How to get a job with 3 previous dismissals (not fully my fault!) ? 120+ applications and nothing!!

MadRatters

penners324 said:

Cover letters are over rated.most employers just want to read your CV

I don't send a cover letter unless I'm asked to. 

penners324 said:

I wouldn't be mentioning any dismissals on your cover letters nor the reasons behind them.

Speak to some recruitment agencies as well.

Look  at LinkedIn regularly 

I don't but on some online applications it asks for it and well, it'll look worse if I lie and say No as they'd find out one way or any other. My job centre coach had said that I would need to paste the paragraph explaining what happened but that's only if asked on the application form. 

Also, I get asked all the time on the phone as a lot of companies won't allow people who have been dismissed. 

TELLIT01 said:

The first dismissal on health grounds isn't a major problem, particularly if the condition is at least partially controlled now.  The other two are much more of a problem as they bring your behaviour and reliability at work into question.  I'm afraid trying to pass the blame on to other people for all the breaches is unlikely to be believed.

I know it looks so bad but it's all true, I am as honest as I can be with what happened and take full responsibilty for the parts that were my fault but also I'm not being blamed for it all when my team leader told me I could provide full bank details in a letter, not in an email then 4 months later telling me suddenly,  I was wrong and that the customer needs to fill out a authorisation form (which was NOT told to us during training) . 

lincroft1710 said:

Sorry but can't offer you any crumbs of comfort. Unless you're applying for very difficult to fill vacancies, most employers will have a good range of candidates to choose from. Also you are somewhat hampered in only being able to do fully remote work. 

Rather than give us just the negatives are there some positives you can show an employer

Not really, apart from helping to train 3 people (in different roles), Been working from home since 2020 but other than that I have nothing positive really in that respect. 

I have applied for 100+ remote roles so finding them isn't the issue...it's getting people to give me a chance. 

Mands said:

Have you been posting here under another name? The combination of jobs and circumstances sounds familiar.

The job that was recently withdrawn - how did you find that? You say 120 applications with no interest so what was different about that one?

last year I had a different account. I applied through a job board, they gave me a call and I passed the work-at-home screening and the informal interview and then they told me the accepted my application and was going to go ahead with employing me. They made me do the new starter forms and then I had a call to say they aren't going forward with me... luckily no contract had been signed. 

This was different as it's the only one I had an pre-screen/interview for.

MalMonroe said:

Hi, are you applying for similar jobs in childcare? I assume not, since you say that you are only able to do remote work now. That removes you from childcare, which to be honest didn't seem to be your forte. 

However, the Job Centre should be helping you with finding another job. Are you able to type and do transcription work or data entry work? Those are the jobs you can do from home and you could try to build up your reputation by doing something like that for a while.

I signed up with Indeed and they often send me information about jobs - and if you join LinkedIn, they also notify you of any suitable jobs.

You could also google something like 'typing jobs work at home uk'. (Don't apply for the ones that make you bid, or pay, or both.) They probably won't want an in-depth CV as you won't be responsible for anyone else but yourself.

As for your dismissals, I can see why the employers considered them to be serious but if you won't be doing that kind of work any more then, as I say, you can build up your reputation as an excellent work from home employee.

If you can't type, have you considered further training? Job Centre may be able to help with applying for funding, if there is any.

Just a few thoughts, hope they are helpful in some way and that you manage to find something suitable soon. 

Well I had been a nursery nurse from 2014-2019 so I disagree with your statement of 'which to be honest didn't seem to be your forte' as I had been a staff member for 2 nurseries for 2+years each. I only left due to moving house. 

But no, I am not looking for childcare roles as my Fibromyalgia has gotten so much more worse and due to the varying days of pain, I am not able to stable enough to have a childcare job. Nothing remote available in this sector. 

So far the job centre has given me a list of sites to use (many just redirect to the job board sites i already use or are offline) and they've just told me to write cover letters and apply for anything and everything...I have. But they aren't doing much in the way of helping me trying to find a job. 

I use Indeed more than the others and so far in just the past 2 weeks alone, I've sent 76 applications. 

I will try to find those types of roles on Google. What skills should I work on? 

Also, thank you for your advice & help. 

the last dismissal was for a non-childcare role. concerneduk2020 said:

I’d talk to recruitment agencies and look for short term contracts to build up a record of good employment. They are harder for employers to fill so you have a better chance of getting the role and if you do a few without issues it will be easier to get a permanent role. I’d avoid passing blame onto others when talking about reasons for dismissal, yes it wasn’t your fault, but it could sound like you are making excuses to an employer. Instead focus on what you learnt from the experience e.g. I was let go from my previous role due to a data protection issue caused by miscommunication between me and my manager, what I learnt from this is the importance of understanding processes fully and asking for documentation. I’ve also taken a Linkedin course on GDPR to help develop my understanding in this area. Showing you can take accountability for mistakes and learn from them is a valuable skills. Do you have any former managers who would be willing to give you a personal reference?

I've started applying for agency roles and short term contracts, I'm applying for both temporary and permanent to not limit myself or be closed to potential opportunities. 

I've tried not to lay blame and tried to say it in a positive, professional way and yeah I have other managers that I give as references as well. 

But I will defiantly re-fresh on GDPR and stuff to show I've accepted fault and am trying to improve these areas. 

MadRatters

Thank you to everyone who has replied with tips and advice, I will take onboard everything and work on what you have said. 

Own_Worst_Enermy

I think you are stuck because you will only consider remote work, sorry. 

Remote is done with unless it’s undesirable sales role or some part promised hybrid affair. Or you are willing to work fully remote with some other type of industry where you supply your own tools (laptop with right data space memory, headset etc) 

Once a company wants you out they will tend to keep finding you’ve ‘breached’ GDPR or some other murkiness. I myself had it in a cold calling sales company before in a really thank god that broke the camels back here and someone I know has spent much of the day yesterday in tears over it when we’ve as a team genuinely never been guided on leaving outbound voicemails and there has never been any official information/policies. 

HampshireH

If you've applied for over 100 positions and are continuing to be unsuccessful perhaps it's time to look at the quality of your applications over quantity 

Review your CV.  Overhaul it. Have a few versions highlighting different skills sets depending on the jobs you are applying for.

Places like customer service centre are frequently 100% remote working but skills in childcare will be irrelevant so you would want to promote your individual time management skills, your customer service skills, your verbal communication skills, knowledge of de-escalation/complaint handling and written skills.

Whereas say a data entry job with no customer engagement you would be pushing your attention to detail, accuracy, excell (perhaps?) &  typing skills.

goater78

It will be hard to get a remote only role if you were dismissed from your last job. There is a certain amount of trust that needs to be there for remote workers and a dismissal for data protection issues won’t help you here. 

On your three dismissals I wouldn’t mention 1 or 2. Don’t think they will ask about them really. You just need to explain 3 better. Instead of blaming someone else just explain you misunderstood the policy. Don’t lie to any prospective employer but also don’t over share information.  

Personally I would go for an easier non remote job e.g working in a call centre for a few months and try and get a better (maybe remote) job while employed in this one. Will definitely be more achievable. 

MadRatters

Own_Worst_Enermy said:

I think you are stuck because you will only consider remote work, sorry. 

Remote is done with unless it’s undesirable sales role or some part promised hybrid affair. Or you are willing to work fully remote with some other type of industry where you supply your own tools (laptop with right data space memory, headset etc) 

Once a company wants you out they will tend to keep finding you’ve ‘breached’ GDPR or some other murkiness. I myself had it in a cold calling sales company before in a really thank god that broke the camels back here and someone I know has spent much of the day yesterday in tears over it when we’ve as a team genuinely never been guided on leaving outbound voicemails and there has never been any official information/policies. 

Well I can't do office work... I would need to rehome my dog as my husband works full time and due to his own work, he can't look after the dog in the day. He's literally said that I need to work from home or we'd have to rehome. I can do jobs that require me to travel in every few months but I can't daily.  and travelling stresses me out and makes me have a really extreme fibromyalgia flare and I'd be unable to work or just sent home so it's not that I am unwilling , I have to.

I am applying for all sorts of work from home jobs. 

Windows OS only as I have a desktop, Roles that can use MAC OS and those who would provide the equipment. Yeah, they were cutting down numbers it seems as things got quiet but didn't have any reason to fire me so I feel like they purpose set a plan to get me out. 

HampshireH said:

If you've applied for over 100 positions and are continuing to be unsuccessful perhaps it's time to look at the quality of your applications over quantity 

Review your CV.  Overhaul it. Have a few versions highlighting different skills sets depending on the jobs you are applying for.

Places like customer service centre are frequently 100% remote working but skills in childcare will be irrelevant so you would want to promote your individual time management skills, your customer service skills, your verbal communication skills, knowledge of de-escalation/complaint handling and written skills.

Whereas say a data entry job with no customer engagement you would be pushing your attention to detail, accuracy, excell (perhaps?) &  typing skills.

I can't assess the qaulity when most are just Yes/No basic options like right to work? 

Also, apparently my cover letters and CV's are really good and nothing needs changing, I asked for advice many times. 

I have only stated parts of Childcare that are transferrable and sometimes I don't even include this on my CV. 

I will take on those points though and see if there's anyway to match the CV to what the role is. 

goater78 said:

It will be hard to get a remote only role if you were dismissed from your last job. There is a certain amount of trust that needs to be there for remote workers and a dismissal for data protection issues won’t help you here. 

On your three dismissals I wouldn’t mention 1 or 2. Don’t think they will ask about them really. You just need to explain 3 better. Instead of blaming someone else just explain you misunderstood the policy. Don’t lie to any prospective employer but also don’t over share information.  

Personally I would go for an easier non remote job e.g working in a call centre for a few months and try and get a better (maybe remote) job while employed in this one. Will definitely be more achievable. 

Yeah - I was told by my job centre coach to write about how I have been working from home since 2020 with no other issues and then positively try to explain my dismissal and reassure them that it was just a bit of a blip due to not having adeqaute training or information to do my role properly. 

I DON'T lie and I don't blame but I am not being made out that its my fault when it 100% was not. 

I was told in training we were NOT allowed to put full bank account details in a letter or email. I wrote a letter and used the correct way to write bank information and then Qaulity Assurence told me I had to include it in full. I told them I am not allowed they told me I had to or get a critical score. So I asked my Team leader who said "you can in a letter, not in an email" when I clarfied with them about what the correct thing was to do - do I follow training and not include full details and take a critical score or do I do what Qaulity Assurance has said. They told me to do what Qaulity Assurance has said. 

Only 4 months later my team leader told me I shouldn't of followed this advice and that a particular form needed to be filled out but I showed him that we weren't told about the form and it's not in any of the training materials nor did he tell me about the form in the first instance where I tried to clairfy with him what the correct process to follow was. 

SO NO, I am not going to just sit here and take the fall and pretend it was all my fault. I did everything I could to get the correct information so not my fault my team leader chose to only give me partial information.

I don't mean to be rude but I don't see how the above is my fault? 

Is there a better way of saying this? 

PartyOfFive

Setting aside all the dismissals, I think you seriously need to reassess your expectations regarding fully remote roles.

Covid is over and as another poster above mentioned, hybrid employers are expecting people (especially new starters) to be in an office at minimum 3 days a week.

Those who predominantly work from home now are those that have more than likely been in their roles for a while and have a certain level of experience in their role or built up a level of trust with their employer

(in my case I WFH four days a week - and this is after 8 years at the company).

Own_Worst_Enermy

Aaliyah, but wasted time most on this board won’t get it, they support the mobojumbo they want only exclusively to believe in and nothing else is possible in the their sad worlds of who they believe,

I interviewed 10 years ago but today the company would say something different under new managementship but why would I want to get into an argument with people who presume to know best, always, 

MadRatters

PartyOfFive said:

Setting aside all the dismissals, I think you seriously need to reassess your expectations regarding fully remote roles.

Covid is over and as another poster above mentioned, hybrid employers are expecting people (especially new starters) to be in an office at minimum 3 days a week.

Those who predominantly work from home now are those that have more than likely been in their roles for a while and have a certain level of experience in their role or built up a level of trust with their employer

(in my case I WFH four days a week - and this is after 8 years at the company).

well i can reassess and over and over again it comes down to if I cannot get fully remote work then we had to re-home our dog as my husband does not have the time to feed him when I am not home due to his hours, unexpected meetings, unexpected things happening that means he has to jump straight onto work to fix. 

I don't have any other option. If i get a hybrid or office job, our dog will not be looked after and basic needs neglected. 

He isn't just any pet dog, he helps with pain relief measures/depression/house jobs (like getting me parcels, post and helping carry stuff or picking up stuff when I can't). He's not an official service dog or anything, we've trained him ourselves to help out in the home but without him... I'd struggle a lot. 

I've been applying for fully remote roles though so being hybrid isn't an issue ?

sammyjammy

Can you not consider doggy day care or a dog walker or even work part-time?