Free Career and Job Search Advice

Pauloz

We see almost endless stories on CV Tips about people who are taking hits from former employers, often extremely malicious, deliberate acts of sabotage against ex employees, with bad references or gossip. If you’re getting poison from former employers, or from other people in your professional life, or even your ex- landlord, Badreferences.com may be the answer.

http://www.badreferences.com/index.html

This site, operated by Documented Reference Check, (DRC) a US company, is dedicated to providing a much needed service to the people who find their ex- employers using their CVs for target practice.

Before we start, a few pointers:

· If a false or misleading reference is used against you, it may be legally actionable.

· This sort of action is basically defamatory, and you may, in some cases, be able to claim damages.

· Don’t guess about the legalities, under any circumstances. Get good, pro bono, legal advice, and get your facts straight, before taking any action.

· Above all, don’t get mad, get busy. This takes time, and you need to get moving, and organize your response, because the alternative is having your career sabotaged on a routine basis.

It’s a sick testimony to the state of the employment market and workplace culture that this is a very common situation. The US workplace could now be better described as a war zone, in terms of litigation, and some of the cases are nothing less than bizarre. The employment industry needs to get a grip on itself with this grotesque situation, because the damage, personal, social, and on industry levels, is hitting pandemic levels.

Badreferences.com is a pay service. They have a clear set of fees, and a clearly described set of services, covering the following:

References from

· Former employers
· Former professors
· Fellow professionals
· Contractors
· Former landlords

If this sounds useful, it is. This information can be extremely hard to get, and most people don’t know how to conduct reference checks themselves. Many people wouldn’t know where to start.

DRC employs an arm’s length approach, with contractors doing the actual checking. This is good technique, because the sources can’t identify any sort of link to DRC, or to yourself, if you use their services. DRC’s people check with your reference source, and get information regarding the sort of information they’re giving to people making inquiries about you. This information is then turned into transcripts, and DRC will even testify on your behalf, for a fee, as part of the service.

Important note for CV Tips members: Foreign nationals can also use this service, at double the US price.

This is a bit like the sort of work a private investigator does, but it’s not really the same thing, and it’s a lot more advanced, in terms of its focus and effects. It’s actually a very demanding bit of legal work, and getting useful information from bad referees, who tend to be as secretive as they are unethical, isn’t really that easy.

If all this sounds a bit too good to be true, DRC has been challenged in the US, as it says, all the way up to the Secretary for Labor, the top of the tree. The whole concept has received resistance, probably because it’s been getting results.

Note: DRC does not claim or imply that it will do more than provide the services it advertises. The information it obtains may or may not be suitable for actions, and that really depends on individual cases.

The site itself is largely self explanatory, but one page in particular is worthy of note, as an extra supply of information, links and services, the Employee’s Mall, http://www.badreferences.com/page4.html , which is a very healthy grouping of useful materials for people with problems in the workplace. These links cover other parts of the workplace horror story, and are well worth a look for those in the middle of traumatic working situations.

I’ve only got one very minor criticism of the site, that it’s a bit cryptic, when you first see it. You need to find and hit the appropriate links. There aren’t many of those links, but my impression is that people who are climbing the walls may not be in the frame of mind to be hunting for them. It’s just a marketing thing, “put things where people can see them”. It’s a trivial point, but for the sake of clarity, I think it’s worth it.

CV Tips can’t endorse products or services. We can, however, say from experience that this whole idea deserves a thorough look from anyone who’s been taking damage from bad references, or suspects their references are the problem with their career. The number of avenues for employees to fight these references is strictly limited, in real world situations, and this sort of work really must be done professionally. Courts won’t listen to hearsay, or rumors. They need hard evidence, and DRC has created the means of getting it and using it effectively.

Randy · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:58 pm Post subject:

You mean I should stop putting bananas up the tailpipes of the ceo's cars? Damn...
Rolling Eyes

(hope you've been well, paul...)

Pauloz · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:10 pm Post subject:

Randy · Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 7:45 pm Post subject:

Well, anything less than "remove everything not related to employment and I'm the most blessed man on the planet" just wouldn't be me, now would it?

Still growing more amazed w/ each passing day at how quickly survival in the workplace has denegrated into a contest to see who wins "sycophant of the day". God, I miss the days when "leadership" (political & business) meant surrounding yourself with men and women who understand their primary duty was to point out everything *wrong* w/ your decisions, the old "devil's advocate" thing.

But to answer you directly, yes, I'm doing well indeed--a wife and two daughters who, for reasons I don't understand, love me and tolerate me? A job that sucks all to hell but still pays the bills. So yes, doing well indeed.

You're a rare voice of reason and sanity in a world lacking in both. So you stay safe and be well.

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