Dealing with resume referrals?

[2cherry]

I'm currently living stealth, and I want to keep it that way.

But now I encounter a major problem. How to deal with resume referrals? I assume my employer wants to call my past employers to check on me. Nothing wrong with that, but my name has changed and I'm a female, not a male.

After cutting through all this red tape to get my name and gender changed, I now find that when you're stealth you run into a bazillion of these things that might blow my stealth status. Which can be dangerous for me, as I just moved town.

I wonder if anyone has encountered the same issue? and how did you deal with it?

[FTMax]

I pruned my resume and list of references, and in lieu of that I contacted HR at those locations and had them make a note in my employee file. I also had my transcripts updated at every school I went to, so they have my current name.

Most of the stuff on my resume, I'm still friends with or in touch with those employers. They are all aware of my transition. The few people I've chosen as references are all aware that they are listed as references and that I don't want to be out to potential employers.

It really depends on the kinds of places you used to work at. Most of mine were big places, and instead of calling an individual manager as a "reference", a potential employer calls HR to see if I was employed there, how long, why I left, and if there were any disciplinary issues.

At a smaller employer or small business, that HR function may fall to the owner or a manager. I'd say either get in touch with them and let them know, or worst case scenario remove them from your resume. If there's no background check, there's no need to list all of your experience on your resume.

[Nicole]

I ran my own business for a few years, when hiring I liked it more when I was given references that were work mates and not a manager.
The reason was you know someone better when you've worked with them than if they worked for you.

In your position I would call your past work places and speak to someone there, if you're still friends with someone there, use them, just say that they've had a bit of changes over the years

[LizMarie]

You don't have many options here.

I continue to contend that true stealth simply is not possible in this day and age, unless someone transitions while a child. Then a simple identity change, plus birth certificate update (with or without SRS, depending) and no one will ever know. High school records will be in the correct gender, as well as college, and all jobs.

But in your situation, you have few options. You basically have to trust someone, or stop using those job references entirely, which would probably harm both your chances of finding work and your resultant salary.

I really don't see any other way out of this. Perhaps someone else has a better idea?

[iKate]

They will find out from the background check, which a lot of employers are doing now. They usually pull your credit and other stuff.

Best option is to keep it up front with your manager and HR. They don't have to let your other coworkers know.

As for referrals, I've given a good few as I was a department supervisor at a past job and I am a department manager now. I respect people's identity but I've never (knowingly) had to give one for a trans person. However I don't really dig into people's personal data such as immigration status and similar, just the job they did.

Usually the reference call verifies the name and position as well as any comments. I give an honest assessment. However, I tell people who were lousy at their job don't waste their time asking me for a reference because I'll give them a bad one. I've had to do that once or twice and they said don't bother.

[iKate]

To give you an idea of what is possible, there is a site called "thatsthem"

Google it. I probably can't post the link due to site rules. I wouldn't want to link them anyway.

They pull all sorts of old data from everywhere.