No References. No Kidding.

Hey kids, gather ‘round.  Let me tell you about the latest game that’s all the rage with Canadian employers.  It’s called “No References”, and it’s coming soon to a job market near you.

Having recently found myself in the uncomfortable position of being unemployed, I have been doing my darnedest to reverse that situation.  I scan websites, make cold calls, and follow up every lead I get, looking for what is the Holy Grail of the jobless:  a decently-paid position within a reasonable commute which doesn’t involve illegal behavior or selling pencils from a cup at midnight on a street corner. 

Let me tell you:  “challenging” just doesn’t go far enough when describing this particular peach of a situation.  Collecting an old debt would be easier.  Countless phone calls to people I may or may not know, flogging my skills and experience like a carnival barker at a freak show.  (“Hurry, hurry!  Step right up!  See the woman who learned to type on a…typewriter!!”)  Following up even the smallest lead, only to find that the job in question pays just enough for me and my boys to comfortably starve to death, doing something I’m not even qualified to do.  However, like scraps thrown to a starving dog, I’m still grateful for every tip, because one of those chunks of gristle might hold the key to survival.  I’m not picky, mind you.  Anything that vaguely resembles an admin. assistant position will do, as long as I can pay my rent and keep the lights on. 

Which isn’t to say I have no standards.  Sure, getting my dream job would be nice.  Something involving a landslide of copy-editing and writing.  Something that would allow me to be creative and useful and pay enough to run a second-hand car and pay my bills and occasionally be able to take my boys out for a treat.  But if I’ve learned anything in my forty-five years, it’s that dreams are fine, but you can’t feed your family or keep a roof over your head with them.  Reality is the only way to go.

Which brings me back to that game I was talking about.  On one of my recent interviews, I was told that one of the references I’d given had refused to give me one.  The reason?  The company they worked for now has a policy of (get this) not giving out references.  That’s right, folks.  You can work somewhere for years, come in early, leave late, work hard, volunteer for extra projects, the whole schmeer and still end up with nothing to show for it but confirmation from an HR schmuck that:   a)yes, this tool did work for us and b) they worked from Date X to Date Y.  Keep in mind that this applies whether you were Employee of the Year of the doofus who spent every workday taking two hour lunches and running the office hockey pool when you were supposed to be earning your keep. 

Needless to say, this discovery left me a bit red-faced during my interview.  A reference that wouldn’t actually give a reference?  Hmmm.  Sherlock Holmes I’m not, but I figured this needed immediate investigation.  It didn’t sound right or fair or even remotely logical.

So I checked it out.  I talked to some professional headhunters, and they confirmed this ridiculousness.  Nowadays, more and more employers simply refuse to supply former employees with references, no matter what the circumstances of their departure.  It’s a CYA (Cover Your...Ahem) ploy, used to limit employer’s liability for people who no longer work for them.  I can understand it, to a point.  Likely their head offices are telling them that going on record as endorsing a former employee might get them into trouble down the road.  I mean, what if said employee uses that reference to secure a new position and then goes on to commit fraud or burn down the building at their new place of employment?  What if said employee uses a reference as evidence to sue for wrongful dismissal?  What if I bump into Idris Elba in an elevator and he takes one look at me and falls madly in love?  Trust me.  In this world, anything is possible, but not nearly as much is probable. 

Companies who deny references to former employees (the regular kind, I mean, the ones who just want to find another job and get on with their lives) are playing the most cynical kind of game.  Do they not realize that all they are doing is creating an adversary out of someone who might otherwise have been an endorsement for them?  Because this “no reference” baloney applies to everyone, even the people who left on good terms, for whatever reason.  A woman who leaves to start a family and years later is trying to get back into the job market?  Screwed.  A summer student who leaves to go back to school and is then looking for their first “real” job, desperate for a decent reference?  Screwed.

What these employers fail to see is that this “no reference” thing is eventually going to come back to bite them in the butt.  Because as my friends in the headhunting business point out, once everyone starts denying references, no one will be able to check anyone’s reference.  And then where will we all be? 

Yeah, you got it.  Out of a job.