Hi all,
Could I pick your brain for advice with regards to references, CV writing and recruiting, please?
I am looking into changing jobs. I have a CV almost ready, bar the references, and three referees: one from former place of work (not a dental professional) and two dental professionals, the first one is a former colleague (associate dentist) who has since left the practice, and the other is a colleague from my current workplace (associate dentist) who is fully supportive of me and will give me an excellent reference, but she is currently on a maternity leave. My questions are:
1.) Must in include my current employer in the reference section with her name and the practice contact details (address, phone number and email address)? If yes, at what stage of the recruiting process would a prospective employer generally contact my current employer for references? Before they make me a job offer? After I have accepted a job offer?
2.) Does it come across as dodgy if do not include my current employer as a referee into the reference section at all?
3.) Will I end up putting my colleague at the current workplace in an awkward position if I use her as my referee at the current practice? (Background: she has said yes, she is happy to be my referee; she has given references to several ex-nurse colleagues in the past and she still works at the practice and is well able to hold her own!)
4.) Can I just use the name of the associate dentist at my current workplace, her position at the practice and the practice name & address in my CV, but just add her personal phone number and email address instead of the practice contact details?
It is not that I don't like my employer and that she would not give me a great reference, on the contrary, it is just that I prefer her and everyone else finding out that I'll be leaving only after I have accepted a job offer. We have not got personal email addresses for staff at work, only one inbox for all incoming/outgoing email correspondence and all reception and clinical staff can theoretically access it. I cannot even ask any of my former nurse colleagues for advice as they are still chummy with my current work colleagues so the news would most certainly come out too soon.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, please!
Thank you in advance.
