Referral Request ... from unqualified candidates

sieff

Happy New Year and much success for 2013!

I've been asked recently to forward resumes to HR or hiring managers at either my current or previous employer. Initially I was okay with doing this based on surface knowledge of their background and even knowing one guy personally. I followed up by requesting a copy of their resumes. I see that their experience is pretty limited in regards to what it takes to work in a consultant type of role. Granted everyone has to start from somewhere, but I've noticed recently that hiring managers want "Senior" level talent right out of the gate for positions nowadays.

I don't want to be rude and critique their resumes, but I don't want to lose my credibility by forwarding resumes that aren't up to par.

Ex: One guy lists experience with all Cisco VoIP applications. I provided this guy admin training at a site that I deployed, so I'm pretty sure his level of knowledge doesn't jive with what's listed on his CV.

Another guy has 20 years experience in Nortel Telecom and has a CCT (Cisco Certified Technician) had to look that cert up... numerous typos and misuse of formatting in his resume and I'm willing to bet that alot of the Cisco gear and install experience he mentioned is fluff. A person in the field with hands-on knowledge would use better terminology.

Any suggestions other than telling these guys to just submit the resumes online and hope for the best?

jmritenour

My rule is if I know someone personally, and I can vouch for them, I have no problem going to bat for them. If I don't know them that well (or don't believe they are up to snuff), I tactfully tell them that I really don't feel comfortable referring them, and they need to go follow the normal application process.

I've worked with way too many technically inept people over the years who got a job because of who they know, and I'm adamant about not wanting to flood the field with more of the same.

apr911

Another option would be to forward them on to the hiring manager as requested and inform the hiring manager how well you know the person, how familiar you are with the persons technical expertise and to what level you do or do not vouch for the person.

Ive done this on a few occasions and my current company even accounts for this... For any referral we are asked to rate the candidate on their technical skills and/or how well we know them...

i.e.
On a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best) how would you rate this persons technical skills/ability to perform the job being applied for?
On a scale of 1 (barely) to 5 (extensively) how well do you know this candidate?
Have you worked with this candidate in the past?
On a scale of 1 (Strong NO) to 10 (Strong Yes) would you recommend/vouch for this person for this position?


If your upfront and honest with the hiring manager than you shouldnt lose any credibility and everybody wins... The hiring manager receives a potential candidate that at bare minimum has some acquaintance/relationship with current employee(s), you maintain your credibility with the hiring manager while also maintaining the relationship and ability to ask for similar assistance from your friend/acquaintance, your friend/acquaintances resume gets placed in front of an actual person (and not weeded out by automated systems) and may be favored over a similarly qualified applicant with no referral.

W Stewart

I've found myself in a related situation and only recently did I gain the common sense to make the right decision. My company is hiring for a NOC tech. They were hiring for two NOC techs but they hired me and even made me a Jr Admin because they were so impressed with my knowledge. I've been here for about two and a half months now and have 3 friends/associates that I've been considering recommending. One of them is my age. He's dating my sister and I helped him get a job at a Dell call center that I used to work at after he moved down here from Georgia. He probably doesn't have all of the knowledge required to do this job. He planned on getting into It long before me and was working at his dads shop for about 3 years but I've always been pretty motivated so I've made it to where I am within a year and a half and Now give him advice on how to get to where he wants to be career-wise. I'd really like to help him get a job here because he would be pretty much set but I wouldn't be doing the company any favors as they've already hired one guy who admittedly doesn't know everything he needs to know to work here but he was friends with the manager at the time. I've got two other friends who worked at my previous job and both probably know enough to work here although neither of them worked as hard as I did or picked up on anything as fast as me. I solved issues that nobody at my previous job was able to solve after about 6 months of being there. I've decided to recommend one guy over the other because I know the other guy also has anger issues and work ethic issues which were part of why he is no longer working at my previous job. The guy I'm recommending is still working there but wants out because he can't stand the new manager. Either way he is the only guy I know I would feel comfortable vouching for. He knows what he needs to know to work here and he's laid back enough to get along with everybody.

Just remember that you're putting your reputation on the line when you vouch for someone so be careful who you recommend.