Does anyone know Cisco policy on job references? Im wondering if my manager would even provide a reference or is allowed to or if its standard policy where companies only provide info to a prospective employer from calling HR or and getting only job title, dates of employment info and thats it.
11 replies (most recent on top)
@kc+1jm3xtxxd, I had a manager who wouldn’t give me a reference “as my manager” at Cisco, but he was willing to provide his mobile # & non-work email address to be a reference as someone who was my previous manager & could speak to my performance.
But references seem to be a thing of the past. The last time I had a recruiter tell me they couldn’t move forward w/o me providing references never did contact any of the references I provided. Given I got the job, I can only assume the “test” was if I had any.
The company policy does not matter. If your manager does not provide a reference for you stating its against “company policy” then that’s all you need to know about your performance. The backdoor reference is how other companies find out about your “real performance”. Every company does it
A lot of companies don't even check if you have a criminal record or are convicted abuser. You can even sue Cisco for wrongful dismissal after a jail sentence and they will pay you/settle and not even check
Cisco’s policy is to only provide dates of employment. They won’t even say how/why you left, and I think they won’t even disclose if you are rehire able or not.
The VOE mentioned in the comments is useless. Most companies, including Cisco depend on your background check to prove employment history.
After being LR’d from Cisco & working somewhere for a year & returning as a contractor for 3-4 years, I was able to convert to an employee again. Somehow the third-party doing my background check couldn’t verify my dates of employment AT Cisco. I sent them Cisco’s own VOE & they said they needed a first & last paystub OR a copy of my tax returns for the first & last years I worked at Cisco. Because Cisco’s HR had changed HR systems to Workday, they only migrated active employee’s records so mine were not avail to get the first & last paystubs so I had to request copies from the IRS. Yet Cisco’s HR could see I had been an employee, they couldn’t tell that third-party to ignore that one period, or provide evidence to the third/party, so it was on me to prove I worked at Cisco or fail the background investigation & not get hired!
@ce+1jm3xtxxd, there should have been something in your LR paperwork about requesting a verification of employment letter (VOE) during your 30 days of absence.
If you voluntarily left, then you need to call HR to request it. The standard 408 Help Desk # has an option for HR. Or look up & call the public ally published Cisco 800 # & an operator will connect you to HR. This is pretty much the same process to follow to get access to your final paystub and/or year-end tax documents since ADP goes through the Trusted Device/Duo auth dance & you no longer have a trusted device.
My recommendation is to request multiple versions:
- One with only your dates of employment (to send to companies if they need it).
- One with dates & job titles for your use that, maybe you can share with employers if you need to.
- One with dates, titles, & salary info. This is for your use only!
Employee and employer referral are things of the past, kid. No more asking or checking references as they are meaningless. There are plenty of ways to get rid of badly performing employees if they lied and somehow, able to get in. Plenty of ways to validate what is on resume during interviews, and verifying employment dates, position and certifications etc.
Don't pi-s off the manager and maybe they will. However, don't expect a manager to take on that legal burden. Nobody wants someone mad at the company suing them for some garbage reason. Seriously, there's not one person at cisco I would give a reference to because of this. cisco can own doing that.
Employees can verify their employment using voe.cisco.com portal.
It asks for a login. How does one access this site, once outside Cisco? Any phone number or way to get this emailed to those outside?
KFC doesn't ask for references, they just want you to show up on time, and make enough Original Recipe and Extra Krispy.
standard policy for most companies now is that they will confirm employment only, no judgements or opinions
this is because in the past, there have been instances of successful defamation lawsuits resulting from bad references (this actually happened at a previous company I worked at when an employee used a company phone to give someone a bad reference)
if you want someone to give you a reference, at this point they need to do it personally on personal phones/emails or they put themselves at risk
most employers don't bother with checking references any more for this reason
https://x.com/USArmy/status/1890490320313286788