sacked - how best to deal with questions on previous employment?

bluenoseam

So last month i was suspended from my job as the result of a sum of money going missing from the banking in the middle of December (13th) - while the store was informed on 16th of December, i wasn't until 15th of January! Both myself & my line manager were suspended pending investigation as we'd signed it - the manager involved was the person who was informed on 16/12/11! Long story short, during the banking a bag burst which he replaced, i didn't double check it and it was £1000 short.

The cash office doesn't appear to have been searched upon the issue being raised, i certainly wasn't informed until much later & when the investigation took place i could barely remember anything of the events of the day in question. Had i been told, i'd have turned the place upside down & if it was a genuine mistake i'd have found the money no question of that fact! However the waste was long gone by the time of the investigation - all i know for sure is that i've never had the money, something the investigation concurred with. (which leaves two possibilities, theft or it being shredded with the waste - i'm saying no more) As a result i was sacked for negligence causing unacceptable loss to the company on 3rd February.

I plan to appeal the decision based on the fact i believe the manager changed & sealed the bag without giving me a chance to recount it's contents. However between you & me, i think there's a better chance of me winning the lottery than winning the appeal. The manager too now no longer works with the company - indicators point to him jumping before suffering the same fate as me. (and for the record, no not there a year, no not a member of the union - and i'm aware how dumb a move that is)

After waiting a fortnight for paperwork which should arrive this week, i've decided to premptively apply for jobs - can't really leave it any longer i guess. But i'm wondering how best i should approach this problem, during the dismissal meeting it was said the investigating manager had no problems believing i didn't steal the money - but still, evidently, i've been sacked, that's gonna look VERY bad!

I'm torn between writing a section explaining what happened & hoping that people will understand i made a genuine mistake & have learned from it OR simply putting "termination of contract" & hoping they'll interview me where i can explain in person. If i write about what happened it lessens my chance of being interviewed, but if i ignore it & just leave it at contract terminated it too leaves more questions than it gives answers!

Thanks for reading such a long no doubt rambling post, i could write a tome on what happened but ultimately it's gonna look bad all over a mistake which has lead to being sacked for money going missing.

yvonne13_2

bluenoseam wrote: »

So last month i was suspended from my job as the result of a sum of money going missing from the banking in the middle of December (13th) - while the store was informed on 16th of December, i wasn't until 15th of January! Both myself & my line manager were suspended pending investigation as we'd signed it - the manager involved was the person who was informed on 16/12/11! Long story short, during the banking a bag burst which he replaced, i didn't double check it and it was £1000 short.

The cash office doesn't appear to have been searched upon the issue being raised, i certainly wasn't informed until much later & when the investigation took place i could barely remember anything of the events of the day in question. Had i been told, i'd have turned the place upside down & if it was a genuine mistake i'd have found the money no question of that fact! However the waste was long gone by the time of the investigation - all i know for sure is that i've never had the money, something the investigation concurred with. (which leaves two possibilities, theft or it being shredded with the waste - i'm saying no more) As a result i was sacked for negligence causing unacceptable loss to the company on 3rd February.

I plan to appeal the decision based on the fact i believe the manager changed & sealed the bag without giving me a chance to recount it's contents. However between you & me, i think there's a better chance of me winning the lottery than winning the appeal. The manager too now no longer works with the company - indicators point to him jumping before suffering the same fate as me. (and for the record, no not there a year, no not a member of the union - and i'm aware how dumb a move that is)

After waiting a fortnight for paperwork which should arrive this week, i've decided to premptively apply for jobs - can't really leave it any longer i guess. But i'm wondering how best i should approach this problem, during the dismissal meeting it was said the investigating manager had no problems believing i didn't steal the money - but still, evidently, i've been sacked, that's gonna look VERY bad!

I'm torn between writing a section explaining what happened & hoping that people will understand i made a genuine mistake & have learned from it OR simply putting "termination of contract" & hoping they'll interview me where i can explain in person. If i write about what happened it lessens my chance of being interviewed, but if i ignore it & just leave it at contract terminated it too leaves more questions than it gives answers!

Thanks for reading such a long no doubt rambling post, i could write a tome on what happened but ultimately it's gonna look bad all over a mistake which has lead to being sacked for money going missing.

Some of what your wrote sounds a bit strange to me, you said you didn't check the money after the bag burst then next minute your trying to pass the blame by saying you were not given the chance to check it. It's your responsibility to check and double check when it comes to money and your job could be on the line.

And how can you say you would have found the money no question of the fact?

And lastly I find it very strange that it was exactly £1000 that was missing, I have never heard of a bag bursting open and an exact amount accidently goes missing.

You say that the investigating manager said he didn't belive you stole the money, so did he put that on your file?

bluenoseam

It's not particularly strange, i cannot say with 100% certainty that the manager DID empty the bag & seal the new one without making me check it. However given i know there was X there to start with (i know this is 100% without question) & it later turned out to be £1000 short i can safely assume that i definately didn't recount the bag as it would have flagged up on the spot. Ultimately i know it's my responsibility to check the contents of the bag & didn't do that - however i would also have no reason to doubt my manager had done it correctly in the first place. The lesson learned in that is that i SHOULD have recounted it rather than trust that it remained the same throughout - i know when i sealed the original bag it contained X amount, i would bet my life on that fact.

I can say with certainty i'd have found it as if it was a genuine mistake the money would still be in the confidential waste container, this wasn't emptied until 21/12/11 (the pickup had been initiated 9th Dec), so if the bag hadn't been emptied fully it would have been in there. The only explanation for the money NOT being in that bag would have been theft - hence the comment i know i would have found it if it had been a genuine mistake.

The amount again is not strange - the money would have been placed into seperate bags during the week leading up to banking day either in £5000 & £1000 "bricks" (for £10/20) or £2500 (£50). These bags would then be placed within a banking bag ready for pickup - once the bricks had been bagged up individually they would not be re-opened.

If the meeting notes go on my file (complete records were taken of every word said) then it will go on my file that he does not believe i've taken the money & the reason as to why i've been sacked.

Big_Alf

Have the police been involved at any point? Personally I would be more worried about having a criminal record than being fired.

Do you work in a very specialised field where you would HAVE to put down this employment period on your resume? I'm sure in this day and age it is not uncommon for people to have a gap of a year or so on their resume due to 'travelling'.

With the jobmarket the way it is I really dont think honesty would be the best policy here. Surely the 'file' from the company that sacked you isn't on a national database.

LadyMissA

If you were scaked due to sickness or performance that can all be addressed but as far as I see it having worked where there was a fraud you can never explain that or redeem yourself, sorry. If you sign anything make sure you know what you are signing or you look just as guilty.

bevanuk

To answer your question and not play detective like most of the other posters.
You don't need to put a reason for leaving on your CV.
I would get to interview stage and advise them honestly face to face from there, dignity MAY fall in your favour.

bluenoseam

Truth be told i don't mind the "detective" replies, it kinda lets me know what to expect from people who don't know me well enough to know i've only made the single mistake here without there being anything sinister on my part!

Firstly it's not a "specialised" field, it's retail work, but i'm not the type of person who's gonna omit something like a job from my CV - lying almost always comes back to bite you on the backside, so leaving it out is out of the question! (not to mention it would increase the previous unemployment gap from 12 months to 16 & counting) Besides that fact i'm of the belief that leaving it out would also make me look guilty of something more severe than that which i was!

The police weren't involved (it would be impossible to prove anything as oddly enough there was no CCTV in the cash office) so it's all on a company level - i would have had nothing to fear of a criminal investigation anyway.

Thanks for the advice though - taken on board, i've decided to leave it at contract terminated for now & see what happens with regards to interviews etc.

daveboy

Employed there less than a year - no rights regarding employment.

Personally I'd have played them at their own game and introduced the police to the matter straightaway.

I certainly know should I ever be accused of a similar matter that I will not let them run a disciplinary process without a police investigation running alongside it. Then if the police do nothing because nothing can be proven, them dismissing me will look very heavy handed, especially if it found its way into the media.

BackOnTrack

I agree with the previous poster who said not to give a reason on your CV for leaving the role.

Given that the reason for your dismisal is given as "negligence causing unacceptable loss to the company" you could try explaining it as that you failed to follow the correct procedures in the cash office which resulted in your dismissal, which is entirely true, as soon as you mention money going missing some people will immediatley assume you nicked it. Make sure you know exactly what you are going to say when asked this and have some positive spin you can put on it. I would also advise you to avoid cash handling jobs as if this is part of the job they are more likely to try and pry deeper into this than they would in jobs where this is not a requirement of the role.

Shinigami

Never put you have been sacked on your CV - don't put it on at all, should the question arise during an interview regarding "why you left your last job?" Simply reply :- A new management team had taken over and didn't see me as part of their future plans...

Admitting to being sacked is CV suicide.

yvonne13_2

OP did you ask HR what they would put on a reference for you? As I personally wouldn't want them to put that they wouldn't want to employ me again due to an investigation of missing money.

I would prefer them not to send a reference instead