Getting references from your current employer can be risky

Q: I have two questions about references. First, I would like to use my current boss and co-workers as references. What's your advice about that? Second, some companies actually expect references from a current boss. Do I have to provide these?

Nick's reply: This is a sticky topic. Your current boss and buddies at work might be your best references, but if you let them know you're interviewing elsewhere, that could jeopardize your current job.

Let's take your questions one at a time. You can indeed ask people you work with for references, but you must accept the risks. Once they find out you're job-hunting, you might be tagged as a dissatisfied employee and if there's a layoff, you could wind up at the top of the termination list. Resentment could reveal itself in other ways: Your co-workers might shun you, or they might give lousy references when you expected good ones.

If you trust your manager and co-workers, that's up to you. Test the waters by asking your best prospects whether they have ever been asked to provide references and how they handled it.

Must you provide references from your current company if another employer asks? Absolutely not, for the same reasons we discussed. The new company has no right to put your present job in jeopardy. If you prefer not to provide such references, you can and should decline. Most companies understand this and are usually willing to talk only with references from prior employers.

But there might be an alternative in both cases. (Again, you must use your judgment.) Consider as potential current references a vendor or customer you deal with and trust. Select them carefully, or you may offend someone. Recent co-workers and bosses who have moved on to other companies are good choices, and so are people who know you in a professional context but don't actually work with you (credible consultants, for example).

There's a variety of references you can use to help you land a new job. Just make sure your references don't cost you your current job!

The headhunter tip:

Don't be a cow

A business associate of mine claims that 80 percent of people are cows.

Cows stand around chewing their cud, clueless about the world around them. They all look and act alike. You couldn't tell that any one of them has an original thought of its own.

Nothing seems to motivate them. Cars whiz by at amazing speeds; cows don't even look up. When you push them, they go wherever you want. (It's rumored that when they're sleeping, you can tip them over.)

They lead mundane, uneventful lives. And they couldn't care less. They follow the unspoken cow rules. They submit to being herded here and there. In the end, if you've seen one, you've seen them all.

After you've interviewed 80 or 100 job candidates, you come to the conclusion that my friend is right. That's why managers move on to better job candidates.

Don't be a cow.

Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job," and host of www.asktheheadhunter.com.

He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.