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jack_522

Is it possible for a previous employer to be sabotaging my job search? I really would like to know this. I’ve had six interviews in the past two months, which all seemed friendly and went well; but when I follow up a few days later I get the ice treatment and I wonder why I bother. Could one of my employers from a past job be saying something?

Randy · Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject:

Well, I'm certain it never, ever happens "officially," nod nod grin grin wink wink.

But I've been going through the same thing now for over eight years and it always traces back to the same employer.

Or put this way: If I leave that employer completely unmentioned and off resumes and applications, well, I've gotten each job I've applied for. With the mention of "that place," it goes nowhere. They, of course, deny it and yes, I've confronted them.

So it's purely anecdotal but put it this way:

Don't you think if former and ex-employees bad-mouth former employers that they don't do the same?

And please everyone, I need no reminders of what "the law" may or may not be. There's "the" law and there's the real world and the two need not ever come close to each other.

l_steele · Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:22 pm Post subject:

If a previous employer is sabotaging your job search, they’re doing it very quietly and probably illegally. Most employers don’t want to get into possible legal trouble by badmouthing former employees.

timmy_28 · New User Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Posts: 6 Career Advice: +0/-0

Agreed, most employers today will just give the basic facts – yes you worked there and you worked for this long at this job. A lot of them won’t even mention if you got fired or quit unless asked.

bilbo_30 · New User Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 9 Career Advice: +0/-0

If an employer is asked if they would hire you again, that might be a problem. Anything but a ‘’yes’’ would cause a second guess from someone looking at you.

Randy · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:55 pm Post subject:

You know, this really is one of those fascinating discussions simply because of the possibilities involved. If, as so many suggest, it's either blatantly "illegal" or simply a matter of "routine business practice" that former employers verify only dates of employments, along with perhaps a "yes" or "no" regarding the question of whether or not they would rehire the person, you're left struggling with the answer to the most obvious of questions:

Why then are job candidates expected and required to state the reason(s) for leaving a previous employer?

IF it's illegal, than why ask since the answer can NOT be verified without breaking the law?

The answer, of course, is to be found when people finally get around to figuring out how silly, stupid, and self-contradictory it is for an employer who, bound by law to NOT ask your age, nonetheless is legally allowed to ask the dates you attended high-school/college. It's really simply math to work backwards, don't you think?

Oh well....

jack_522 · Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 6:05 pm Post subject:

What if I find someone is causing problems? Can I do anything?

Randy · Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:21 pm Post subject:

"Can" do? Possibly, indeed probably, there's much you can do.

But I am absoutely the wrong person to even think about addressing such matters. I come from a different age and my sensibilities--for as long as I can remember remembering--have always been such that there are many battles, if not most, that aren't worth the trouble. What I mean is this: If you must invest considerable time and money to fight this type of battle, and assuming you win, will it all have been worth it?

In this case, the employer gets a big "Bad boy. Don't do that again!" He pays a fine and gets on with his life.

What about you?

All that time and money spent--could it have been put to better use?

Now I'm the first to admit that such an attitude sounds as if I'm in favor of letting the rat-bastards of the world get away with anything. I'm not. I simply prefer to fight them tooth and nail from the very beginning and accept that it's not over until *I* say it over.

It's that razor's edge at work here, the difference between doing the "right" thing--in a legalistic sense--and the right thing in terms of your own life.

So yes, you might win, might teach them a lesson, and in so doing might help you find better employer, or maybe just different. It could also cost you just about everything that really matters--friends, family, sanity.

Yes, I'm speaking from personal experience.

It's the oldest of sayings: Never try to teach a pig to sing. You'll waste your time and annoy the pig. Regrettablly, the world really is set up in favor of the wealthy, the powerful, and the peckerheads.

I do know this, as well. Employers have in their arsenal two magiic words: Employee Misconduct. That can, in keeping with the philosophy of Humpty Dumpty, mean anything they want it to mean and at that point it's you standing against a company that "creates job" and whose president and ceo and managers have all done a bang-up job at selling themsleves as "pillars of the community," "good men" who "attend church regularly" and blah blah blah.

You, however, will be relegated to just one more "disgruntled" employee.

Yes, Hollywood does a great job of reminding us that occassionaly the "underdog" wins.

I'll sum it up this way: If it's a battle you're willing to take on because of how you, personally, have been treated. Then let loose the hounds of hell and take no prisoners.

But if there's even the slightest thought of doing it so "they never treat anyone else" the same way? Well, play martyr if you must, but because of my own experience, that's one road I'll never travel again.

Nothing but the best.

jb · New User Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 8 Career Advice: +0/-0

Perhaps a cease and desist letter could be of use. You can pay a lawyer to write one or you can get a template off the internet or a program like quicken lawyer. Send them a legal sounding letter indicating that if this continues you will sue. Hopefully, that will either scare them or make them decide it is not worth it to continue slandering you.

bluebabygirl · Newbie Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 2 Career Advice: +0/-0

You would have to prove the previous employer is sabotaging your search. That’s about as hard as proving an employer didn’t hire you because of age, race or sex much of the time. I know there are laws against discrimination, and slander, but proving it is a whole other issue.

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