That reference check almost cost me the job

I was sitting in my truck outside a client's house in Naperville when my phone rang. It was a hiring manager calling for a reference on a guy I used to work with, and I almost just said he was fine out of habit. But I remembered he'd walked off a job site twice without telling anyone, leaving me to explain to the homeowner. So I told them the truth about his reliability, and they pulled the offer. Has anyone else had to decide between being nice and being honest on a reference call?

2 comments

2 Comments

young.nora17d ago

That reminds me of a situation my friend Dan found himself in last year. He got a reference call for a guy he did a few roofing jobs with, and the guy was a really nice person, always brought coffee and cracked jokes. But he also had a bad habit of showing up hours late or not at all on days when the weather was iffy. Dan really wanted to be helpful, but he also remembered the time this guy left him on a roof alone with a tarp blowing off because he decided to go home and "check the forecast." So when the new boss asked about dependability, Dan just said the guy was great company but struggled to be somewhere on time every single day. The new boss thanked him and that was the end of it. Dan felt bad for a week, but he figured the truth came out somehow, better to hear it from him than when a customer's ceiling was leaking.

olivia39817d ago

...and then there was the time I got a call for a reference on a guy I'd worked with at a warehouse years ago. He was always late, like 20 minutes late every single day, but he was good at his job once he got there. The hiring manager asked if he was punctual and I froze for a second thinking she'd never find out anyway. But I remembered him leaving me hanging on a loading dock one time because he decided to grab breakfast mid-shift without telling anyone, so I just said "he tends to run a bit behind schedule" and the call got real quiet real fast.