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Reference details and CV do not match

Fiona

Hi - I wonder if I can have some feedback on a situation I find myself in?

I have recently recruited an HR Officer and they are in their probation period. We ask for two references as a condition of our offer and they have come back. One from the employee's last employer and one from the previous to last employer.

Both of the previous employers are Law Firms. The previous to last employer reference came back with a different role title and different date range (two years difference) to what has been written on the employee's CV, and they also stated the employee worked in a part-time capacity; not what had been written on the CV.

I phoned the referee to discuss their reference as I initially thought it was a mix up however they would not take my call and asked me to put my subsequent questions in writing. I wrote to the referee and explained that there may have been a mix up and could they please confirm that the reference they gave was correct - they wrote back to say it was correct and reflected what they had on file for the employee in question.

I explained this dilemma to the employee, they said it was a mistake and I asked if they wouldn't mind contacting the referee directly and asking them to cc me into the email me with a response. The employee agreed and said she would contact them straight away.

However the next day I got an email from the employee who had gone to her last employer and asked the person who provided a reference for them to look into the historical employment files they had and pull out the reference they had got from their previous to last employer when they took the job with them, and send it on to them so they could forward it to me as proof of their role at the previous to last employer. 

I now have the reference - the dates are still not accurate and the role title is more reflective of the role they have on their CV but not 100%  however I am uncomfortable using this because the person that wrote it back in 2013 no longer works for the Law firm that provided it. 

They also stated they had CIPD - Level 5 however when I revisited this and asked for proof as we still hadn't had it, they stated it was completed back in 1989/1990 and that the courses were called a different thing and they didn't have certified proof because IPD became Chartered. I asked the recruitment agency if they could validate any of this and they came back to say they had contacted CIPD and that this employee's name was not on record.

These feel like red flags to me but I don't want to over react.

Should I be worried?

Thanks in advance. Fi

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  • With regard the qualification, I did my Diploma in Personnel Management in 1999/2000 at a college that set its own exams rather than using the CIPD exams. I recently realised (having never been asked for it before) that I was never sent the Diploma certificate, only the Graduate membership certificate from the CIPD. Or if I was sent it, it vanished into the black hole that happened around the time when my house vanished under flood water and I had to move at very short notice! However the organisation that took over that college does not hold those records any more and so there's no way for me to get a copy. Luckily I've maintained my CIPD membership and moved up to Chartered status since then, so there's no real need for me to have that certificate or any reason for an employer to doubt my qualification, but it just shows how easy it is for such things to disappear into the mists of time.
  • in reply to Jacqueline
    Hi Jacqueline, a similar situation happened to me only much earlier - I sat the PG Dip in 1989 when I studied part-time at what was then the Polytechnic of Central London but I left London a couple of months later and never received the piece of paper. Like you I got Grad IPM status and certificate simultaneously and then upgraded to Member (later Chartered Member) so I simply provide that as evidence should I ever be required to do so. I now also have a nice certificate confirming 30 years of CIPD membership, (though surely some mistake, I can't be that old :) :))
  • in reply to Helen
    You got me down Memory Lane, Helen - spent most of my own Poly days at Titchfield Street Building, including a very memorable evening session down in that big basement when the Ents. Committee had excelled themselves even for them and signed up The Who to perform there. However, recall having to retreat to the empty classrooms above, as they were so very very painfully loud in that relatively confined space. So didn't see much of The Who in the end - or witness any of their ritual guitar - smashing.
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  • in reply to Helen
    You got me down Memory Lane, Helen - spent most of my own Poly days at Titchfield Street Building, including a very memorable evening session down in that big basement when the Ents. Committee had excelled themselves even for them and signed up The Who to perform there. However, recall having to retreat to the empty classrooms above, as they were so very very painfully loud in that relatively confined space. So didn't see much of The Who in the end - or witness any of their ritual guitar - smashing.
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