Whether you leave a job on your own or against your will, it’s likely that a potential new employer will contact your former company to get some information about you.
“Too many people think a company can say what it wants,” says Dr. Ramona Collins of the Kansinton Institute. “In fact, what they’re able to say is very specific according to the laws of most states.” The Institute has compiled a list of the nine main things a business can and cannot divulge about former staffers:
- It CANNOT reveal your shoe size; it CAN provide a range within two sizes – for instance, between 9 and 11.
- It CAN tell them if you’re supposed to eat only gluten free foods; it CANNOT say if you are lactose intolerant.
- It CAN say whether or not you whistled in the workplace; it CANNOT name any of the tunes, unless they are songs from “Oklahoma” and “West Side Story”
- It CANNOT reveal if you are either a self-starter or a consensus-builder; it CAN say how long it takes you to get out of the gate.
- It CAN say whether or not you kept plants on your desk; it CANNOT reveal how often you watered them.
- It CANNOT identify your office nickname, unless it is “Skipper,” “Butch,” or “Steve;” it CAN let the new company know how often co-workers played office pranks on you – for instance, taping a “Kick Me!” sign to your back.
- It CANNOT reveal how much you have in your 401K savings plan; it CAN provide the account number and password.
- It CAN divulge how often you engaged colleagues in conversation about your gas mileage; it CANNOT reveal your miles per gallon.
- It CAN inform the prospective employer whether you wrapped up meetings by saying “To sum things up” or “At the end of the day.”
