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[svenc]

No.  In any case, reference letters are generally considered confidential.

If you are worried about the content of a recommendation, choose different references next time.

[speedstick]

Thanks a million. Will relax about this for the moment because the Australian Open has now begun and I'm a tennis junky.

[speedstick]

Has anyone ever secretly tested a reference to see what he or she might say to a prospective employer?

[bacardiandlime]

Has anyone ever secretly tested a reference to see what he or she might say to a prospective employer?

Try calling and asking about the Serpent's Tooth.

[speedstick]

Sorry, I have no clue what the Serpent's Tooth refers to or is in aide of

[sciencephd]

Has anyone ever secretly tested a reference to see what he or she might say to a prospective employer?

No wonder you're worried about your references !

[speedstick]

Well, setting the thinly veiled hostilities aside, of which there are only a few, I am grateful for the remarks, as I'm now fairly 'clear' on the vagaries of committee searcges. I currently work in the financial industry as a way to stay active until I land a job in uni admin. For the former, the salary issues precipitating my departure from my previous empoyment are moot, if not positive, but for the latter, I sense any whiff of a candidate's interest in money sends them reeling.

In any event, it's best to get some assurance where possible of what a reference might say, even when you're certain it's likely to be positive. In college, I worked in the undergraduate admissions office of an ivy league school that shall remain nameless. I was shocked how vindictive high school teachers could be in letters of reference, even to their star pupils to whom they had awarded grades of A and A+. And sometimes when they brought themselves to write a positive letter, would followed it up with a confidential telephone call.

Some of you posters here might just be surprised to learn that despite your brilliant, award winning efforts in school, some of those very teachers and administrators leading your praise did not like you very much and were not shy in secertly sharing their dislike with your dream colleges.

Seeing that, we would urge the students not only to ask the teacher if he or she would write a reference, but also to ask whether they would write a positive reference, for in some of the east coast prep schools in particular, teachers are pretty much required to write letters if asked. If there's a hint of hesitation, consider a teacher in whose class you might NOT have gotten an A. Often times, they turn out to be your best advocate.

Thanks again.

[concordancia]

Actually, as some others have noted, I had search committees quote letters at me and others tell me what excellent letter writers my recommenders were and others still telling me how much two of my writers adored me - that if it hadn't been for the third letter that was positive but less cultish they might not have interviewed me. And one of the people who informed me of that recently decided that they completely understand the tone.

You either need new colleagues or a new attitude when dealing with other people.

[thisshouldbeclever]

I was once asked to comment on something in one of my recommendation letters that the committee probably viewed as negative. On a phone interview, the interviewer directly asked "One of your interviewers described you as "quiet," how would you respond to that? Now, I'm sure the letters was on the whole positive, or I wouldn't have gotten that or any other interviews, and it's possible thay were asking about that letter in particular, because I'm sure other letter writers, who knew me in a different context, described me as bubbly and outgoing, and perhaps they just wanted a sense of my actual personality, or an explanation for the contrast.

[speedstick]

 "One of your interviewers described you as "quiet," how would you respond to that?

Funny, my best friend, an Economics professor & vice Dean in Germany, told me only recently that his girlfriend, a phd candidate in Computational? or Statistical? Economics, received a reference from her mentor at an internship in Paris characterizing her as 'brilliant but quiet.'  Now, we both agree she is in fact quiet as we've known her for 14 years, but he pressured her to ask him to remove 'quiet' from the letter because it can be (mis)construed as 'withdrawn', 'shy' 'sad' or 'socially awkward' and thus negative.