Re: What to do about a recommendation?
Gene Kim=Eng wrote:
"conducting that honest end-of-contract
review should put an end to any desire the contractor
may have for references."
**************
Or any desire to work for this company again.
Failure to deal with a problem directly and immediately is plain old sloppy
human resource management. The issue here is not that the contractor's work
or person is sloppy and doesn't fit -- contractors are human resources and
deserve the same management and direction that "real" employees receive even
if it might need to be filtered through an agency.
Dori's right on this one...it is an HR problem. From subsequent postings by the original posters, it appears that the problem was more of a personality clash than anything else. It's easy to say that the quality of work was not up to standards, especially when there is a communication problem between the permanent writer and the contract writer. We understand that the contract writer had a hard time listening to suggestions, but we don't know how those suggestions were made. There are a lot of dynamics that go on between team members and they all affect relationships and perceptions members have of each other. I've worked on a few projects as a contractor where team dynamics were minimal or non-existent. In these few cases, it was always the "contractor's fault" that products either did not make deadline, or was not of the highest quality. Blaming the contractor at the end of the contract is easy...we're gone. Accepting responsibility is a bit more difficult.
As for references....I never asked for a reference from an organization where I didn't have an excellent working relationship. (Were are speaking working as a contractor and not a permanent staff member.) I also asked them as a business person and not as an employee unless I was working for a contracting agency. I those cases, my formal references would come through them. However, I also occasional asked an onsite manager if they would be willing to be a personal professional reference if I needed one. In these cases, the managers had also became personal friends and they understood that I would use them in only that capacity and not as a representative of their employer.
Al
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