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Professional ethics and references


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I had a talk with my new supervisor of 4 months about a month ago where we talked candidly, in an off the record kind of way, about our career goals. I explained to him that I am seeking to enter management and was concerned that the opportunity does not realistically exist at this current agency. I also told him that I would have a difficult time staying in this situation and that would likely move on should the opportunity arise elsewhere or if I was able to get in at govt. level and he agreed with me. He even said that too many people see this position as a comfortable place but thinks people should only use it as a waypoint. He was supportive of my view.

 

Well, I'm interviewing for a state position tomorrow and was wondering if it would be considred u8nethical for me to ask him to be a reference, assuming he felt he could give me a positive one. I think he would be a great reference and would hate to miss the opportunity to use it. Do you see a negative to coming out and asking him?

 

To clarify, he is my current supervisor at my current position.

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The last time I applied for a job I was in a similar situation. I work for the state, and my job was dead end. While my boss encouraged me to do something more challenging, we talked about me getting a letter of reference from him and agreed that getting a letter from your current boss is rather weird. I can't find a reason to call it unethical. I guess normally you want a prospective boss to think the current one does not want to encourage you to leave, or help you to leave. Anyway, in my situation I decided not to do it, too bad I know, but I just decided it was unorthodox.

Good luck getting a state job! Not the easiest thing to get but once you're in it's not very easy to lose either.

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