Bank Work Ref

JJJJNR

I cant get a spoken reference from a place I worked in for three years. There policy is to give a date and time when I worked there etc. Its a bank and im not sure how a perspective employer would react to this.

flash harry

its policy im afraid for a lot of big organisations to avoid potential liablels/slandeer etc....surely there must be someone you can ask to take a call (unoffically)??

JJJJNR

I've plenty of other referees available but this place was my longest employment, plus it was a nightmare to work in. Didnt have the best relationships in there.

MIN2511

Same experience, unfortunately there is nothing anyone can do. I asked a few people while i was in the bank and they said not a bother, when it was time to follow through they contacted me and said it states in their personal contract not to refer any staff.

A whole lotta BS if you ask me but thats the way it is.

Any future employer should accept this as there is nothing you can do about it.... The fact that you worked there for 3years should override any doubts they have.

Eoin

MIN2511 wrote: »

Same experience, unfortunately there is nothing anyone can do. I asked a few people while i was in the bank and they said not a bother, when it was time to follow through they contacted me and said it states in their personal contract not to refer any staff.

Yeah, you have to find someone who is willing to give a reference completely unofficially, but who is also a credible referee. My last company also only gave the dates of my employment, but I was able to get a manager who I had worked with over the years to take a call from the agency for me.

MIN2511 wrote: »

The fact that you worked there for 3years should override any doubts they have.

I don't agree - it just means that you haven't been crap enough to fire. I'm sure every company has staff who do just enough to get by. That's not aimed at anyone here of course.

Serafijn

A lot of companies will only confirm your employment dates and job title these days. It's generally to avoid any potential lawsuits, either from the staff member in case of a bad reference, or from an employer about someone they gave a good reference turning out terrible/to be a thief/etc.

If it's company policy then a potential employer will understand completely so don't worry about it too much, just give them an HR contact number instead of your manager.

Eoin

It is very often company policy, but that is not to say that you shouldn't try and find someone who can unofficially give you a reference.

dazberry

I (for my sins) work in a finance company and group policy is the very same. Local HR is more an admin function these days and references are supplied via group HR not in Ireland (possibly not even on the planet - but that's another story). Of course when the company is recruiting they demand references.

I have given unofficial (verbal) references in a team lead capacity, and if someone was looking for a reference for me I would put them in touch with my previous boss who has left the organisation.

D.

MIN2511

eoin_s wrote: »

Yeah, you have to find someone who is willing to give a reference completely unofficially, but who is also a credible referee. My last company also only gave the dates of my employment, but I was able to get a manager who I had worked with over the years to take a call from the agency for me.

My manager was on holidays, his assistant who i worked with closely said he couldn't help me. The HR AM was out of town as well so i had to get group HR to give me a ref. It sure as hell was horrible...

JJJJNR

Its actually worked out fine, I had some projects I had worked on with me which were evidence of the hard work I had done, so the guys were happy with the basic ref and those bits. In the end I was worried about nothing. ... on to the next step... Damn I hope its worth it...!

Props to the regulars on here… great section of boards. I've had a few bad experiences which with yis all have been able to put it behind me and move on.

Thanks !! .

:cool:

Eoin

JJJJNR wrote: »

Its actually worked out fine, I had some projects I had worked on with me which were evidence of the hard work I had done, so the guys were happy with the basic ref and those bits. In the end I was worried about nothing. ... on to the next step... Damn I hope its worth it...!

Good stuff, best of luck with the new job.

MIN2511 wrote: »

My manager was on holidays, his assistant who i worked with closely said he couldn't help me. The HR AM was out of town as well so i had to get group HR to give me a ref. It sure as hell was horrible...

Just to get confirmation of your employment, let alone a proper reference? That's a pain.