Job Offer Retracted after Poor Reference

GaryL

Damn...

Well, I dont know what to say to you in advice terms but the best of luck. Lets hope she tries to contact those other references & you still get the job. I know its probably impossible to be in a good mood now but believe me you have to try your best to keep the head up.

dade

mate that sucks. I'd be wondering why the district manager would be giving you a reference if you had no dealings with him. would it not have been you actual shop manager?

it could be that the lass from HR was feading you a line. maybe they interviewed someone else and figured they could get them for less money or something. also given teh history they may feel reluctant and fear it may happen again.

ixus

A company can/will not give a bad reference these days for fear of legal action.

Get on to this HR person immediately and request the detail of this reference in writing, which you are entitled to. It's personal information about you, HR are not entitled to hold onto this.

I would not have told the HR lass a single thing about the past but would have said that maybe this is due to you applying for a job in the same company as your previous reference. If this was such an issue, why are you getting a second interview with them? Is that support job gone?

If you really want this job, I would get on the HR girls case immediatley. If you get no response, I would go straight to the employer, explain that you had been interviewing for a job with previous employer who is now giving you a bad reference for this job, yet willing to interview you for another job in their company. In addition, you have been offered more money in the other role, but this is your ideal role.

Do not feel sorry for yourself, grow a pair and take this on head first.

ixus

Another thing, don't ever cancel other job interviews until you have actually signed the contracts. Hope you learned a lesson on that one.

GaryL

dade wrote: »

mate that sucks. I'd be wondering why the district manager would be giving you a reference if you had no dealings with him. would it not have been you actual shop manager?

I haven't a clue and I wasn't expecting it. My shop manager gave me a reference for my previous job.

it could be that the lass from HR was feading you a line. maybe they interviewed someone else and figured they could get them for less money or something. also given teh history they may feel reluctant and fear it may happen again.

Nah the money isn't great and I'm earning less than I was in my previous job. I've no doubt it's to do with the reference from the DM.

ixus wrote:

If this was such an issue, why are you getting a second interview with them? Is that support job gone?

I was offered the 2nd interview for the support job at the same time as I was offered this job yesterday morning. She actually said "you're a wanted man" to me on the phone yesterday. Obviously now that the job offer was retracted the other offer is retracted.

NinjaTruncs

GaryL wrote: »

I had never met the district manager.

Why would you put someone down as your reference if you had never met them?

If i was you i'd replace him/her with someone who can actually put a face with your name. also if you know that your references are being checked make sure to ring them and let them know to be expecting a call.

GaryL

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

Why would you put someone down as your reference if you had never met them?

What I had on my CV was "references on request". I usually put my references on my CV but it was my previous agency that put it as that and I never changed it. My referees would have been 1 person from last job and the shop manager from the bookmakers. I was asked yesterday to e-mail in my references. She asked who they would be. I told her. She said there was no need to send her the bookmakers one.

Also, after she retracted the offer she advised me not to use them as a reference again. I never used the district manager as a reference in the first place.

AARRRGH

GaryL wrote: »

She had spoken to my old district manager and was told that I left on bad terms. It's a long story but I was basically depressed (my father died a few months previously) and was losing all my wages gambling every week. I phoned in sick for a couple of days and then sent a text in to the highest person that I knew personally (higher than the shop manager) explaining my problems and why I would have to leave.

ixus wrote: »

A company can/will not give a bad reference these days for fear of legal action.

In fairness, the OP has admitted himself he left on bad terms.

I would agree the district manager is being very harsh though.

Gran Hermano

GaryL wrote: »

I was basically depressed (my father died a few months previously) and was losing all my wages gambling every week.

OP, sorry to hear the predicament you're in but whilst your depression
after loosing your father is only natural the 'd' word can scare employers.
Past mental health issues can cause an employer to consider whether
if employed you'd have future bouts of depression. Your mistake was
labeling yourself as depressed in the past as opposed to upset.
Never say you are/were depressed in a work environment unless you've
had a doctor tell you so.

And I don't know any bookmaker that would employ someone who had
confessed to having a gambling problem.

Nody

ixus wrote: »

A company can/will not give a bad reference these days for fear of legal action.

Not only can they give a bad reference, they will as well with out fear of legal action as long as they can back it up. This is also of course excluding any VERBAL references which are not documented and the use of intentional vague lines, pauses etc.

I remember a reference I got for one person I was considering which ended like this:
Me: So would you hire this person again if given the oppertunity?
Referee: 30s of silence, then yes.

Guess who did not get a job offer from me. No bad reference given but hey good luck trying to challenge that one in court.

To OP it appears that the District manager simply was not impresed with your time there and I guess he stepped in for what ever reason (your old manager not there any more, out sick, asked for advice etc.). Considering the response from HR I would say it is very unlikely you will be successful in getting the position. One bad reference and they will most likely not reconsider at all even with good reasons behind it.

AARRRGH

You can give bad references, as long as what you're saying is true.

HR: Did he leave on good terms?
District Manager: Well he was acting a bit erratically before he left; he then went off sick for a few days; he then sent us a text saying he won't be coming back to work.

Sounds very bad.

dade

GaryL wrote: »

Also, after she retracted the offer she advised me not to use them as a reference again.

don't think they can actually do that.

chances are the HR person saw you worked there and just contacted the DM. He looked at your file etc and would probably see things like appraisal forms and the possibly some write up on why you left. as you said he had no contact/interaction with you so could have based his reference on what was in your old file. so even though you where the go to guy and very reliable etc that may not actually appear in your file so he had no knowledge of it.

to be honest I would never go back to work for any of my previous employers. I have had agencies wanting to send in my CV to one previous employer (i left on very bad terms) and i refused and just said i didn't enjoy working there and yer one said "but your perfect for the role" and kept trying to get me to go so i told her straight that i promised the manager the next time i saw him I'd deck him, so she said "yeah probably best not to send your CV through so"

the only consolation i can give you is that at least you know there is something on you CV that will attract an employer. before i got my current role i had been looking on and off for a year. i checked and applied for 4 or 5 roles a month and nothing. changed the format of my CV added a little more detail and the phone started ringing. just keep applying, and for you own sake don't put these guys down as a reference.

NinjaTruncs

I think you've lost me. having "references on request" is fine i have that myself. but the two people you supply as references you should be sure they are going to say nothing but good things about you.

If the District manager wasn't one of them, it is obvious they saw where you worked for them before and went looking for him to give a reference. Also if the person whom you texted your resignation into was asked i'd say he had nothing good to say about you ( quiting this way would seem cowardly to a lot of people, it should have been your manager whom you sent the text to anyway). If this person was asked he/she would have know your circumstances for leaving and also could have had a word with HR.

They may have thought it would be bad for you to be brought back into the gambling enviroment seeing what happened to you last time you worked for them.

GaryL

Gran Hermano wrote: »

OP, sorry to hear the predicament you're in but whilst your depression
after loosing your father is only natural the 'd' word can scare employers.
Past mental health issues can cause an employer to consider whether
if employed you'd have future bouts of depression. Your mistake was
labeling yourself as depressed in the past as opposed to upset.
Never say you are/were depressed in a work environment unless you've
had a doctor tell you so.

And I don't know any bookmaker that would employ someone who had
confessed to having a gambling problem.

Yeh I didn't really put much thought into it and sent a long e-mail yesterday evening. I don't think there's any chance I'll be getting the job now and they probably feel a bit relieved that they didn't take me on. I'm just pissed off that they don't check references before offering the job.

...

Incredibly I've just got off the phone to another job there. I start with a bank on Tuesday. Obviously I'd have much rathered that dream job of mine in the bookies but this is a great consolation.

I won't forget this last couple of days.

kmick

You have learned some lessons here.
- Dont think you have the job until after you have signed contracts.
- Communication - If you had communicated properly when you left your last job i.e turned up as normal or at least rang, explained your situation and stressed you would not be able to work and then go home you would have been fine. Texting was your downfall.
-Always know your references and have a good idea what they will say.

Anyway you sound like a hardworking, loyal, decent person so any interviewer will pick that up going forward. what I would do is ring one of the branches you worked in and ask someone at manager or supervisor level (who you worked with) to give you a reference going forward.

GaryL

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

Also if the person whom you texted your resignation into was asked i'd say he had nothing good to say about you ( quiting this way would seem cowardly to a lot of people, it should have been your manager whom you sent the text to anyway). If this person was asked he/she would have know your circumstances for leaving and also could have had a word with HR.

I've no doubt I would have got a good reference from the person I texted. She was next in line to the district manager. The reason I told her instead of the shop manager was because I was hardly working in that particular shop any more. I was being shipped out left right and centre and I was in daily contact with the person I texted (through texts and calls). I've met her since then in a pub and we talked for ages.

I never met or talked to the district manager but I wouldn't want to tell you about his reputation.

dade

fair play, things happen for a reason. best of luck with it

NinjaTruncs

Congrats on getting the job.
hopefully it all works out for you.

GaryL

Cheers.