[Help] Job references

[DavidRyder]

Hi NSCers,

My wife is looking for a new job. One reason being that her manager can't manage, he's just not up to the role, and the frustration that this causes with my wife has led to tensions in their relationship. This is not the first time it's happened with one of his staff. A lady left, but the reference he gave wasn't good. She was by all accounts good at her job, but it was a last chance for him to stick the knife in and try and cause problems.

So if my wife gets to the stage of needing a reference from him, she's worried. I said to ask for a reference from another colleague who she gets on with. Is there some legality around refs whereby you can't say anything bad, ie, 'she's got an attitude' (which she hasn't, she's just trying to do her job with a pranny as a manager)?

Any advice gladly received, thanks!

 

[Goldstone1976]

Employers can be sued if they provide erroneous references. In order to avoid even the cost of successfully defending a suit, many employers now give only very short factual references - for example “we can confirm that X was employed by us from Y date to Z date. Yours sincerely...”.

How large is your wife’s employer?

Be careful about asking a person who isn’t her line manager for a reference - many new employers will smell a rat “hmm... I wonder why she hasn’t used her boss as a reference...”

 

[dazzer6666]

Probably best to avoid asking for one if she can (presumably she'll explain why she's leaving the job etc so any potential new employer may take that into account) if there is a risk of him being awkward, but if she has to there are some measures she can take including making sure she gives permission, getting copied in on the reference etc. Can she get references from elsewhere ?

Re saying anything bad, yes he would need to be very careful - if he provides untrue and potentially damaging information she'd be able to sue him. Could she get a reference from him before she actually leaves (may be prepared to write a letter to 'to whom it may concern'?

Most references now that I see (and we provide) are purely factual - they state that someone was with a company for x years doing such-and-such a job. The only difference is where someone was sacked, or resigned during a disciplinary investigation then this would be explicitly stated.

There's some additional info here that might help

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5072

 

[Lush]

Did the lady who left still get the job she went for, despite the poor reference?

Any company worth their salt knows that there's usually a reason for people leaving, so she shouldn't worry too much.

Unless the comments in the reference back up any concerns they have after the interview.

 

[DavidRyder]

Employers can be sued if they provide erroneous references. In order to avoid even the cost of successfully defending a suit, many employers now give only very short factual references - for example “we can confirm that X was employed by us from Y date to Z date. Yours sincerely...”.

How large is your wife’s employer?

Be careful about asking a person who isn’t her line manager for a reference - many new employers will smell a rat “hmm... I wonder why she hasn’t used her boss as a reference...”

Thanks for the reply - you're probably right about asking another colleague.

It's a large national company. The potential of being sued would hopefully be in his thinking, but TBH, he's not very savvy, and probably wouldn't even realise that he could be sued!

 

[timbha]

What will she say if at an interview she is asked the reason for leaving her current job? She needs to be careful that she doesn’t say anything that might go against her

 

[DavidRyder]

Probably best to avoid asking for one if she can (presumably she'll explain why she's leaving the job etc so any potential new employer may take that into account) if there is a risk of him being awkward, but if she has to there are some measures she can take including making sure she gives permission, getting copied in on the reference etc. Can she get references from elsewhere ?

Re saying anything bad, yes he would need to be very careful - if he provides untrue and potentially damaging information she'd be able to sue him. Could she get a reference from him before she actually leaves (may be prepared to write a letter to 'to whom it may concern'?

Most references now that I see (and we provide) are purely factual - they state that someone was with a company for x years doing such-and-such a job. The only difference is where someone was sacked, or resigned during a disciplinary investigation then this would be explicitly stated.

There's some additional info here that might help

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5072

Thanks for that info - I hadn't realised she could be copied in on the reference, so that's something to consider.

Yes, she has other people from previous jobs that can give her good refs, which is helpful.

 

[Munkfish]

Employers can be sued if they provide erroneous references. In order to avoid even the cost of successfully defending a suit, many employers now give only very short factual references - for example “we can confirm that X was employed by us from Y date to Z date. Yours sincerely...”.

How large is your wife’s employer?

Be careful about asking a person who isn’t her line manager for a reference - many new employers will smell a rat “hmm... I wonder why she hasn’t used her boss as a reference...”

Always put HR Down as a reference, thats how most Larger companies work.

If its a one man band, there isnt much you can do on that front of course.

 

[DavidRyder]

Did the lady who left still get the job she went for, despite the poor reference?

Any company worth their salt knows that there's usually a reason for people leaving, so she shouldn't worry too much.

Unless the comments in the reference back up any concerns they have after the interview.

Cheers for the reply - I'm not sure if the other lady actually got that job, but the ref must have been fed back to her by the potential employer.

 

[DavidRyder]

What will she say if at an interview she is asked the reason for leaving her current job? She needs to be careful that she doesn’t say anything that might go against her

It's a mixture of wanting to go the next step up in the role, also the fact that her manager is keeping her on dead end projects and giving the interesting stuff to colleagues. And the manager himself, the way he has been acting just causes a stressful environment. I don't expect she'd mention her boss in an interview though.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Always put HR Down as a reference, thats how most Larger companies work.

If its a one man band, there isnt much you can do on that front of course.

Yep - that’s why I asked how large the employer is.

 

[DavidRyder]

Always put HR Down as a reference, thats how most Larger companies work.

If its a one man band, there isnt much you can do on that front of course.

HR Dept - noted thanks!