Recommending friends for jobs?

[Villanelle]

Have you recommended family or friends for jobs?  Does it make you nervous?  Do you (or would you) only do it if the friend was an absolute rock star in whom you have complete confidence, or would you do it for anyone in your life as long as you didn't have solid, active reasons to believe they'd fail?

[GuitarStv]

I've recommended friends for jobs at several different places I've worked, although never family (just never had the opportunity come up).  Usually there's a bonus in it for me if they get hired and stay on for at least six months.  I'd have no problems recommending anyone I thought was going to show up every day and try.  It's hard to determine if someone will be a 'rock star' candidate before they actually work the position - some things that seem like great fits don't turn out, and some that seem like a bit of a mismatch work out great.

[lifeandlimb]

I only recommend people whose work I can vouch for being of high quality. I consider it a reflection on my own work reputation, so I do it sparingly. If I haven't worked with the person, but think they are a good fit and are just recommending on the merit of their character, I will say so.
Likewise, I think it's important not to recommend friends for jobs or companies that I know are nightmare situations.

[Freedomin5]

I only recommend people whose work I can vouch for being of high quality. I consider it a reflection on my own work reputation, so I do it sparingly. If I haven't worked with the person, but think they are a good fit and are just recommending on the merit of their character, I will say so.
Likewise, I think it's important not to recommend friends for jobs or companies that I know are nightmare situations.

This is what I do too.

[Villanelle]

I only recommend people whose work I can vouch for being of high quality. I consider it a reflection on my own work reputation, so I do it sparingly. If I haven't worked with the person, but think they are a good fit and are just recommending on the merit of their character, I will say so.
Likewise, I think it's important not to recommend friends for jobs or companies that I know are nightmare situations.

This tends to be where I fall.  I do feel like it is a reflection of me.

I was inspired to ask this based partly on the recent updated to the thread about near-bankrupt in-laws, in which OP recommended MIL for some work and that really turned around their situation.  There is absolutely zero way I could recommend the person in my orbit who most needs a break, and employment.  I wouldn't even consider it.  But the post got me wondering where the line is. 

I suppose it also depends on the job.  Like, if a friend bought a fast food restaurant, I might recommend the teenage or college-student kid of another friend, based just on the fact that I've known them to be a reasonable, fairly responsible kid.  But for a professional position, it would take a lot more than that.

[Adventine]

I don't recall ever recommending friends to specific roles or employers. I have actually declined to be a reference to someone who I used to work with, and who I could not in good conscience say was a good employee.


I have, however, recommended to a friend that she apply to an organization she had not previously known about. I was briefly involved with the organization as a volunteer, and I thought my friend's skills and experience could be a good fit. But I was not involved with the hiring process and did not connect my friend to anyone specific. She applied to the company on her own. Happily, she still works there today.

[parkerk]

I recommend people for jobs whenever I can (which is quite often in my industry) and just make sure to give an accurate report of why I'm recommending them and what context I have for their skills. Sometimes it's "I've got direct knowledge of this person's skills relevant to the job and I know they'd be good at it." Other times it's "I know this person is looking for this type of work, I can't speak to their skills for the job but I know they're [friendly/personable/other positive quality I do have direct knowledge of]." The only time I don't recommend people is if I have reason to believe they'd be bad for the job or they're like a total asshole or something.

If they get the job and it doesn't work out I don't really feel like it reflects badly on me? A recommendation is just a single step in getting a job and usually an early one, they still have to go through the hiring process like anyone else so there's ample opportunity for everyone involved to make sure it's a good fit.

[use2betrix]

I do so, very sparingly. When I am used as a reference, I am generally positive unless a person was particularly bad, in which case I’d be more vague.

There are very few people I would go out of my way for and reach out to other employers to try and get them jobs. I have for, in the past however, and it’s generally gone well.

My father in law and I work in the same industry in similar positions and we have both got each other jobs on several occasions. I actually knew him before my wife (12 years ago) and he introduced me to her.

I find a big difference between giving a good review in a reference call, vs going out of my way to another professional contact and reaching out to get someone a job. That list is about 200 people I’d vouche for in reviews, vs maybe a handful of go out of my way to get a job.

[GilesMM]

I once was asked to recommend a friend for a federal job.  We were buddies in college but had never worked together professionally.  She had quit her industry job to raise a kid and was trying to re-enter the workforce about ten years later.  I explained my limitations to her and she said a man would call me.  He called and made small talk and asked how I knew her. I explained the circumstances and said I had no doubt she could do a good job at his agency based on my limited knowledge.  He laughed and said it didn't matter as he had already decided to hire her and just needed a name to put on his form.  And that was that.

[curious_george]

I only recommend people whose work I can vouch for being of high quality. I consider it a reflection on my own work reputation, so I do it sparingly. If I haven't worked with the person, but think they are a good fit and are just recommending on the merit of their character, I will say so.
Likewise, I think it's important not to recommend friends for jobs or companies that I know are nightmare situations.

This is what I do.

I actually work with a couple people at my current company I have worked with at my previous company and recommended at my current company. So I have been working with the same core group of people for around a dozen years now because we all quit our last company the same year and moved companies.

I was the first one that switched companies, then recommended the other engineers and they followed.

This also gives me a certain amount of political leverage at my current company, because the manager knows all of us and realizes if he causes too much stress for us we may just quit together and find somewhere else to work.

He also realizes I'm the first one to not tolerate shit so it makes it very easy for me to setup strong work boundaries and have an absurd amount of flexibility and autonomy at work. :)

[tygertygertyger]

I've recommended a couple of friends for jobs, and I had reason to regret it... nothing serious, but enough to make me question the decision.

In one case, I told someone to use my name as a reference for freelance writing for my company. It was a different department than the one I worked in, and everything was going well for a while. Then one day someone tracked me down in the hall to say that they'd reached out to my friend but he hadn't responded or confirmed that he was going to meet a deadline. I was like, okay, I'll check with him. When I did, he said he hadn't realized he needed to reply to the email, as he intended to meet the deadline. I was like, Go write that email now! Not a big deal, but I was surprised that my colleagues (who I barely knew) would track me down. Also I was shocked that my friend wouldn't know the etiquette to respond to emails in the affirmative!

In another case (same company!), we were hiring for an open-ended temp position in my department, and I recommended a female friend that I knew was an awesome worker. My friend ended up having a major personality clash with my boss... again nothing blew up, but it felt awkward to me for most of the time we all worked together. It was clear that neither liked the other. My friend started dating someone else at the company while temping there, which was also noticed by my boss as friend would go on frequent breaks to chat with them. But, my friend was used to working much harder (and with much less supervision), and we didn't have all that much for her to do. Still, seeing her on yet another break as we all sat in our department meeting was... yep, weird.

After those experiences, I told myself I would never recommend anyone for a job again. Sharing these examples because I'd expect that many cases would more likely go wrong in a more spectacular way, but this was uncomfortable enough for me.

ETA: I should say that I'll never recommend someone for a job at a company where I am an employee! But I would give recommendations happily if they're applying to a different organization.

[seattlecyclone]

I've referred tons of people for jobs. I'll happily do this as a favor to anyone I know as long as I have no strong reason to recommend against hiring them. At least at the places I've worked a referral is just an entry point to the hiring process; they still need to go through a whole set of interviews where they'll be treated the same as any other candidate.

[simonsez]

There is a scale at play, at least for me.  If it's entry level or not that far removed from it, those people are more easily replaceable and if I know someone that could be a good fit, I don't have too many reservations about putting in a good word or whatever assuming the person I'm vouching for would be solid.  Using a school grade scale, I'd have no problem recommending a "B" or higher person.

If you're talking more the middle or higher rungs, I find those people aren't usually the ones who would need my help as they tend to be more independent go-getters already.  But sometimes it's all about getting a foot in an otherwise unfair door and in the case there is such a higher up position that is relevant to me and my input would have value, that person would need to be an "A-" or higher.  The risk is higher to my personal reputation so I'd be more choosy.

That's mostly dealing with the supply side of the equation, i.e. the person you know looking for a job.  If you know the specific demands of the hiring person or entity, there's nuance and that might alter my vouching process.  E.g. A person might be an A+ in general for something in a field, but at a particular firm or for a particular boss, they wouldn't be a good fit.  In that case I'd probably pass that intel along to my friend or family member just so they know it's not me that thinks they're an idiot, I just don't think the fit makes sense as even if they got the job they might be miserable and moving on in 6 months anyway (so might as well not waste the person's time).  You might not always know the "demand" side intel but if you do, it might change my recommendation.