Reference....What's asked?

Strike

mandragora wrote: »

I've also seen candidates add a note to their application giving details of difficult circumstances. When I've seen it done, we've appreciated knowing, and we've been able to consider whether it's a factor for us - for example, a CRB check revealing a criminal charge relating to drunk/disorderly, but while still a relative youngster, many years ago.

Another alternative might be to get some voluntary experience under your belt, and garner references from that.

Reference requests that come in can be as varied as the companies that send them. Sometimes they're very simple, and just a tick box/grading thing, sometimes they're very vague and expect you to work out the sort of things they need to know, sometimes they demand a long essay! I try to be fair to the employee in what I write. You do quite often get 'Would you employ them in position X' I don't think it's a fair question, and I have declined to answer it in the past, giving my reasons why I've declined the question on the form.

Thanks mandragora. When you say you have seen applicants adding a note, was that on the covering letter?

I have a meeting with Age Concern tomorrow to discuss doing some administrative voluntary work for them so hopefully something will come of that.

Googlewhacker

I would ask your old HR what referance they will give you and see what they say.

tommy8721

I think one would be quite malicious to prevent another from getting a job... ex employee or not.

mandragora_2

Strike wrote: »

Thanks mandragora. When you say you have seen applicants adding a note, was that on the covering letter?

I have a meeting with Age Concern tomorrow to discuss doing some administrative voluntary work for them so hopefully something will come of that.

The notes have been done in a couple of ways - one was as a prelude to the 'supporting statement' on the application form; one was done as a separate note to the form and letter; I've also seen it as a paragraph within the main body of the letter too. If you decide to do it, the most helpful way is just to make sure that it's there and clear, without too big a fuss made of it. When you're sorting through a pile of letters trying to pick the best candidates to invite for interview, you don't want to miss somebody good, so you do scrutinise applications pretty carefully. If there's an obvious omission or gap, you wonder why it hasn't been explained and come to your own conclusions anyway. Depending on the circumstances either explain it or make sure that you have all the bases covered on the things that they are likely to be looking for.

Don't despair, though - we have given serious consideration to people with what initially looked like shocking histories or mistakes in their past - either because they'd been young at the time and everyone can make a mistake in their youth, or the circumstances weren't related to what we needed them for and they had other things that outweighed it. Good luck, and I hope you get something useful from the voluntary work