job references

[SubaruWXR]

Im applying for a railway job and want to know if anyone knows if they will employee me if I was dismissed from a previous job.

It will show up if they ask them for references and the questionaire doesnt ask why I left so I have not been untruthful.

I just want to know if anyone knows if railway companies take on people who have been sacked from other jobs or not. has anyone had an experiences or knows about it

 

[NorthernTech]

It would likely depend on what you did to be sacked I’d assume. If you under-performed in a non related role then I’d imagine you would be fine, but if you swore at a customer, punched a colleague or stole something then I’d say you may be out of luck. You may need to be more specific to get the answer you need

 

[SubaruWXR]

no i didnt do anything like that. I just wanted to know if when they check references and see you were sacked does that mean they dont take you on just based on that.

 

[NorthernTech]

I’m not sure sorry, I thought you meant would they contact the employer to find out why you were sacked. If you have gone on to successful employment since, and are currently employed then how would they know if you either left or were sacked from that other job? Unless the application form asks you to say why you left each position you held. Like I said, perhaps a bit more detail required to give a proper answer.

 

[SubaruWXR]

Yes Ive gone on and am currently employed and will have an excellent reference from them. Just wondering if a prior bad reference would be an issue in my application, even though its not my current job, as the application requested details of jobs from the last 5 years, which it was in. Thanks for your replies NT, appreciated.

 

[NorthernTech]

No worries, Good luck

 

[Ducatist4]

They will ask the people you have listed for a reference which these days is usually simply start and finish dates and if they want they can say that you were dismissed. A lot depends on how big the company you left is, small businesses may go into more detail. Anything they say has to be truthful though.
Id imagine that if a reference comes back like that then NR will ask you for your version of what happened. If the references come after interview then they may well ask why you left during the interview. If that doesn't match the reference later on then that's bad.

 

[Horizon22]

References need to be fairly factual these days - normally "Yes I can confirm employee SubaruWXR was employed at Company A from Date 1 to Date 2". They might well add that you were dismissed, but may not going into more detail than that. You might then be asked about why that was. People can be dismissed for a whole variety of reasons completely unrelated to an employee's performance and at no fault of their own (redundancy, restructruting, industry lay-offs) so it won't be unheard of.

Most of the time on the railway I've seen references checked well after the fact (i.e after an offer is made and contract signed).

 

[Lankywhale]

Correct me if I'm wrong here but references are up to the last 3 years of employment. So if you work with your current employer for 3 years then that's the only reference they'll need.

Again, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[ALPAL]

If you’re worried about giving more than one reference perhaps you could give one professional from your current employer and one character reference if you know someone in a position of authority willing to give you one - a police officer, solicitor, pilot etc.

Most companies nowadays are terrified of giving references that go into you as a person as it’s very easy for them to get sued, my current employer provides references for sacked employees and they only state “Mr XYZ worked with us in the position of ABC from dates ddmmyy to ddmmyy”. They do not say anything else, and this is the same for people that haven’t been sacked and is for all levels of job in the business, my old company was also the same - both are multi-billion pound corporations that don’t like to flirt with the law on giving fair and accurate references so just give basic factual ones. The only difference for employees on good terms is you can usually use a team leader/less official manager for a more personalised, positive reference but in my experience some new employers aren’t interested in this, they only want an official one from someone in HR that has no idea who you are.

 

[4F89]

I've been fired plenty of times, don't sweat it too much, especially if it was for something stupid and non-safety based.

 

[Twotwo]

The reference is just to confirm the dates you worked there and its usually outsourced to a third party who does the chasing around. My previous toc refused to give a reference because I didn't give my 6 months notice and in the end the people chasing the reference just wanted my first and last payslip to confirm the dates I worked.