Moving on from being sacked for gross misconduct: Applying for work.

Nicki

motorguy wrote: »

If the person left a job with no obvious job to go to, a response like the one above would raise concerns if I was interviewing.

Particularly as it will bear no relation to what the employer would say if contacted for a reference!

motorguy

Nicki wrote: »

Particularly as it will bear no relation to what the employer would say if contacted for a reference!

The trick is not to have a reference of someone in the previous company who is going to disclose that though.

A sympathetic colleague or previous manager may well be amenable.

paddyrg

Gavin83 wrote: »

Your previous employer sounds like an idiot.
...
Still I wouldn't trust an employer that used Access as their DBMS, that's a good sign they don't know what they're talking about.

They sound like gold-plated idiots if they want to stop people from using copy/paste to slow them down.

I disagree about Access - well I agree in the sense that you mean it and probably in this case, that using it for enterprise-level data or as a master repository on a distributed system is very poorly designed. Certainly any company that has 'protection' on certain parts of the system is deluded - if data shouldn't be visible you manage that server-side and do it properly with roles, etc. That's a massive red flag that they think they have a secure area.

For workgroups of a few people, noncritical data, with centralised backups, Access is not so bad, and has a simple IDE for form and report designs. Admittedly a lot of QBE queries will throw spurious results if there's no declarative referential integrity in the system design (and sadly that's many Access-based systems), but inherently it's not bad as a tool.

Masomnia

On reflection I think it does depend on the job you're going for.

It's a while since I went for grad jobs, but if you mentioned that you did an internship June - July it seems unlikely that they'll ask why you left as it's understood that these are temporary posts.

Reference-wise, you could give your most recent employer and an academic one? That would work.

If they want a reference from the internship, is there a manager there that you worked for that might be sympathetic and would give one?

Gavin83

paddyrg wrote: »

They sound like gold-plated idiots if they want to stop people from using copy/paste to slow them down.

I disagree about Access - well I agree in the sense that you mean it and probably in this case, that using it for enterprise-level data or as a master repository on a distributed system is very poorly designed. Certainly any company that has 'protection' on certain parts of the system is deluded - if data shouldn't be visible you manage that server-side and do it properly with roles, etc. That's a massive red flag that they think they have a secure area.

For workgroups of a few people, noncritical data, with centralised backups, Access is not so bad, and has a simple IDE for form and report designs. Admittedly a lot of QBE queries will throw spurious results if there's no declarative referential integrity in the system design (and sadly that's many Access-based systems), but inherently it's not bad as a tool.

Can't disagree with this but I didn't go into detail as I didn't feel this is the topic for it. For a very small comany (ie: few people) who want to run a small system with an easy to develop interface then Access is perfect. For anything larger I'd be looking down the SQL Server path. Worried about cost? Then go for the free version. It's still a whole lot more capable and less restrained than Access even if you do lose the advanced features of Enterprise.

Like most things in IT the answer is often 'it depends' and there are certainly reasons to use it. However from the way he spoke it sounded like the company was of a reasonable size and it was their day to day system.

daytona0

steampowered wrote: »

In this scenario, the Op is leaving an admin job to try and become a lawyer.

It would be a bit strange for a law firm to ask why the Op left an admin job. I think the Op is more likely to be asked "Why do you want to become a lawyer?"

I think the OP created this thread for advice on the possibility that future employers will ask for employment history and reasons for leaving.

In this scenario, focusing on what "OP is more likely to be asked" is probably not helpful

Strider590

Gavin83 wrote: »

Your previous employer sounds like an idiot.

A) Who complains about an employee working too fast?

Surely creating an app to do a part of your job is a good thing as it frees you up to do other stuff? Automation is actively encouraged in my role, I simply wouldn't have enough time to do my work if I didn't automated the regular boring tasks.

Still I wouldn't trust an employer that used Access as their DBMS, that's a good sign they don't know what they're talking about.

I know, it's been discussed to death with friends/family and former colleagues.
Working too fast was seen as an opportunity to attempt to discredit the quality of my work and a number of "mistakes" were found, none of them were actually mistakes because the source data (obtained from parts suppliers) had changed since i'd done the those jobs, as was evident on datasheets and file metadata.

Some years prior I created a BAT/VBS hybrid that could be used in the back end of an Access database to add/change/correct data without going through to front end forms, with over 500'000 entries to correct it would have saved 3 months worth of man hours from people having to do it manually, upon presenting this thing to my direct manager all hell broke loose and then after the MD found out that we'd wasted 3 months worth of man hours when we could have done it my way in less than 15 mins, all hell broke loose again, this time for not sharing my discovery.

They also refused to fix issues that actively encouraged people to make mistakes, because they enjoyed witch hunting and humiliating people so much.

It was the lower management that were the problem, they felt threatened by anyone knowing more than them.

daytona0

Strider590 wrote: »

Some years prior I created a BAT/VBS hybrid that could be used in the back end of an Access database to add/change/correct data without going through to front end forms, with over 500'000 entries to correct it would have saved 3 months worth of man hours from people having to do it manually, upon presenting this thing to my direct manager all hell broke loose and then after the MD found out that we'd wasted 3 months worth of man hours when we could have done it my way in less than 15 mins, all hell broke loose again, this time for not sharing my discovery.

Is the employer not entitled to be peeved if you withheld an idea which could have saved them 3 months' worth of manpower?

Strider590

daytona0 wrote: »

Is the employer not entitled to be peeved if you withheld an idea which could have saved them 3 months' worth of manpower?

Yes, and I would be too............

Problem is lower management insecurities, you can't go over your managers head and if he sh*ts all over your ideas (for reason other than he didn't think of it) what can you do?

Personally I think managers like that should be fired, but for some unknown reason they manage to hold on their positions.

dcouponzzzz

I'm on board with your ideas Strider but I would personally present the automation improvement in a formal setting with the relevant stakeholders before any production takes place (assuming this option was available). Their acceptance would depend on your ability to influence the audience and sell the benefits, which I have no doubt you could do with something as useful as automating 3 month's work.

From my own experience years ago presenting something after I'd completed the proof of concept proved a waste of time... on multiple occasions other team's were working on the same ideas I presented but management hadn't communicated.