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Using current employer as reference before resigning


Joanna82

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Hi,

 

this is more of a general question: I have been working for the same company since arriving in Australia. I'm thinking about changing employers, my new employer would most likely want at least two references before offering a contract (at least thats how it went with my current job).

 

Now, ideally I would use people from my current work instead of trying to go back and use referees that are overseas and that I haven't worked for in a long time. How do I best go about the whole situation? If I say I'm leaving and ask my boss to be my reference, there is a very small chance he might try to slip in something negative as a way of "getting back" at me for quitting. My performance reviews have been nothing but outstanding, but you never know and that worries me as I could end up with no job at all.

 

Any insights, please share :biggrin:

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l should think they wont be asked for a reference unless the other company really wants you, similar to the way the uk do it. Kill the interview.... get positive interest.... then references should just be to make sure that u r a good little person, that hasn't got the potential to be a psycho.... lol... if you applied originally from uk to a job here it would be different because the commitment it takes to get here... so they would have contacted references sooner. :)

Hi,

 

this is more of a general question: I have been working for the same company since arriving in Australia. I'm thinking about changing employers, my new employer would most likely want at least two references before offering a contract (at least thats how it went with my current job).

 

Now, ideally I would use people from my current work instead of trying to go back and use referees that are overseas and that I haven't worked for in a long time. How do I best go about the whole situation? If I say I'm leaving and ask my boss to be my reference, there is a very small chance he might try to slip in something negative as a way of "getting back" at me for quitting. My performance reviews have been nothing but outstanding, but you never know and that worries me as I could end up with no job at all.

 

Any insights, please share :biggrin:

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Hi,

 

this is more of a general question: I have been working for the same company since arriving in Australia. I'm thinking about changing employers, my new employer would most likely want at least two references before offering a contract (at least thats how it went with my current job).

 

Now, ideally I would use people from my current work instead of trying to go back and use referees that are overseas and that I haven't worked for in a long time. How do I best go about the whole situation? If I say I'm leaving and ask my boss to be my reference, there is a very small chance he might try to slip in something negative as a way of "getting back" at me for quitting. My performance reviews have been nothing but outstanding, but you never know and that worries me as I could end up with no job at all.

 

Any insights, please share :biggrin:

 

References are a way of life here. I would not worry about it, there is no reason to think your boss would be unprofessional and nasty is there?

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Interesting....I'm in the same situation, and I have applied for another post but have just put "references on request" on my resume. I believe asking for references is the last point in the interview - however I don't think any of my references have ever been contacted when I've applied for jobs over here. My boss is great and I don't want him to have to start looking for other people to replace me until I'm more or less sure I've got the other job.

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Not sure how it works in Australia, but in the UK, employers will normally take up references after they have offered the job verbally but before sending the contract out for you to sign. Or they will send a letter, offering the role "subject to references". I know it's a bit worrying, but if this happens, you will need to speak to your current boss to warn them they may be asked for references, before officially resigning.

 

Legally (again, in the UK) it's very difficult for employers to give a bad reference, and the worst they can usually do is give a very basic reference (ie, sick days taken, salary, confirmation of dates employed). And if you have worked hard and got on with your boss and colleagues, there is no reason for your reference to be anything but positive/helpful for your new employer.

 

There may be a better way of doing this, but there is always an element of being a bit awkward or out of your comfort zone, but worth it in the end!

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Quick question: Over in Australia do employers actually give references? When I worked in HR in the UK, due to the legal situation and the risk of being sued, the majority of companies I worked for either did, or were in the process of implementing a change to dealing with reference requests. They would refuse to say anything positive or negative and would only confirm the dates that the employee worked for them. They put in place bans on employees giving references, everything had to go via HR and if someone else wanted to give a reference (line manager for example), they were only permitted to give personal references, not company ones and it was a disciplinary offence to give a reference on company headed paper.

 

A standard reference would be along the lines of,

 

"It is company policy not to give out references, only to confirm the dates of employment.

 

We confirm that X worked for X Corporation between the dates of X and X."

 

Yours sincerely

 

X

HR Manager

 

What is the situation in Australia?

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From my experience references are usually checked via email or phone. The lazy ones send out a template to be filled out, others simply call up the referee.

 

References are a way of life here. I would not worry about it, there is no reason to think your boss would be unprofessional and nasty is there?

 

Good point.

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Quick question: Over in Australia do employers actually give references? When I worked in HR in the UK, due to the legal situation and the risk of being sued, the majority of companies I worked for either did, or were in the process of implementing a change to dealing with reference requests. They would refuse to say anything positive or negative and would only confirm the dates that the employee worked for them. They put in place bans on employees giving references, everything had to go via HR and if someone else wanted to give a reference (line manager for example), they were only permitted to give personal references, not company ones and it was a disciplinary offence to give a reference on company headed paper.

 

A standard reference would be along the lines of,

 

"It is company policy not to give out references, only to confirm the dates of employment.

 

We confirm that X worked for X Corporation between the dates of X and X."

 

Yours sincerely

 

X

HR Manager

 

What is the situation in Australia?

 

It is not like that. I have always worked for big multinational that certainly have that policy you mention in UK, but they don't understand it here when you say you cannot get more than the standard reference. It is quite tricky for getting first job in Australia, I had to call upon people willing to break the rules over standard UK references!

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