What's the deal with requiring supervisor references??

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I applied for a part time position that I am VERY interested in, however they are hassling me because they want supervisor references from my previous employers. I have explained that most if them no longer work for those companies, and the one I have currently cannot. My employer has HR provide the reference only.

Now they want the personal contact information for my former managers. Uh I didn't get that close with most of my managers, not to mention some of these jobs are from 8 years ago! Has anyone else dealt with this nonsense before? I'm so frustrated, and hoping something works out.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

They are operating on the valid premise that the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. But it is a very weak way to operationalize this. It is unlikely that any ex supervisor will be completely objective, even if they do remember you. Evaluating an applicant's level of expertise is an important part of the hiring process, but there are much better ways to do this - like training interviewers in Behavioral Interviewing techniques.

OK - just want to point out something. There is no way that they are going to be able to determine if John Doe was actually your supervisor at a previous job... so if you provide John Doe's contact information and he gives you a great reference, they will have to take it at face value. Not suggesting anything, just pointing this out . . . .