Do Potential Employers Check Ur Employment Status?

[imran]

Anybody in HR or employment agencies here? Do u actually check if an applicant is currently employed at d company he claimed to be? If so, how? tru cold calling d cmpany or cpf status etc?

[Guest Manager]

I remember this guy who once came to my company to apply as an accountant. He asked for 3k pay as he claim to have more than 4 years of experience. He said that his previous job was in a particular construction company and he was paid 2.8k monthly with transport allowances of about $150. When questioned why he quit, he claims that the company doesnt have a very good financial status.

Having once worked closely with the boss of that company, I called him up. Apparently, he was asked to resign as he was frequently late and often made errors in the accounts.

It is not very difficult for the employers to check on you. Many also might call up your old companies to ask for references about you especially if the companies have had dealings before.

[xxxpartyboixxx]

Yes they do. 2 examples:

1)one of my ex colleague was "outed" when the recruitment agent called the office to ask if so and so really works there. Good thing he got the job offer and quit soon after.

2)another ex colleague of mine got his facebook checked for his current & previous employment history and background check. During the interview, the potential employer mentioned they did the facebook check.

So be very careful of what information you disclose out there ie: your referees, personal info on facebook etc.

[Guest Ironrod]

If it's your previous company and it's in your resume.

The employer can

1) Ask you to request from your previous HR for a letter to state your employment period with that company and salary.

2) Your HR can call ANY of your previous company to check your HR records.

3) Your HR can even check with University if they suspect your degree is fake.

4) Finally, if you do not have any reference - your HR can call your direct boss to check for a character check.

So best is don't leave a company in a bad note, and if u do perhaps not to include them in your resume could be better.

[Guest amidst_the_stars]

Yes they do. 2 examples:

1)one of my ex colleague was "outed" when the recruitment agent called the office to ask if so and so really works there. Good thing he got the job offer and quit soon after.

2)another ex colleague of mine got his facebook checked for his current & previous employment history and background check. During the interview, the potential employer mentioned they did the facebook check.

So be very careful of what information you disclose out there ie: your referees, personal info on facebook etc.

I don't use Facebook.

Edited April 5, 2011 by amidst_the_stars

[Guest Guest]

Be honest, dun lie.

Sometimes, employers are more forgiving.

But once u lie, your bad name will be floating in the recruiment industry.

Note: some even forged their payslip.

[fab]

If it's your previous company and it's in your resume.

The employer can

1) Ask you to request from your previous HR for a letter to state your employment period with that company and salary.

2) Your HR can call ANY of your previous company to check your HR records.

3) Your HR can even check with University if they suspect your degree is fake.

4) Finally, if you do not have any reference - your HR can call your direct boss to check for a character check.

So best is don't leave a company in a bad note, and if u do perhaps not to include them in your resume could be better.

Excluding certain employers will mean a longer unemployment period.

Is this better?

[Guest Guest]

Let's turn this around. If you are the employer, would you want to find out as much as possible before hiring?

If you have not been working, just let them know why. At least, it's better than a pack of lies.

[Guest alien]

I remember this guy who once came to my company to apply as an accountant. He asked for 3k pay as he claim to have more than 4 years of experience. He said that his previous job was in a particular construction company and he was paid 2.8k monthly with transport allowances of about $150. When questioned why he quit, he claims that the company doesnt have a very good financial status.

Having once worked closely with the boss of that company, I called him up. Apparently, he was asked to resign as he was frequently late and often made errors in the accounts.

It is not very difficult for the employers to check on you. Many also might call up your old companies to ask for references about you especially if the companies have had dealings before.

If the coy have dealing with the company, 99% the HR will called them up to check on the person who applied the job. But if the coy dun have dealing with the company, most of the HR wld not called up the person lo.

Unless the coy is hiring some high & impt position. If only hire some engineer and exec or even techician or clerk. Dun think the coy will bother to called up and check. Heard only banks & govt coy will do a background check on the applicant, private coy or SME coy usually wld not do a backgound check.

[blunt]

If the coy have dealing with the company, 99% the HR will called them up to check on the person who applied the job. But if the coy dun have dealing with the company, most of the HR wld not called up the person lo.

Unless the coy is hiring some high & impt position. If only hire some engineer and exec or even techician or clerk. Dun think the coy will bother to called up and check. Heard only banks & govt coy will do a background check on the applicant, private coy or SME coy usually wld not do a backgound check.

Always good to be honest cos even if you don't land the job, at least you still have a clear conscience.

[MobyDick]

Erm.. I thought HR would usu request for payslip to verify your current pay.

Anyway, Singapore is so small. Your prospective cocklicks might know someone from your current company. Things may turn out to be complicated.

Just curious, why do you need to lie about your employment status?

[andrew8686]

Erm.. I thought HR would usu request for payslip to verify your current pay.

Anyway, Singapore is so small. Your prospective cocklicks might know someone from your current company. Things may turn out to be complicated.

Just curious, why do you need to lie about your employment status?

Payslip is a private ! If HR really want it , you can choose to said NO .Many excuse you can tell . But that's not a main concern ,provider you are potential worker , so that you can ask for the offer how much there willing to offer too .

[briax]

Depends on which industry you worked in. If it is a social services sector which is kind of small, many bosses know each other and it takes one call to find out if you lied about your working experience or you over-represent yourself. During one of our previous hiring process, the applicant lied about his position in one of his previous employer which was also my previous employer. And he also omitted his employment in a hospital where one of my friend work. So in this case, it is really not hard for us to find that his resume is filled with misleading information. Increasingly, I think there are also a lot of HR managers calling the previous employers for feedback on the applicant.

[MeowPrince]

Some agencies check. Most HR do. It is part of due diligence. And the higher up the hierarchy you are applying to be, the more serious the check. And Facebook is not the only thing they check. Though most won't reveal the extent they delve into or check.

Even when my business source for temps, we check - School/NS records, etc. So be careful what you post out there on the WWW.

[cadlad]

discretion needs to be exercised if the applicant is still under employ with his current company and he intends to continue with this employment should the job application not work out.

i was previously in a SME that requires background check on job applicants due to the field's sensitive nature. it was tricky for us to run a confirmation check on a certain applicant's current employment status since we can't call anyone in his company to verify on his work-scope and track records, and obviously he cannot provide us with any official references for his experience in his current job, which is why we shortlisted him for an interview in the first place.

any HR people here have any advice on what to do in such a scenario? we never did find a solution - we did not hire him for some other reasons.

[Guest Ironrod]

discretion needs to be exercised if the applicant is still under employ with his current company and he intends to continue with this employment should the job application not work out.

i was previously in a SME that requires background check on job applicants due to the field's sensitive nature. it was tricky for us to run a confirmation check on a certain applicant's current employment status since we can't call anyone in his company to verify on his work-scope and track records, and obviously he cannot provide us with any official references for his experience in his current job, which is why we shortlisted him for an interview in the first place.

any HR people here have any advice on what to do in such a scenario? we never did find a solution - we did not hire him for some other reasons.

In such cases like I mention u can ask the candidate to produce payslip or a letter of recommendation from his current or previous employer. Most employee which left on good terms should have no problem producing such if he is currently still employed, your company can request him to produce it during his probation period.

[Guest Confidently Jobless]

Let's be frank. Employees leave company for various reasons.

However, people here like to paint a very negative reason why a person wanted to leave a job (for happiness, for conveneient, for work life balance...)

1. I leave because of poor working environment - the boss smoked in the office, the staff

were not co-operation, there was no prospect for growth, the culture was family driven

thus resulted in you reporting to someone junior than yourselves in terms of

qualifications and experiences. Salary could be another factor but usually not the main

reason why a person resigned. Many recuiters or so-called HR profesional are just dimwit

with acadmically programmed narrow mind in a mobile world.

2. 9 out of 10 employers will not give their previous employee a good reference if the

above is their reasons for leaving.

3. Not everyone is a relevant referees and usually agents or prospective employers called

the wrong referees to check. If the candidate reported directly to his MD, don't call

his HR or shareholders to check. Never call any other staff in the company for cock-tail

chat (check) because you are not doing the employee a favour. The candidate might be an

outstanding performer but fell victim to office politics. Recruiters might ended

up falling into his "referee" (enemy) trap and screwed yourself a chance of getting in

good candidate.

4. Employers who checked or scruitinised on employees usually will not ended up getting good

candidate. Some candidate may have very loyal job records and clean resume not because

of his performance but because he/she was too comfortable with specific tasks given by

his company. The reason for such clean candidate to resign because he/she was not

receptive to changes or probably not happy with added responsibility. You ended up

taking wrong candidate with "squeaky clean" record but limited knowledge - because his

mind was trained to be as still and loyal as mountain crater - suitable for junior post

and followers but not leader or driver.

Thus company with repetitive advertisement with no takers because they didn't

trust their applicants and those who applied once (or not shortlisted) will not want to

go back to the same recruiters again due to such lack of trust. End of the day,

advertisers blamed Singapore has no talent other than themselves who missed out the

talent pool before their eyes.

5. Best employers are someone who see you and gave you the benefit of doubts. He trusted

your experiences and knowledges through your resume and set question and watched you

deliver during the interview process. An experience interviewer will know if you lie or

tell the truth once you opened your mouth and tackle their questions. If candidate

professionalism is displayed and you have chemistry with the candidate, all other

scrutinies became irrelevant. That is how I conducted interview too.

6. If employers asked if you could provide refereee, always tell them to let you know in

advance so that you can provide the proper channel instead of them calling everyone in

your organisation - and shamed you for not yet found a job after leaving. On the other

hand, you can tell your recruiters not to bother if you think the job they placed

is not your ideal job. Thus save all the embrassment (if any).

7. I know of a prospective company who called my previous HR dept and she did not paint me

in good light because I resigned when the boss failed to give me my needed increment.

Her reason was - my resignation has inconvenienced her and overloaded her with some of

my work. However the recruiter insisted it was their company protocol to check on

candidate. I was not shortlisted. 3 months later, the same company called to check if

I was still available since they can't find a good candidate that par my work

experience. I suspected they have recruited a "clean candidate" and felt she cannot

deliver towards her probation period, or she resigned. I told them they have missed the

opportunity. Blunt but relevant. Never appear to look desperate regardless how hard-up

you are seeking for job.

8. Always appear confident on first interview. Possess a mentality that you will not

land that job and give time for the interviewers to mull carefully over the interview,

while in the mean time, you have all the time at hand to choose and select other

companies before the outcome of your first interview.

9. Remember the world is your oyster, define yourselves before you see whether your

prospective employers fit you under such definition. Discussions with interviewer have

to be informal,franked and opened. I don't believe in interviewers handbook (with 101

idiot answers on job interview). Most candidate left shortly after they were recruited

because they felt betrayed and crucial informations were not fully shared with his

with his employer during interview.

10 Never ever sign your employment contract on day 1 or your job. Request the HR to let

you bring it home to read their terms and conditions carefully and any adjustment

can be discussed the following day if you feel certain basic terms are not included or

typo errors need to be corrected. Day 1 also allow you to feel the environment and the

people around you. You can still leave after day 1 without signing your life away.

11. Scrutinise your employer as much as they wanted to do the same to you. For every one

queston they posted on you, return them with two questions so that you can understand

them better. A healthy interview usually take at least 1 hour, anything less than half

hour is a negative sign that you will not gain enough informations from them or the

comapny considered you unfavourably.

11. Look at the company profile via google, find out who are the management team, their

company financial status, nature of business, locations, operating hours...and business

profile (if SME) to see if they are $2 dollar set-up kind of fly-by-night operator.

Don't lend in the wrong organisation.

12. NEVER, EVER respond to job advertisment without a company name or proper dormain.

I know advertiser like to put up PO BOX address, set up email with gmail, yahoo, hotmail,

live. You might ended up sending your resume to your competitors or rookies (foreigners)

who tried to use your resume to draft theirs. Advertiser that marked "COMPANY NAME

CONFIDENTIAL" are usually those that have been in market seeking candidate for too long

and became shy or they tried to fire someone in the office and avoid their company

name publicly disclosed to replace him.. These are some of the possibilities to take

note.

13. As much as possible, avoid recruitment agent. Many of them are not as technically

inclined in the job they put up. Thus they may filter you out accidentally and there

could be 10 agents putting up one advertisement for the same company, choose one that

you trust or best - send direct to the company, you will know because the job

descriptions are repetitive all over the places.

14. Last but not least, just like stepping into a new house, if you find the working

environment and interviewer are not suitable or friendly, cut short the interview time

and leave. Save all your personal and previous companies info from further disclosure to

someone or some place you didn't like. No harm telling the interviewer politiely that

you think the job is not suitable. Don't be shy to speak your mind that is.

15. Good luck!

[xanava]

if i m da boss n i know u r gay, i wont f*cking employ u.

[MeowPrince]

if i m da boss n i know u r gay, i wont f*cking employ u.

That's why you are not.

[Guest Yan Lin]

Do Singapore Employers check employment history to the candidate from other countries?

I am from Myanmar.

[firereaver]

I think it depends on the position as well. Would the employer want to waste time in checking one's past record just for a Marketing Executive position for example?

Also, who would be doing the checking? HR or the specific department manager? I doubt HR would bother as they are mostly just the coordinator between the job applicant and the specific department manager who need to hire someone. The most they only bother about budget, not so much on the character of the applicant.

There's also the "harmless" checking of Facebook and the more serious calling of your ex-bosses. You must be really looking dubious too for the employer to really bother to check up on you.

So it all depends.