Ever had the feeling you just weren’t the kind of person someone had in mind when they designed a form?
A couple of weeks back I was filling in such a form which was asking for details of all the companies I’ve worked for over the last 5 or so years. In addition, they wanted contact details for my line managers at those places of work.
Hmmm, you kind of know they want to get references from these places which is difficult when your current company is your own and the previous one was joint-founded by you and others. I just knew as I wrote the details down it wasn’t going to work. Sure enough…..
“Could we please have contact details for business referees that can confirm Mr Creswell’s involvement with Lone Crusader Ltd“.
There now, wouldn’t it just have been eaasier to do what everyone else does and ask for referees rather than last places of work and line management? 
Being outside the demographic is sometimes a compliment and sometimes a curse…….
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March 14th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
I know exactly what you mean. I took a year off of my career as a software developer and became tour manager of a rock band. It was a great year–my friends’ careers as rock stars took off, and they released a platinum selling album.
After a year, I got tired of travelling and came back to software.
Recently I needed to undergo a background check for one of my customers (a very picky finance customer). I had to fill out the same kind of form you did, never thinking they’d actually check all of the references.
A few days later, I got a call from someone at the firm: “Mr. Ciruli, we’re having trouble contacting one of your former employers. Mr. of Incorporated has not responded to our calls.”
It totally cracked me up–this lady had no idea she was trying to get in touch with a rock musician!
(BTW - I had him call her back, and he gave me a glowing rec, of course!)