Pre-Employment reference/work history checks

[softserve9898]

Hi everyone,

I'm a non-trad student so have had some work experience before med school. I was wondering if residencies contact previous employers along with the typical verifying old dates of employment, etc. Do they also conduct reference checks? There is one employer I'm worried won't give me the most stellar reference (nothing nefarious or anything, just didn't really get along with my boss that well).

I ask this because one program I was interested in explicitly says on their website that you don't get hired until after the background and reference check. What references are they referring to? I'm assuming not letter writers from med school?

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[ithd]

As far as ERAS goes, there's no space to fill out the supervisor's phone and email address (unlike AMCAS which asked for those details). They'll have to do their own digging for contact info, which seems like a waste of their time. I could be wrong, though.

 

[GoSpursGo]

You are way overthinking this. That language is probably some standard message that is attached to all new hires at their hospital system but in practice doesn't really apply to physicians.

Think of it this way--do you think they are going to care more about the opinions of the physicians writing your letters of rec, or some middle-management boss from 5 years ago?

 

[smukke]

You're freaking out over nothing. My contract included the same language and none of mine were contacted.

Also most HRs have a policy of only verifying employment dates as a CYA measure (and reference checkers get around it by asking if the former employee is eligible for rehire, which can show whether you left in fair terms or were fired for cause). Most states don't have laws that prevent a former employer from releasing potentially negative information as long as it is factually correct but many companies shy away from it because it is often more trouble than it is worth (ie the company lawyers warned them of potential defamation suits). Most of my former employers even had policies that prevented anything more than employment date and salary verification being released unless you specifically authorized it in writing.