Worried About The Reference You Will Get From Your Ex-Employer?

If you did not end on a good note with your previous employer, getting a reference can be a concern.  

However, under common employment legislation, an employer providing poor reference must be able to prove or justify their criticism.

Some employers may be reluctant to provide a reference letter to an employee whose performance was rather unsatisfactory but he or she decided to leave out of their own accord. Alternatively, the employer may decide to give a bare, factual reference, merely stating the dates of employment and the job that was held.

However, do keep in mind that it is not mandatory to cite your manager as the person to give a reference: if you worked for a company with an HR department, you can direct reference enquiries to the HR department.

This may be useful if you had a personality clash with your manager but otherwise had no real problems. You could also cite other managers, or assistant managers, from the company whom you feel that you have worked well with. If you were dismissed from your last post, however, you do have a problem.

The first thing that you should do if you were dismissed is to get back into the job market as soon as possible through casual work and asking friends and family to give you work. You would, of course, still need to explain what may seem to be a retrograde step in your career (e.g. change of track, getting back to work after a break, looking for a less stressful post).

Tip: Try to keep yourselves in the good books employer. It is understandable, however, that sometimes this may not be possible.

Adapted from Leigh, J. (2013). How to write: Successful CVs and Job Applications (Oxford: Oxford UP).

Nikita Pisani at Muovo

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