Hey all

Was just wondering how important having a reference from you old UK employer is.

My scenario is that my ex employer keeps saying she is working on it and it is as yet not forthcoming. She has guaranteed it will be excellent, I was there for 9 years and virtually ran the business alongside her at times and in her absence


Is a reference really essential?

Cheers

Would you give a job to a new immigrant with no reference/proof of their ability?

If it was me - then YES !

I was expecting to be asked for references, but never was.

Though I guess in IT you can pretty much tell whether someone knows what they're doing by technical questions in the interview.

I've never been asked to provide a written reference either, but I know that previous employers have been contacted.

I've got written references just in case previous bosses have moved on, or the business winds down/gets swallowed up by another.

The company I work for requires 3 references, and they will not accept a written one, they must physically speak to the person giving the reference. If you can't arrange this, you don't get the job.

I had the same situation when I applied for my job. I had such trouble getting people to give a verbal reference, they were so nervous. Anyone would think that I was asking them to go for the interview for me.

Written references are not taken seriously here, as I was told when I presented my painstakingly presented portfolio of acheivements and references "anyone could have written those!", they much prefer to get verbal references

I can't see it doing any harm to have written references available, should they be requested, but verbal references do indeed seem preferred here. Make sure the people named have actually agreed to provide references and warn them if a reference is about to be taken up. An illustration may be of use here.

When Souvette was recently looking to quit the army and get a job in civvy street, one of the references she gave was her boss (a brilliant public speaker and a natural salesman). She was later interviewed by a government department. There were three positions available and the interview panel included the heads (Directors General) of the three groups. After the interview, she was contacted by the HR department and asked to provide a reference. It was mentioned that all three DGs wanted her. She was only interested in one of them. She made that known to her reference and he sold her into the position, which she now occupies. Amusingly, her reference is himself about to retire and look for work in civvy street. Guess who he's giving as a reference?

My current employer called the UK for a verbal reference from my old boss. I would say the written ones are not of much use, and people here seem to want to speak with someone instead.

A reference from my old UK employer was essential to getting my current job in Canada.

So what about on the SW application? You have to provide references from previous employers for the past 10 years don't you? Have people just not been providing this? I'm interested as I have the letter ready to go out and not sure I'll get many replies back

Are you being asked to provide references, or just a list of the people you worked for? There is quite a bit of difference.

If verbal references are near-essential for getting a job in Canada, I'm going to have a difficult time securing a job.

I left my last-but-one job (and my last main, I-qualified-to-do-this job) under not ideal circumstances, to put it lightly. The last time I spoke to my employer in person was at an employment tribunal hearing, in a case I'd brought against them for not paying me the National Minimum Wage. It would be difficult enough to get a written reference out of them, but a spoken reference would be stretching things altogether. I know that they could only tell the facts about my employment, but the way they say it might well prejudice any employer I apply to.

Luckily, I'm in a field (journalism) where it is easier to break into on the ground level. I'm planning to write some reviews for freesheets in the GTA, and build my career from more or less the ground up again.

Same here regarding refs. I too had to provide 3 people for my current employers to speak to. All with checkable details and not just 3 random mates from back in Blighty!!!!!