Refused me job ..aibu to feel like giving up?

[reddeadalive]

I'm 33 and my job history is mainly customer service.
In the last 11 years my mum had cancer and has passed away in September.
I kept taking breaks in my employment to look after her.
My last job was 2016
I applied for a call centre and got offered the job.
Told them my previous history but couldn't remember exact dates.
They did a Experian employment check and refused the offer.
Saying there were too many gaps in my employment.
I feel really really low.
In a ideal world my mum wouldn't have been ill and I wouldn't have had to keep leaving jobs.
Will I ever get a job again ?

The thing that worries me is that even when Experian just did credit reports, they were not always correct. It became such an issue that we now have a right to see our Experian credit reports for free.

Is there a way to ask to see the background check report that Experien has on us? I’m especially curious because many in U.K. have education, degrees and employment history from outside the UK. How would Experian in U.K. check on degrees issues by UCLA or Harvard?

www.experian.co.uk/business/identity-fraud/background-checks/employment-reference-checks/index#

They also check online presence

I suspect the refusal is nothing to do with the Experian check. It's just that the company doesn't want to employ you because you have had large breaks in your employment.

That is their prerogative. It makes them scum if they haven't taken into account your caring responsibilities, but it is their right to make that choice.

You'll be able to find work, but you probably need to look for work with smaller or more sensitive companies which do not use such a blunt and inhumane means of filtering prospective employees.

@ScottishStottie

Experian will have access to exact dates etc due to tax code changes and that sort of thing i imagine. So theirs will be more accurate than yours.

Is that really the case?

How would they get that information? Surely HMRC don't share sensitive private information with commercial businesses.

I've never heard of an employment record check, other than accessing tax returns I can't work out how anyone would know where I've worked and when

I agree with the general point that others are making, I would have to have a very good reason to employ someone who doesn't know their own employment history when there are so many people wanting jobs.

Ah. So Experian is only used to basically call up and check for references? That's fine and understandable then. I wondered how they could have data even Home Office couldn't get based on my NIN🙄

Op, dig through your stuff and make a document luke I said before. It's such a shame this happened, but take it as a lesson and be ready for next time.

One of my problems is my friends boyfriend rented a business and I worked there as a part time waitress but it was cash in hand type of work so I don't think I can put that down can I

If by "cash in hand" you mean you defrauded HMRC, well, you shouldn't do that. But you can still include the job in your employment history

I had to have pre-employment screening. This involved job history, reference checks, credit history, address history and they be employed a company called Capita to do it. I had to provide all sorts of things, copy of my marriage certificate to prove my name change etc!

The thing that worries me is that even when Experian just did credit reports, they were not always correct.
Nope. And Callcrefit was the worst for electoral roll

@reddeadalive

One of my problems is my friends boyfriend rented a business and I worked there as a part time waitress but it was cash in hand type of work so I don't think I can put that down can I ?

Is there a record of you having worked there? Being paid in cash isn't a problem in itself, but you should still have declared it to HMRC for tax purposes.

www.checkmyfile.com/articles/what-landlords-employers-and-lenders-see-on-your-credit-report.htm

How to see what Experian knows about you.

It depresses me how fucking difficult it is to get a fairly basic job. Jumping to conclusions I'm guessing this call centre pays about £12 an hour which is not a real living wage in the UK today, yet the hoops you have to jump through to be deemed a worthy employee.

It's grim.

@PlanDeRaccordement

The thing that worries me is that even when Experian just did credit reports, they were not always correct. It became such an issue that we now have a right to see our Experian credit reports for free.

Is there a way to ask to see the background check report that Experien has on us? I’m especially curious because many in U.K. have education, degrees and employment history from outside the UK. How would Experian in U.K. check on degrees issues by UCLA or Harvard?

They don’t hold information on you other than the usual credit report, they act for a prospective employer to conduct checks when asked to do so.

@vanillandhoney being paid cash isn't. Working "cash in hand" is

@LaughingStock2021 this particular call centre is £8.72 a hour

@stackhead

Honestly it'll be down to the accuracy of the information you give them. You need to try and get specific dates, if you guess and the dates don't line up with their checks then they'll think you're hiding something.

This.

If you have done contract work then try to explain if you were on holiday etc - I've sometimes if there have been gaps have said I've worked for my brother (who has a small film company) and he covers giving me a reference - I have worked for him anyway.

I personally don't see an issue if you explain you were caring for your mother but I do think they require specific dates or they just think you weren't working. Maybe they think you can't keep a job if there are too many gaps.

Do you have good references? or people to approach for them?

As people have already said, employer reference companies do a thorough job of following up what you claim are your qualifications and previous employment, so you will need to be prepared for the next time you get a job offer. Not knowing what dates you worked isn't really a good thing in itself - do you not have payslips or letters from the start and end of your job from previous employers? Check bank statements to see when you were being paid?

They also generally want explanations for the gaps in your CV - I've had to sign a statement declaring what I did with a gap, and you could do the same, declaring caring or support for family. Unexplained and inconsistent gaps are a big red flag for these checkers - the presumptive question is how you were supporting yourself and what you were doing, and if you don't want to tell them it must be dodgy. It does feel a bit intrusive but you don't have to tell them too much detail - saying you had caring responsibilities is fine.

I told them I was in receipt of carers allowance as I was a carer for my mum
It just feels like a massive carry on for a minimum wage job just selling broadband

Were you in receipt of benefits whilst being a carer? If so this can be used to verify what you were doing during the gaps.

As others have said, it's important to give accurate dates on your CV. Try not to let this downhearten you, just spend some time checking your dates before you apply for another role.

@LaughingStock2021

It depresses me how fucking difficult it is to get a fairly basic job. Jumping to conclusions I'm guessing this call centre pays about £12 an hour which is not a real living wage in the UK today, yet the hoops you have to jump through to be deemed a worthy employee.

It's grim.

You just have to know where you’ve worked before, tell the truth about your employment history and not have a criminal record. Seems reasonable.

Ah, cross posted, they should have been able to verify your CA claim with the DWP.

It is a lot of fuss for a minimum wage role. If it's the BB provider that also has an airline with the same name, they did have a fraud issue in their call centre a few years ago, which might explain them being more stringent now. If it's TT, you'll no doubt know about their massive data breach when Dido Harding was in charge.

What if I never get a job again?
I just want to get my life back again and I know I can do customer services based jobs.
I'm just feeling really down now

@reddeadalive

What if I never get a job again? I just want to get my life back again and I know I can do customer services based jobs. I'm just feeling really down now

You will. Absolutely. Just make sure you have all your information correct. There are some organisations fir women helping them with self esteem, cvs etc when returning to work. Have a look in your area.

@PinkTonic
Thank you. But still I am concerned that Experian may not always be accurate. It seems a bit off that any discrepancy between candidates CV or application automatically means Experian is 100% correct and candidate either lied or is incompetent and writing a CV.

There should be some process in place where you apply for job, the employer gets report from Experian and if that report means possible withdrawal of a job offer then the employer must first give you a copy of the Experian report and an opportunity to explain or correct anything showing on there that is causing them to consider withdrawing the job offer. It should be a legal requirement to be able to see the data on which the employer is basing their decision to refuse you the job they’d already offered you.

£8.72? So min wage?

A fucking disgrace. Who can live on an hourly wage of £8.72 without top up benefits?

These companies anger me so much, they are the real benefit scroungers paying shite wages while taking advantage of people making them jump through a million hoops for a pittance.