Monday, February 23, 2004, 7:57:49 AM, you wrote:

CS> Wouldn't it be acceptable to serve as a personal reference, instead of
CS> an "employment reference"?  What if I made contact outside of work hours
CS> and spoke of my personal contact with this former employee?  Do others
CS> see a distinction here?

I'm not a lawyer, but I'll simply say that I'll say much more, both
good and bad, in a telephone reference check than I will on paper. I'm
also one who follows a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in reference
checks by either method.  Let's say JoeBob is a Serials Dept. Head.
If you ask me only about how well he knows serials, I will not tell
you how he is as a manager. If you want to know if he's a good
manager, you'd better ask me.  Could be that he's a great serials
guru, but can't manage his way out of a paper bag.

dan

--
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan@RiverOfData.com 208-283-7711
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  Have you forgotten 9/11?