The reference list is one aspect of the hiring process that would seem to be simple on the outside. But have recent changes in corporate culture made the usual method of simply recommending someone's merits impossible?
In a recent piece for Forbes, Liz Ryan laments that this seems to be the way things are going. What used to be a straightforward way to understand something about an applicant's past has been unnecessarily politicized, she argues, making it impossible for some professionals to give their employees the high recommendations that they deserve.
"You can see how strongly fear has taken hold in American boardrooms, because of the power that attorneys have over what are human issues like loyalty and recognition," she writes. "If you're reading this and your company has a no-references policy, use whatever muscle you've got to get them to stop it."
With an executive recruiter on hand, a company can hunt out the individuals who are most suitable for their business based on their merits and cut through the restraints binding their hands.
One aspect of this disheartening trend may be that job-seekers find it necessary to make up references or invent sources to cover for those they can't get for real. According to British site Community Care, one social worker will even serve prison time for falsifying references.
By turning to an executive search firm, your business can help try and inject some of that missing frankness back into the employee staffing process, as well as verify the truth behind a candidate's claims.
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