Negotiating a fair severance package is common when a person involuntarily leaves a company. But how should you go about this?
When negotiating a professional reference, a person needs to confirm if he or she is eligible for rehiring, what is the specific reason for losing the job and, if the employer will provide a reference, what exactly is going to be said? Like any negotiation, Allison recommends getting the answers to these questions in writing.
Job seekers also need to know who is going to be providing the professional reference, for it is not just what is said but how it is said. A reference’s voice inflection can tell a prospective employer a lot about a person’s true feelings.
“In many instances, it’s best for a human resources executive without emotional ties to a former employee to provide the reference,” Allison said. “The worst case is an emotional boss who one day may provide a favorable reference and the next day the opposite just because he or she may be having a bad day.”
If there is a concern that a former boss may say something derogatory or untrue about a former employee when asked for a professional reference, the human resources department should be contacted to clarify the company’s reference policy.
“Believe it or not, many managers don’t know the official reference policy of a company and inadvertently say too much,” Allison said. “Someone in human resources needs to remind them of the rules, which force former bosses to temper their comments.”