Contacting Past Employers Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if firm's you're interviewing with ever contact past employers without letting you know beforehand? I am a 3L who just had a callback with a firm, and they never asked me for references, and I'd rather them not contact the firm I summered with (they don't know I'm shopping around), but I don't want them to be surprised either if a firm calls them up and asks for a reference.

[kahechsof]

So give them your friends number and say it's the partner you worked a lot with.

[Anonymous User]

They haven't asked for references--the question is will they call the employer on their own without telling me first.

[Anonymous User]

They haven't asked for references--the question is will they call the employer on their own without telling me first.

If they asked if you received an offer and you said yes, that is probably the extent of it.

[zomginternets]

Did the firm you summered with give you an offer? (I presume so otherwise I'm guessing you wouldn't care if they were contacted or not). If so, and if the firm you interviewed with knows that, I highly doubt they will contact them at all--I'm sure they know that that would put you in an really awkward position with your summer firm and complicate matters for you if they decided not to make you an offer. I would be shocked and very upset if a firm did that to me, and especially if they did not tell me first. If they contact anyone, it'll probably just be your 1L employer.

Edit: Anon 6:11pm beat me to it

[Anonymous User]

Yes, I did get an offer. I figured they'd be concerned with possibly putting me in an awkward spot, but I also thought that it must be important for firms hiring 3Ls to contact references, since they didn't get to work with those students during a summer. That's why I was surprised when they never asked me for refs.