Bad Reference?

[RangerRob]

I'm currently a permie who's frustrated with my current position and thinking of going contracting soon. Unfortunately, my frustration with where I am has resulted in a daft joke (concerning my workplace) email being sent to someone it shouldn't have done, and I fear the worst (ie dismissal) as a result. Stupid mistake, but there you go.

So, I may need to get a contract faster than I thought. The problem being my reference from my last employer. I've read several times that references are rarely taken up by clients. Is this true? Should I just risk it and give the name of a trusted colleague there (who may be compelled to disclose my reason for leaving)? Or should I discuss this with a potential client at interview time?

I think the latter would be fairly likely to lose me the job although I feel I'm very strong in my core skills.

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer

[oraclesmith]

It's the EB's/agencies which take up the references. You must have someone at your firm that will give you a good reference ? Anyone senior enough will do. In my opinion.

[RangerRob]

Thanks for that.

There are people I can ask, but the fear is that they might have to refer it to HR. What do these reference requests usually ask? If they only want to confirm that I was employed in the role I put on my CV for the dates I said then I guess my reference would be OK.

So will an agency always follow the references up? I take it discussing it with the agent isn't a great idea...

[barely_pointless]

Thanks for that.

There are people I can ask, but the fear is that they might have to refer it to HR. What do these reference requests usually ask? If they only want to confirm that I was employed in the role I put on my CV for the dates I said then I guess my reference would be OK.

So will an agency always follow the references up? I take it discussing it with the agent isn't a great idea...

depends, I've seen both ends of the spectrum, from not a peep to 5 years back for an investment w@nking job a few years ago, but usually the agents will do a very simple phone call and ask the usual , timekeeping, presentable, teamwork and the old chestnut "would you employ rangerrob again", typically these are the things they look for, the technical (skills) references should be flushed out at the interview..

Good luck! It's happened to all of us at some stage or another, it's always the little things that kill contracts and not the big things like being able to do your job , S Asian consultancies are proof of the latter.........

[Sockpuppet]

Bear in mind a lot of places give good references just becuase they cant be aresed to do any different.

I got fired from my last 2 permie jobs (i'm nearly on par with MF) and I still got contracts.

[TheFaQQer]

Bear in mind a lot of places give good references just becuase they cant be aresed to do any different.

I got fired from my last 2 permie jobs (i'm nearly on par with MF) and I still got contracts.

[FiveTimes]

It's the EB's/agencies which take up the references. You must have someone at your firm that will give you a good reference ? Anyone senior enough will do. In my opinion.

I've tried to get references from a senior employee in the past, but the company policy at the time was they weren't allowed, and only HR could supply the references.
Still its worth asking around though...

[TheFaQQer]

A lot of larger companies will only confirm that you worked there between date X and date Y, in role Z.

Under the Data Protection Act, you have a right to see what information companies hold about you (there are various threads on here about it), so you can always see what the company said about you - consequently, many big companies will not take the risk that you might be able to sue for defamation.

Give the name of someone that you trust, who is senior enough to be a credible reference, and hope for the best. I left my permie job under a (much smaller) cloud, because I only gave 7 working days notice and the IT director wanted 4 weeks (my contract allowed immediate notice, because it was worded badly!). I give my old boss as a reference, and as long as it doesn't go any higher than him, I know I'll be right.

Anyway, spill the beans - what exactly did you write??? We could always do with a laugh!

[Cooperinliverp00l]

although i have had to supply reference details having checked with my nominated people they have never actually been chased for the reference.

I always use the line of most of my managment were contractors and have sinced moved on so i can only give you this number (hand over number of best friend acting as some sort of senior colleague)

[Kyajae]

I've tried to get references from a senior employee in the past, but the company policy at the time was they weren't allowed, and only HR could supply the references.
Still its worth asking around though...

If my understanding is correct, employers cannot give a bad reference, only a neutral reference (i.e. bob Smith workerd here for x years, he did this role, etc). I don't know the position of refusal to give a reference.

At the end of the day, sending a joke email (assuming it didn't personally attack named persons) is hardly gross misconduct in most sensible people's eyes. You might just get 'some advisory words' in the modern corporate parlance.