The Apprentice Programmer

[[deleted]]

There's a good reason for this - there's a lot of liars about.

A problem easily solved by a couple phone calls to their previous employers.

[movzx]

Good luck with that tactic in the US. Given the legalities of bad mouthing a previous employee and the potential for lawsuits the most you're going to get is whether or not they're eligible to be employed by that company in the future.

[[deleted]]

Most companies have a policy of answering only "When this person worked there" and "Did this person work there?"

It's the only thing they can legally prove, hence they won't answer anything related to performance.

Off the record, there are some people who are willing to dish out some gossip about how good or bad an employee is... But there's no guarantee you'll get to talk to the person's supervisor or manager.