Employers - would you take someone on who's been sacked previously?

Nine_Lives

One for only the employers really.

I know there are so many variables here, but generally speaking, would you?

If the person was sacked for clubbing their boss damn near to death for underpaying them 15 minutes by mistake & had just gotten out of prison, i think it'd be fair to say the vast majority would say no.

Sacked for hitting someone, sacked for turning up late too much, being sick, insulting a co-worker at work or on a social media website, stealing from the company - there are many examples.

What goes through your mind as an employer when you've got an applicant who's been sacked?

I know of a couple of people who've been sacked for hitting co-workers actually. One just lashed out because he had a temper. The other one was pecked at for months & months by his supervisor & didn't do anything. Then the supervisor started making comments about this chaps wife, so he got walloped.

Both cases saw the people sacked for assault, both situations had different 'reasons', but both people are really struggling to find work 9-12 months on.

Just wondered what an employers perspective was.

AP007

Nine_Lives wrote: »

One for only the employers really.

I know there are so many variables here, but generally speaking, would you?

If the person was sacked for clubbing their boss damn near to death for underpaying them 15 minutes by mistake & had just gotten out of prison, i think it'd be fair to say the vast majority would say no.

Sacked for hitting someone, sacked for turning up late too much, being sick, insulting a co-worker at work or on a social media website, stealing from the company - there are many examples.

What goes through your mind as an employer when you've got an applicant who's been sacked?

I know of a couple of people who've been sacked for hitting co-workers actually. One just lashed out because he had a temper. The other one was pecked at for months & months by his supervisor & didn't do anything. Then the supervisor started making comments about this chaps wife, so he got walloped.

Both cases saw the people sacked for assault, both situations had different 'reasons', but both people are really struggling to find work 9-12 months on.

Just wondered what an employers perspective was.

The employers perspective would be 'yeah lets employ a lot of violent people'!! NOT!

I know I am not working at the moment but if I was hiring (and I did in the past) I would not hire anyone who had been sacked for violence or theft full stop. No matter what they say the situation was. Scaked for being late or sickness can be over come but not where you could get arrested and probably have been for what you got sacked for.

If these people are struggling to get work then think of the regular person who is also strugling to find work like disabled, people with a mental health issue or who has been redundant through not fault of their own and then think who's fault it is really they can't find a job.

denla

I know a man who violently assaulted a pregnant woman. He did it at work and got sacked, as well as some prison time. He managed to secure employment in another country.

Nine_Lives

Just to note before the thread gets any more replies - i was only asking about in general & i was giving a few examples of sacking that came to mind. I wasn't really looking for feedback on the 2 assault cases i mentioned or for the thread to focus on assault as a reason for dismissal. There could be many reasons.

I've nearly lost my job through sickness records. I was given a chance & i've showed it was just a run of bad luck & i'm putting a good run of time together without sickness (by sickness, it was more being signed off due to injury/operation recovery), but i could've been another sick note dismissal story.

I've also nearly lost it due to comments made to another co worker. I was given a final chance on this & wont repeat it, but i could've become another dismissal story on this.

You could say this isn't as severe as an assault dismissal, but it'd still be dismissal ATEOTD. Which doesn't look good on your record. What i'm saying is there can be a whole host of reasons, so i was just wondering on an employers thought process when assessing this.

getmore4less

You may never find out.

ET claims are another issue, do you don't you(if you find out).

TrickyWicky

I had a colleague a while back who used to run a restaurant. He said he had an applicant once turn up for a chefs job. Apparently a nice enough bloke but just been released from prison for murdering someone with a kitchen knife - stabbed them to death several times apparently.. applying for a job as chef working with kitchen knives.. Needless to say he didn't get the job.

Kallops

I remember someone punching a guy in the face at the carinval and he got sacked.

zzzLazyDaisy

I was once sacked for being off sick. Actually that's not quite true, I was sacked for commencing a phased return to work after surgery which was afreed with the organisation I worked for, but against the wishes of my immediate manager who wanted me to return full-time immediately.

So he phoned me at home on the morning I was due to return to work and told me he had decided to terminate my employment with immediate effect because he felt it would be better for my health if I didn't come back to work. This despite the fact that the condition I had surgery for was an acknowledged disability that the organisation was aware of. Then he refused to pay me any payment in lieu of notice because he didn't require me to work my notice, so I wasn't due any money. And he refused to pay the holiday pay owing to me, because 'I'd already had too much time off sick'.

The arrogance of someone who would mess with an employment lawyer like that, still makes me smile!

Anyway, the point is, I had no problem at all finding fresh employment. I also had the support of my new employer when I took my old employer to tribunal - and they were there with a bottle of bubbly when I won.

So yes, there are times when employers will overlook the fact that an employee has been sacked.

Miss_Havisham

In general terms (as you request), no I probably wouldn't take on anyone who had been fired. If I did I would feel the need to keep a closer eye on him/her than I would ordinarily, - time consuming for me and not very comfortable for the employee. I know something like punctuality and sickness can be dealt with but it's not something I would take on voluntarily.

I might make an exception if the person had a specific skill that I needed and couldn't find elsewhere and the sackable offence was something not likely to recur or relate to the job I want to fill.

bluenoseam

Having been on the end of a dismissal myself I'd say it's subjective. I was dismissed for what I'd classify as an administrative error which in the grand scheme of things lead to something a little more serious. (when you give the full story it starts to sound pretty bad - even though I had no more serious a problem than signing for something but not counting it!) Fortunately given my background I have excellent references and it was a seasonal job, so unless an employer actually asks directly why I left that job I don't go into it! (I was dismissed in February so it does look "natural")

For repeated lateness I would be willing to offer a job however if they continued that trend their employment would not last long. Similarly if they'd been sacked for telling the boss they were a jerk I'd also be willing to give them a shot - after all, sometimes the truth must be told!

Sickness is a lot less grey, I would not reject anyone based on their sickness record unless it happened they were off every Monday in life! I have been on long term sick and ultimately with good reason, I would not like this used against me in any way (infact doing so would probably be illegal given the reason) - it's not something that is a major factor. Recovery time for operations again I do not see this as "bad" because ultimately, surgery can happen to anyone at any time and not always for a reason which will stop someone from performing in the future!

Hitting a colleague/customer on the other hand I would take a much more dim view on it, I wouldn't hire that person. Same with proven theft, although lets be fair who in the right mind is dim enough to give an employer who's sacked them for either offense as a reference! As a sub question to that, would you really want someone so monumentally idiotic as that working for you, I think not!

(should be said I'm not an employer - but figured I'd give my opinion, fortunately I have been given a job since my dismissal but they didn't ask!)

Sambucus_Nigra

Depends on the person and on the job.

If they had hit someone in the past and been sacked for it, and I really liked them and they were the best person for the job, I'd probably put them through some psychometric tests, and see what my objective psychometric person said about them; and if I still wanted to employ them I'd probably offer them some counseling or training if it was going to make a difference to how they managed themselves in the future.