someone as a reference without telling that person.
Do employers really check up on candidates?
Nearly 80 percent of employers said they do contact references when evaluating potential employees. In fact, 16 percent of these employers will contact references before they call the candidate for a job interview.
