The inventory coordinator role was the first process in seven months of searching that had gone far enough for anyone to check references. That, by the candidate’s account, was the whole reason for the cautious good mood — they were nearly there. They put their former supervisor forward, the person who knew their work better than anyone.
The reference system rejected her. Her email ended in @gmail.com, and the form wanted a verified company address. The difficulty was that the company no longer exists. The small medical supply distributor where the candidate had spent four years had closed in 2024: the owner retired, nobody bought the business, and the phones, the website, and the company inboxes had all gone dark — ordinary enough, for a business that has closed.
The candidate explained this to the recruiter, who suggested they use the supervisor’s old work address. It had been shut down two years ago. The recruiter suggested contacting the company’s HR department. There was no HR department. There was no company. The candidate had old pay stubs, tax documents, a signed recommendation letter, and a supervisor happy to take a phone call — but the process could not move until the system accepted an email address that no longer existed.
Seven months of searching, one process that finally reached a reference check, and now the task was to prove that a closed company is closed.