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Comment by giantg2 | Hacker News Reader

My company won't give references and won't even allow managers to give a reference. They also blacklist you, so when you do leave you won't be allowed to come back.

If that's the way they play it, my plan if I get a new job is to simply ghost my current one.

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> My company won't give references and won't even allow managers to give a reference.

Most sensible companies these days will only do one of the following:

      (a) Give no reference; or
      (b) Give a factual reference (i.e. dates employed, job role(s) and, erm... that's it).

Providing more information, especially in non-US countries where employment and privacy law is on the side of the employee is only inviting the opening of cans of worms.

That's understandable, if that's the only thing. But that plus being blacklisted seems like the company isn't just concerned about employee privacy. Not to mention, even if the employee asks a manager for a letter of recommendation or reference, there would be no privacy concern and the company considers that a fireable offense for the manager if they give one.

Seems like anticompetitive behavior to me.

(b) was policy from HR at my last employer and I would always forward HR any reference I wrote for employees for review before sending to make sure it complied with their requirements.

There was more flexibilty for reference letters written for summer interns but that was a more informal process.

My $0.02, something that has taken me a long time to accept: never burn bridges.

What bridge? There's no bridge if you're blacklisted.

There is with your colleagues.

2 years down the line imagine you're in line for your dream job. Manager's about to pull the trigger, and they see that Joe also worked with you at Acme Consulting.

'Hey Joe, we're thinking of hiring giantg, what's your thoughts?'

'giantg? Yeah he was good, but then one day he just didn't turn up for work. Not sure what he did...'

Eh, I'll never be promoted so it doesn't really matter. I highly doubt any of the people on my current team would also somehow work at the same company if we were to both leave.

The important part here is that if my company tells my old coworkers why I left or the circumstances around it, that would be a violation of employee privacy and a violation of their own policies. Lawyer please.

Yeah, that 'important' part, never going to happen. Good luck wasting your money on that! Also, they don't need to say anything, a lot of people will just assume you got fired for gross incompetence because that's what usually causes people who disappear overnight.

And it's not about your team it's everyone in your company. Plus potentially a bunch of their friends they mention the story to.

"Hey Joe, didn't you tell me about a guy called Giant who just disappeared one day when you worked at Acme? Was it Giant G?"

"Yeah, it was, why?"

"Oh, he's popped up as a potential hire, I'll tell HR to nix him"

I guess it really depends on the size of your local market, but in my area I've bumped into multiple people more than once across jobs/contracts/meetups/etc.

The company is big and most people wouldn't know I left. The one that you claim in the scenario that works at the same new company would probably have talked together at some point in the new company if we were alums.

Waste what money? If it's a good case, then it would be handled on a contingent basis.

Frankly, I'm tired off all the BS prestige and reputation. I have plenty of people that have a high opinion of me and that wouldn't change with this scenario. People who did find out would message me to ask what happened. I actually ran this scenario by a friend at the company and they said it makes sense and they would do the same thing. It's stupid that promotions and hiring is all about backroom deals and bias.

You can still maintain a healthy relationship with your colleagues outside of work.

Yeah, but this wouldn't impact that.

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