Compromise Agreement

[SwanDive]

I left perm employment in Jan this year under a Compromise Agreement (basically my 'poor work' was cited as the official reason for letting me go but it was more due to a combination of bugdet cuts and a distinct dislike me and my manager had for each other). Since then i have gone contracting and have managed to secure my first contract role without too much difficulty (luckily).

I am now in a position where this contract is coming to an end and i am looking for work again. This morning i got a phone call from a rec con from one of the bigger agencies about a role i applied for last night. During the converasation i got asked about my previous perm job and whether i knew my prevoius manager (to which i replied yes). The rec con also asked if they would be willing to provide a good reference (to which i aslo said yes). Now the issue i have is when i signed the CA my solicitor negotiated that any reference requests would be honoured with no derogatory comments but the rec con said he knew my ex manager quite well. Does this mean my mananger will effectively tell the rec con i was not up to the job in her opinion? And is there anything i can do about it?

Seems kind of unfair that she can still bugger up my contracting career based on what went on in my perm job.

[Fred Bloggs]

I do not think anything negative will be said. Likely they'll just confirm you were there between certain dates. I wouldn't worry.

[secontrator]

I do not think anything negative will be said. Likely they'll just confirm you were there between certain dates. I wouldn't worry.

No need to worry.. bad refs are suable offence.

They will only confirm that when did u start & when did u leave & how much you were paid.

[thunderlizard]

No. Rec cons always exaggerate the strength of their relationship with the client. You'll be fine.

[ChimpMaster]

Why not give the rec con the name of someone who actually liked you at your permie job? Assuming there is someone who did.

[d000hg]

The recruiter might be lying, but if they genuinely know the boss well then of course off-the-record conversations happen all the time. But just wait and see.

[Ashwin2007]

How long was the permie role?

[AnthonyQuinn]

No need to worry.. bad refs are suable offence.

They will only confirm that when did u start & when did u leave & how much you were paid.

Thats rubbish. I would be sued out of my pants by now if thats the case. Who was Alan Sugar's apprentice candidate who missed out because of a poor reference last year?

If you do get a poor refernce, its likely you (or your solicitor) will never know of it. references are confidential. Things that can be (and are) asked in refernce requests include
1. your salary
2. dates of employment
3. Rating on a scale of 1 to 10. And a textual explanation of it.
4. Sick days off (Now outlawed through the equality act).
5. Reason for leaving (Resignation / Sacking/ Redundancy/ Others)

[matzie]

If you do get a poor refernce, its likely you (or your solicitor) will never know of it. references are confidential.

However, if the employer in question has a significant HR department and is inclined towards integrity, then the presence of a compromise agreement (which probably has a clause about a satisfactory reference being given) should lead them to give a minimal reference with nothing subjective included.

A Friend who received such an agreement with a previous employer had a specific written reference included in it, with a clause stating that if asked for a reference, the employer would send that exact letter and nothing else. He never had any trouble (so I've heard) :-)

That said, try not to lose sleep over it. You can recover from career blips. The best is yet to come.

[fullyautomatix]

Giving a negative reference is illegal.