How much responsibility do I hold after the person I referred to my company turned out to be a nightmare? My friend begged me to refer her boyfriend to my company, and on paper, he looked like an amazing candidate, and he seemed perfectly lovely when I met him. So, I referred him and he was hired. And wow! The drama that this dude creates is insane, and I think he is under a sexual harassment investigation now. Is my reputation forever tarnished?

Sounds like you should check in with your friend to make sure they are in a good relationship.

When you say you referred him, did you just submit his résumé via some internal website? Or did you go to bat for him and personally vouch for him? And if you personally vouched for him, were you honest about the extent to which you knew him?

If it is the former, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. If it is the latter, I don’t think you should refer anyone again, and I only think your reputation would be tarnished if you lied about the extent to which you knew him.

Ouch, tarnished might be too strong of a word but I think your company will think twice about taking your future referrals seriously. It would be better for you to never refer anyone while you work there. You won't want to bring up bad memories

You’re probably don’t with referrals at this company, but beyond that really depends on the size of the company.

That’s a bummer, but you don’t control the actions of others. I referred a previous colleague of mine to my previous position when I moved out of state and they really needed somebody local. They loved him at first and thanked me for the great referral, but then kind of just went downhill and ended up not being a good long-term fit. I didn’t really feel responsible at all for it not being a good fit, all I know is he was good to work with in the past, and vouch for that, but somebody else’s future decisions has nothing to do with me.

But also, I didn’t work at that company anymore and did not have to interact with any of those people that ended up working directly with him. I definitely would be very careful about referring people to my current company, especially if it would have anything to do with working alongside anyone that I have to mix with I would also make very clear if I actually have never worked with somebody and am just an acquaintance by association and don’t know this person’s actual work ethic, quality, or anything of the sort, so I don’t know that referring a friends boyfriend would be something that I would do unless I knew them pretty well. I try to keep personal and business relationship separate as much as possible.

Yeah, people are going to take your referrals with extreme caution. Use this as a life lesson. Never vouch for someone you don't know very well (assuming you just met him once and don't have any work experience with him)

The company can't blame you for them having a bad recruiting process. It's their job to filter such people out. It's just a way for recruiters to blame someone else for their own poor performance.

What if they guy had simply sent a regular application? Would have been the same outcome. Employees providing referrals is a way for the company to save money. You did your part, they did not.

i dont really think it's your fault, its the company's responsiblity to vet out the person and they ultimately made the final decision to hire this person