bad ref from last employer?

mackinfella

Hi all

sorry if this has already been covered..

To make a long tory short.. i have had 5 job interviews in the last month or so and i have not had any joy with any of them. They have all been pharmaceutical based and i do have 10 years pharmaceutical manufacturing experience incl sterile area filling (favoired by alot of companies) I have never had any problems gettin jobs before and never had to wait more than a week.. except the ones lately i have had to chase them up to 3 weeks after the time frame they gave me for a decision.

My last employer i had problems with,missed quiet some time due to lung infection (sarcoid) and when i recovered and went back to work i got a roasting from the boss and we didnt get on since.. Started give me crappy jobs etc and in the end i quit.

Is it possible im getting a bad ref thats preventing me from getting these jobs? What are my options?

Anyone else have similar problems?

krd

mackinfella wrote: »

Is it possible im getting a bad ref thats preventing me from getting these jobs? What are my options?

Anyone else have similar problems?

Unless you have some way of finding out, you can't be sure they're giving you bad refs.

I had a run in with a manager years ago. He kept giving me really bad references. And I couldn't get a job, until he was sacked (he was an awful manager). I found out directly - he was boasting to former work mates about the things he was saying about me - he thought it was hilarious. He was also doing it to other people. And no one deserved the bad references. He used to "kindly" offer to people he'd let go to let them put him down as referee, just so he could give bad references.

But, you don't know, unless you have some way of finding out if they are giving you bad references.

Ireland is a very small country. If you have bad blood with the wrong people, it can really mess up your life.

coffee_cake

Have a friend ring up and pretend to be an employer, and ask your boss for a reference for you

only way to find out

seamus

The usual way to find out if this is the problem is to get a confident mate to ring up pretending to be a prospective employer requesting a reference.

While you can use the data protection act to find out what information a company has stored about you, there's no way for you to find out what has been said in a conversation between people.

LegacyUser

I would get one of your confident friends to ring your last employer and get a reference.
Get some one who sounds like they are older and give them information in regards to you industry and also give them questions to ask that would require more than yes or no answers.
Some times the devil is in the detail in what your ex employer is saying about you.
I had a friend in your position a few years ago and they did this.
I would also ring the previous people who interviewed you. Just say that you were glad to meet them and you would like some feedback in regards to your interview.
Some times if you have not done an interview for a while you may need to improve your interview skills and this feedback may help you.
Good luck with the job hunt.

matrim

Have you put your references on your CV or have any of the companies asked is it ok to contact references?

My advice is to not put references on your CV. Only put a line like "References available on request". That way you get feedback if they are going to contact them.

This doesn't stop informal reference requests e.g. if your interviewer knows someone in your previous company but it should let you know if you are getting to the official reference stage of the process.