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Are reference letters no longer done in Germany? When I was there that was how this was done. Basically you would always get a reference letter when ending emp
by tharkun__ 4y ago
Are reference letters no longer done in Germany?
When I was there that was how this was done. Basically you would always get a reference letter when ending employment. The reference letter's language always sounds good, as in not giving a bad reference. However, a reference letter that states things like "employee X delivered his tasks on time and to the satisfaction of work standards" basically means that he's a slacker that does mediocre work at best. It has to say something like "We are ultimately saddened for employee X leaving because he always delivered his work early and to the highest standard thinkable". These are bad made-up English language examples to show the difference in language but there's basically template language HR departments use for this.
- _nalply 4y agoYes, this was a thing already thirty years ago. There's even a term for them: coded reference letters. I even got a reference letter explicitly declaring that it doesn't contain hidden codes. https://www.arbeitszeugnis.de/presse/geheimcodeliste.pdf https://www.arbeitszeugnis.de/presse/geheimcodeliste.pdf (German) This shows that there's a conflict: law forbids to discriminate someone with a bad review of their capability, motivation or fitness. But people always seem to try to work around this prohibition. Like giving a friendly declaration that someone worked at a company if they weren't impressed and give an enthusiastic recommendation in the other case.
- biztos 4y agoThey are still a thing, though I don't know how common. My own experience on leaving a big company fairly recently was they were available if you wanted one, and you were expected to write your own and submit it for approval, in German and/or English at your discretion. I didn't bother, but if my future plans had included being an employee at a big company in Germany I definitely would have done so.
- nibbleshifter 4y agoI never got a reference letter when leaving at any of my German employers, but when references were checked that's how it worked - the language would either be explicitly good, or "neutral good" meaning bad.