Want old job back but previous manager blocks it

[pepsimax]

Hi,

 

Hope this is ok to post here.

Hi,

 

Would appreciate your advice. Sorry it's long.

 

Over 2 years ago I worked as a temp for 6 months at this bank as a programmer. I loved that place. Loved the people, loved the atmosphere, loved the managers, the work everything. Loved waking up and going to work.

Unfortunately, the 6 months ended. Ever since I have worked at 2 different places and have always dreamed about going back there.

 

I admit when I was there i was sooo excited to have gotten in and i was an idiot. Didn't invest too much effort and was more interested in finally having a social life at work (previous work places were tiny and not much people maybe 3) and being there. I was more interested in hanging out with this guy from my team and we always felt that our boss didn't like that we were good friends.

In all other jobs I work hard and take it seriously and invest all that I can...in this job i was stupid!!

 

I did leave on good terms and i remained friends with my previous team members. Speak to them often.

A few opportunities have opened up in the bank but when the managers wanted me and spoke to my previous manager about me she told them not to take me. She said that my quality of work isn't good - my friends say she has no idea as she isn't a programmer and now when a new opportunity opened with some of my previous team members and their manager wanted me she told her the same and also that i don't suit the team!! How can she say that when the manager now saw my interaction with the team and that is one of the reasons she asked for me and I am very good friends with most of them! I know all of that coz my friend is trying to get me in.

 

It really upsets me that one person continues on blocking my chances...she knows how badly i want to come back (i think she doesn't want me coz i am friends with this guy) and that a few have approached her. It's not like i stole code, was rude or didn't come to work. Let them give me a second chance. If it wasn't for her blocking it my friend's boss would have taken me. What can I do? A friend of mine told me to speak to the manager that wants me now.

I want to tell her that I know that when I worked there I didn't take the job seriously and i was in a different phase. The atmosphere was that of friends and I know that I didn't leave a good impression. I take full responsibility for it. To tell her that I have learned from my mistakes and that it's not what defines me as in all jobs i have worked seriously. That I have a job now where my boss is satisfied with me but I have always wanted to come back to the bank and i know i am taking a risk leaving a stable job. That i really want her to give me a chance to prove that I am a good worker and if after 2-3 months it doesn't work out I will accept the sentencing but to please give me a chance. I have a lot of motivation and i will bring a positive attitude to the team and work really hard to succeed and bring good quality work. I just really want to work there again.

 

I know it's not the only work place in the country but it's a place where i was the happiest and after all you spend more hours at work than at home so yes, it's important for me to work at a place that makes me happy to get out of bed in the morning.

[bathtub-row]

Some of the things you say indicate your level of naivety on this matter. First of all, once a company takes on an employee, it's risk for them and to terminate someone is also risk. Let's say you get hired and they decide to let you go after 3 mos. Guess what you're going to do. You're going to file for unemployment and, by doing that, you just affected the company's bottom line because that cost goes to them. So to suggest that they take you on as an experiment of sorts is not at all the way a company views things. Not to mention the time that's committed to an employee once they're brought in. A company wants to feel certain about the person they're hiring.

 

The other thing is that you pretty much blew it when you were there the first time and that impression is not easily shaken. It's probably not a bad idea to contact the hiring manager but I'll tell you that your chances aren't great. What I would recommend you do if you call the manager is to focus on the knowledge you would bring to the table. In other words, say that you're aware that your previous actions weren't stellar but you have learned from that. Then begin to talk about how you would be able to pretty much walk into the position with little or no training (if that's true). In other words, talk about your strengths and how the manager would benefit from having you there.

 

You could also google some sites on interview questions and see if that gives you some ideas on how to sell yourself. Whatever you do, don't oversell yourself and don't say anything that isn't true. And by all means, have this conversation over the phone and not email. If the manager isn't at his/her desk, don't leave a message. Just keep calling until you get him/her.

 

I hope this helps.

[stillafool]

Hi,

 

 

 

I admit when I was there i was sooo excited to have gotten in and i was an idiot. Didn't invest too much effort and was more interested in finally having a social life at work (previous work places were tiny and not much people maybe 3) and being there. I was more interested in hanging out with this guy from my team and we always felt that our boss didn't like that we were good friends.

In all other jobs I work hard and take it seriously and invest all that I can...in this job i was stupid!!

 

She said that my quality of work isn't good - my friends say she has no idea as she isn't a programmer and now when a new opportunity opened with some of my previous team members and their manager wanted me she told her the same and also that i don't suit the team!!

 

 

I have to say that if I were this employer I wouldn't hire you back either. There are just too many qualified people looking for jobs than to hire back someone whose work wasn't good and who spent most of their time socializing and hanging out with a guy.

[len51]

You should get it. You did not do a good job according to your past manager so why would do you think they should hire you back; because your friends want you back? I have hired and fired a few hundred people in my career. What most have in common, as do people in general, is a perception that they are better than they are. This has been shown in several studies. However, a manager sees the work of others and can compare yours to theirs and therefore is in a better position to determine the quality of your work. Does not matter if they are not programmers. Do you think the owner of Ford worked the assembly line?

 

You are better served by not mentioning that you worked for that company on your resume. The last time I hired someone who was not given a good review by her previous boss, it turned out that he was right and his parting words to me were that I would regret hiring the woman. He was so right. Companies want the best people they can get, not the mediocre people. Mediocre people are a dime a dozen.

 

I was writing code in Assembler long before any home PC was invented. I wrote code in every language up until C+. By then I was a corporate officer and my company would not let me write code. Said I would be the most expensive programmer they had. I have designed a lot of software and usually can tell which programmer wrote which code much like an artist can tell who painted a picture. There are programmers who give me what I want and those who give me what I need. The latter are the more valuable ones because they can see what we really need and let me know how to make it better.

 

Many of my younger programmers feel that they should be promoted or given raises just because of a good attendance record. They also need constant praise because in school that is what they got for just trying and participating. The real funny part is that most who I fired thought that they were the best programmer in the company. That is how most humans feel no matter what their job is. They have nothing to compare themselves with so they tend to minimize the skills of others and think they are better.

 

Here is something I tell some of these employees:

 

I hire two men to dig a ditch for me. The first man works 10 hours shoveling the dirt out of the ground until he has the ditch ready two hours early. He is exhausted, covered with dirt and did not even take a break to eat lunch or dinner. His chest is puffed out with pride of a job well done. The second man shows up with a back hoe and is done in a half hour. Guess who I would hire?

 

Results are what count, not how hard you tried or that you did the best you could. I am lazy but rose to the top of my profession because my laziness pushed me to make things easier and quicker to do. Second story. I spent a few years as a consultant who fixed other people's software. One company had 67 major bugs. I called the company who coded it and asked why can't the user sort anything or even delete SKU numbers they no longer use, just to name a few. I was told that they were not asked to. They did exactly as they were asked to do by a person who was not familiar with software at all. That software company went out of business. I met with their owner who was very defensive about how good he and his staff was. They showed me the specs and proudly pointed out that they met them. I told them that they knew that they were dealing with a computer illiterate person and took a lot for granted. He was a technical guy and spec'd out the things needed to be done to produce documents.

 

The software developer did exactly what they were told and therefore felt that they were great and should continue to be our subcontractor. They should have known that you need to be ablel to sort, delete, and edit things without being told. At least they should have asked but instead they did exactly what they were told and in my book, that is not good enough. I know some very good programmers in my industry. Their code is elegant and efficient. They make my designs better than I designed them to be. Then there are those never think to use a backhoe instead of a shovel since both methods end up with a ditch.

 

In business there are the popular ones that everyone likes. Management does not care how popular you are. They want quality work, not just OK work. Once again I point to my ditch example. If I had $30K for a ditch digger, why would I want to hire the hard worker rather than the one who worked smart? You will learn as you go through life that your bosses can give you bad recommendations. Work is not a democracy where they take a vote to see who is hired. If you do good work, it will be noticed and result in good recommendations, most times. Sometimes your manager does not like you fro a reason but in today's world, providing false information to someone who wants to hire you can result in their being sued. Most times when I check, I get a "no comment" answer. However I also get a glowing recommendation for the really good ones. There can he a manager who just does not like you. I had a few of those in my career. I pushed on into a wall and turned over the desk of another. I was not your typical tech programmer. I was a Jock in school and a decorated combat vet. They never would give me a good recommendation so I did not include them on my resume. I filled in the blanks with the names of companies that are no longer in business, said I did some consulting on the side, took a break to take care of a sick wife, etc..

 

What sinks many job applicants these days is there social media pages filled with tales of all night drinking and how they were so good at pretending the are sick when they want a day off. Some even do not take the trouble to change their gmail email addresses and I would get resumes from [email protected] or [email protected] or even [email protected]. I usually take the time to email them back suggesting that they set up an email account that was more business friendly and change their Facebook pages to remove all the drug us and stories about how they screwed over the companies they worked for.

 

Now you know how important it is to be more than just adequate. You need to be better than that. You need to shine and do whatever it takes to be the best you could at what you do. For me, I went from being a messenger to owning 25% of the company and living the good life now. I work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, make my own hours and wear shorts, tee shirt and sandals almost every day of the year. That is because I worked 10 hour days and 5 hours on Saturday. I took work home with me and told myself that my sacrifices now would pay off in the future. My friends preferred to party and all ended up working for me.

 

Learn from this experience that it is not how well you are liked but how good your boss thinks you are. If they seem unsatisfied by your work, ask them why and how you could improve it. I did that a few times myself and even volunteered to help my boss after work on my free time just so I could learn what they do and how they evaluate the software we wrote.

[SoleMate]

When you're at work, job #1 is to fulfill all your boss's reasonable expectations to you to the best of your ability. You seem confused as to why your previous manager's opinion of your work should be determinative. This is fundamental - KEEP THE BOSS HAPPY. Doesn't matter whether the boss is right, polite, skilled, popular, or anything else. Just the fact that they are the boss is all you need to know.

 

You are way off base when you think you can discount your manager's opinions because she doesn't program. Many or most bosses don't or can't do the tasks of their team members......so what? They can and do MANAGE and they have been put in that role to do so.

 

To tell her that I have learned from my mistakes...That I have a job now where my boss is satisfied with me but I have always wanted to come back to the bank and i know i am taking a risk leaving a stable job. That i really want her to give me a chance...

 

I wouldn't hire you either. You HAVEN'T learned from your mistakes since you don't understand how durable a reputation is.