References issue

[Referencenightmare]

I left a job late last year and have since been working as a volunteer to improve my skills (no chance of training in old job). I'm now applying for jobs again but I am very worried that my chances of getting any job I'm offered will be scuppered by my useless ex-manager, because he seems incapable of writing a reference. My present (volunteering) manager has said he is very happy to write me a reference but I've only been here a few months, albeit full time and treated like a member of the team.

Is it going to look weird if I put my volunteering manager down as my main referee, rather than my previous full-time paid employer? Or should I stop worrying about it in the knowledge that my current boss is going to write a really nice reference?? Just want to know from a potential employer's point of view really. Thanks!

I would say the most recent employer / work stint would be the main reference. But someone else more qualified will be along with a more informed answer.

Good luck though.

Your volunteer role absolutely counts, and that is your most recent work history. The fact that you are not paid in cash terms does not make it any less a job.

What they want to know is information about reliability, trustworthiness, honesty, sickness record, etc etc and your current volunteering manager is best placed to answer that than an ex-employer before this, as this new information is 'current'.

Good luck!

That's great to hear - thanks both! I was starting to get really worried that my former manager could really put any future job offer in jeopardy with his slackness.

Yeah I wouldn't think twice about using my current employer, even if it's voluntary work.

Employers will probably want both.

Why do you think your previous manager is incapable of providing a reference? Have you been offered a job and lost it because he didn't respond to the new employer's request for a reference for you?

If he's that hopeless, is there any reason you can't put HR down instead?

There isn't an HR department - company is too small. Any reference request sent to, say, the office manager would be forwarded on to him anyway.

He simply doesn't know how to write a reference - colleagues have had to show/tell him what to write when former workmates have requested one. Added to that he simply doesn't reply to emails, or if he does it takes weeks and weeks - as an example I recently asked my supervisor to be my employment reference for a competitive course I'm interested in. She agreed, but then found there were parts of the reference that he, our manager, needed to complete. She had to tell him what to write. I'd already left the company by this point so I was unsure if the reference had been sent off (deadline was yesterday), so last Monday I emailed him to ask if he'd sent it. To this date I have not received a response. However he has happily pimped himself all over Linked In so it's not as if he's not been near his computer. In the end I got in touch with the institution concerned to ask if they'd received it, which they had, thankfully.

I am concerned he could jeopardise any future job offer, but I also don't know if I should warn a potential employer that when they ask him for references they may not get a response - surely that would reflect badly on me through no fault of my own??

A friend went for a job at the same company last year, was interviewed and then... nothing. She emailed him to ask what was going on and for some feedback - no response. So she had to ring reception to find out what was happening.

He is an embarrassment.