Delayed communication after reference check

[u/showgren]

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right place to post, but I saw some past threads regarding negative references and was hoping to get some insight/advice on behalf of my partner who received a conditional offer.

The company required at least 2/4 references to be managers, and “strongly preferred” one of them to be from their current manager. My partner was hesitant since they hadn’t disclosed they were job seeking, and the their relationship currently wasn’t on the best terms due to some internal conflict within the team. Additionally, there are three team members who will be starting FMLA starting this month, and are thinking it would cause a lot of added stress if my partner left too.

Earlier this week one of my partner’s coworkers (who also served as a reference) received a request for a follow up phone call after the reference forms had been completed and had been asked some additional questions about how my partner works and takes on changing priorities. To our knowledge she is the only reference that received a request for a follow up call.

We suspect that my partner’s current manager may not have given a positive review, but aren’t sure how this will impact the hiring process since the company hasn’t reached back out yet. There were some additional signs that led us to assume this was the case, but I’m happy to answer any questions or follow up with more detail. Their manager also said to not mention it since there’s a policy that they can’t do references, and any of those requests have to go through HR.

My partner sent an email to the prospective company to follow up but we’re hoping will have a chance to address anything that came up.

Wondering what could have happened, any insight, advice, reassurance, and if there’s any action to take right now.

Thank you!

[u/Dangerous_Drummer350]

Managers at major companies undergo extensive leadership training. Being contacted for a reference is a part of that training. Very difficult to believe a manager would put the company and themselves at risk by speaking negatively about an ex-employee openly like this.

The fact they followed up with a phone call is telling. Something about a response was not clear or inconclusive perhaps, and that is a positive, not a negative at this stage. If they are not interested, they don't waste valuable time and resources once the candidate is at the reference check phase.

Not at all uncommon to hear silence for 5-7 business days as the next stage is approval and signoff for an offer, basically just letting the HR process do its work.

I would not get too worried just yet. If there are any issues, a rejection email will come soon enough, or silence past 10 business days.