Bridges burned - What now?

[bossunhappy]

Ok, need your advice on what approach to take once

bridges have been burned...

 

I left my job in less than amicable circumstances 2 days ago..

 

I know that future employers will want to contact this company

and was wonderding if anyone has any experience with this?

 

I.e. Do you put a positive spin on it in future interviews?

- If so the future employer will just call the old employer

 

or Do you be honest and say "things didnt work out in the last place"

- Is this approach not likely to be the first way of guaranteeing that you lose

the job..

 

PS: I have a favourable written reference which was written before the misunderstanding / disagreement occured..

[curiousnycgirl]

Not sure where you live - but in most US states it is actually illegal to give an unfavorable references. One can actually sue a former employer if they give bad references that lead to someone being unable to find new employment. Most large corporations prohibit their management from giving references and HR will only confirm base salary information (they are not even allowed to verify bonuses!). That does not mean all companies abide by those laws - but if you think you may get a poor reference, then you might want to take appropriate action.

 

Having said all that - I would not lie and say things were peachy keen at your former place of employment. I would say something like it was time to move on. That would be easiest if you were on a project that ended or whatever - regardless it's what I would do.

 

Best of luck to you!

[Art_Critic]

Dont worry about sueing anybody.. put your effort into finding a good job instead.Sueing someone for a poor reference is counter productive and just plain stupid

There are a million ways around the laws and you still can give a poor reference if the questions are phrased properly ie: "Would you rehire this person "

 

As an employer I see your options as follows.

 

You can try to unburn those bridges that got burned for the sake of the reference. I favor this one

 

You can use the reference and explain that you left on unfavorable circumstances. This way you get to put your spin on it first.

 

You can not use the reference.

 

You can use the reference and hope they don't call.. Sometimes they don't

[JayKay]

I agree with Art Critic. If at all possible, call the person with whom you had the misunderstanding and see if you can salvage anything.

 

If nothing else, at least apologize for whatever part YOU played in the misunderstanding. State you are currently looking for a job and while you don't expect a glowing reference from your ex-boss, you hope that you can at least avoid a negative.

 

If you really think it's beyond all hope, then just check 'No' where it says, "May we contact your employer?"

 

Give them other people to call who will vouch for you.

[amerikajin]

First of all, just to clarify something, it is not actually against the law to give an unfavorable reference; you simply have to be able to document clearly why it is you are making that kind of negative commentary. If you were late to work ten times last month, and your boss has that documented somehow, he can indeed say "Well, she was late ten times last month - had to get rid of him/her."

 

Secondly, bear in mind that there are subtle ways of making a negative reference without actually saying anything negative at all. If someone on the other end of the phone says "I can't really discuss this matter," that's still sending a rather negative vibe and there's absolutely nothing illegal about it.

 

Which brings me to my point: don't rely on a legal fix to this problem unless it's clear that you've been unfairly and seriously injured in some way. If your ex boss is making up stories about you and you're still out of a job 90 days from now, then yes, maybe talk to an attorney about that.

 

In the meantime, I'd do exactly as Art Critic has suggested: try to at least come to some form of understanding. Despite what I've said above, most employers do worry about employment-related lawsuits. They don't necessarily fear losing them so much as they'd just rather not spend the time and money defending themselves against them. So in most cases, bosses are willing to come to some sort of understanding about how to address future references. The goal shouldn't necessarily be to get him or you to agree to the other's position; you should simply ask him to agree to disagree. Tell him that you've had time to think about things, that you're sorry it ended this way, and that you enjoyed most of your time and experience there. See where that goes. I'd say 3/4 of bosses will be willing to leave it at that.