Job offer but I’ve f****d up the references

[newdays55]

Hi ladies,

I’ll start off by saying I know I’ve messed up. I’m an idiot and shouldn’t have lied.

I applied and interviewed for a job 3 weeks ago. It’s an admin role in the health care sector (not a carer and I won’t have any contact with patients)

I had to complete an employment history form before the interview and I wasn’t completely truthful. I left off certain jobs because I was only there a short period and I thought it looked awful, and other jobs I extended the dates slightly. My last 2 jobs are correct though.

Anyway, I was unexpectedly offered the job on Friday, which I accepted.

I’m panicking now though in case they find out that I’ve lied. The woman who interviewed me said that they occasionally request references covering the last 10 years of employment (or for any jobs related to care, which I did previously). However they normally only request references from the last 3 employers. I will also have to complete a DBS check which is fine.

I’m shitting myself now. The onboarding process can take 4-6 weeks and I’m worried about handing my notice in or turning down other job offers in case they find out and retract the offer.

Should I just ride it out and hope for the best?

If it’s years ago and you only extended by a month of two, I wouldn’t say anything and if questioned just tell them you cannot remember the exact dates and much have made a slight mistake

I'd not say anything. Unlikely they'll look into much more than a reference from your last job.

@BobbyBiscuitswell, that’s what I thought. But they mentioned about requesting information from HMRC - for example, if they do want / need 10 years worth of references and they can’t get them (because some of the companies I worked for are no longer trading or have changed hands since) they would ask HMRC to confirm I worked for that company and how long. They will see that I lied about dates, plus any jobs I haven’t declared (I’ve already checked my online portal and they’re on there)

I really don’t think anyone will worry about dates being slightly out or jobs left off. Don’t worry.

Unless you've fabricated your dates by several years, I doubt it will be picked up TBH.
I once sat on an interview panel where one of the candidates had been selected for interview despite declaring her "criminal record."
No-one had spotted it on her application form despite it having gone through a selection panel scrutiny.
None of the other interview panel members picked up on it either until I questioned it - probably because they'd done the job 1,000 times before and I was a complete novice.
Good luck.

Calm down, you´ll be fine. The 4-7-8 breathing technique is great for this. You ride the wave and that´s it.

I wouldn't do anything, if they ask about the missing jobs then just say that you didn't really think a job for just a few weeks was worth listing. If they ask about the dates being off for some jobs 6-7 years earlier just say that you must have made a mistake as you were do it from memory and not from your payment slips or something like that.

I’ve done that if the jobs have been short and covered it with saying I did some casual temping. Surely the only jobs that they’ll care about are the longer ones and you can ask them if the third can be a personal character reference (assuming your cv is not littered with blatant lies). How much stretching of the truth were the length of the jobs?

Honestly this isn’t so bad. Don’t feel shit. Don’t email them and correct the dates. Just continue with the employment you have already stated in your application. I doubt they will even notice. Good luck with it all x

I didn’t include every last temp/contact job I had on applications and I need enhanced DBS for my jobs and to be squeaky clean. It never occurred this is a problem. I’ve probably also messed up a couple of dates as I’ve done lots of concurrent part time/short term contact work and while they are correct on my CV when applications ask for dates it s way to make mistakes.
long story short, it’s fine. As long as you have the 3 refs required and no skeletons in your employment closet Im sure it will be fine.

I don’t get the issue. My CV doesn’t include every job ever, but the jobs I record are honestly recorded. As long as it’s not to evade a warning or issue etc that should be declared then it’s all quite normal.

@AloeAloeVera it’s not my CV though, it’s the employment history form where I had to declare every job I had since leaving school. Does that make a difference?

Agree with other posters, OP.

IF any of this was questioned, the jobs missed off were just for a couple of weeks. If it was questioned I’d say “sorry I didn’t list them as it was such a short amount of time” and assuming you weren’t fired, just give them the details they need for references.

As for dates, as others have said, this also isn’t a big deal to me if A) the job was a while ago and therefore very easy to forget exact dates, and B) the dates aren’t materially out. Anything over 3 months difference I’d raise a bit of an eyebrow as an employer, but I wouldn’t describe what you’ve done as “f*** up” and I wouldn’t be worrying tbh.

Email HR and say ‘it occurred to me that I did do a brief trial period at an employer in (month / date) but the role wasn’t suitable so I left after 2 weeks. I don’t include this on my cv for obvious reasons but please let me know if you need details. I can confirm I left on good terms and was not dismissed’

I don’t think you need to list every job either and there’s no way for them to find out anyway.

Honestly don't worry. You're not being deceitful for person gain. You could literally have forgot you worked some place years ago for a week. They want to check you worked in the most recent or relevant job, not catch you out as some appalling arch fraudster!

If you had to include every job, then you probably are a bit screwed. But only a bit.

They might look at your HMRC records - my new job did.

But I would just explain you forgot about it, as it was only 2 weeks. It's not like leaving out a whole 2 years.

Mind you, a friend was applying for teaching roles a couple of years ago and had to explain a 3 week gap between a summer job and going back to uni - back in 1991. (He was on holiday, which is an entirely normal thing they could have probably worked out for themselves...)

I echo what others have said. Short term jobs I would consider irrelevant. I have done all manner of freelance work and not put on my CV. If I had to list it all it would cover about 10 pages. I would not think anything of just mentioning that you have had a few short term temp jobs in the last few years and hadn’t mentioned them. Don’t make a big deal about it.

if your dates are out by a month or 2 that can easily be covered by error of not remembering the exact day you left so if a reference flags up that you work until march and you had said April, I wouldn’t even think anything of it. A year’s difference I would definitely enquire as to why?

You're not covering up the odd 2-3 week job here though, are you? You later spoke about a few months. I think it sounds like the CV is quite fabricated.

Under Safer Recruitment policies, you have to explain gaps in employment so the fact is if they check a reference that says “OP left in April” but she said she left in June, that is a red flag because then there needs to be an explanation of what happened in the time between jobs. If it’s for a healthcare role (even non-patient based), it’s likely that they have a Safer Recruitment policy.

Why are they DBSing for an admin role?

I wouldn't bother contacting them. Not telling them about a job you were only in for 2 weeks and massaging the dates is nothing. And a matter of description. I wouldn't be able to tell you the exact dates from positions i only held for a matter of days

Leaving jobs off is fine. If you’ve extended previous jobs, and it’s only a small amount I.e a few months, then I think it’s fine and you can just say it was a mistake when you redid your cv. I wouldn’t say anything until they do.

This.

If your records don’t match other information they pull (eg HMRC) and you don’t have a bloody good reason why, the offer is very likely to be withdrawn.

But does your last 2 jobs cover your 3 year work history? 2022-present?
If this is the case, cant you get away with it?
Do they really need to know where you have been working for the past 10 years? Seems extreme