Interview after dismissal.

[ListenLinda]

Hi all, hoping for some advice, preferably without a bashing please as it’s all i’ve done since last Friday.

So Friday, I was dismissed from work for what they termed gross misconduct. The misconduct was a moment of absolute stupidity and completely out of character, as in all my working life never had so much as a disciplinary until now. My company follow procedures and policies to the letter, nothing wrong that, I accept the decision even if I am extremely gutted. After 7 months of enjoyable work and excelling in performance and KPIs, I have to move on.

After a weekend of beating myself up and applying for as many jobs as possible, I have an interview on Thursday with a company in the same sector but a completely different role. They know I worked at X company, due to experience etc very eager to get me in for an interview. My dilemma is, how to phrase this, how to bring it up at interview, how best to explain.
I know I have to be honest and there is absolutely nothing to gain by lieing.
I’ve completely learnt my lesson about company policies and to make sure I blumming well read them in future.
I really want this job, for many reasons, so does anyone have any advice for me?

[BubblesBuddy]

The new company may actually call the shots with the reference info they want. We used to ask specific questions. Mainly to corroborate what we had been told at interview or on an application form. Of course the first company doesn’t have to answer, but a question may very well be: “Why did x leave your employment?” Also “Were there any disciplinary issues when x was employed by you? If so what was the nature of the misconduct?” Just getting confirmation of dates of employment is pretty basic and tells the new employer diddly squat. Of course the call centre may not bother to do a reference at all or just do the minimum but usually if someone has been dismissed on grounds of gross misconduct, you cannot expect it to be hushed up. What would you think if the employee had attacked another employee, or embezzled a load of money? Should thst be glossed over too?

[BakedBeans47]

buubles most employers IME just won’t answer those questions at all. It’s not really “calling the shots” to ask questions 95% of employers just won’t answer

[desperatehousewife21]

Is your interview today?

[ListenLinda]

Yes it is it’s at 11am. I spoke to the person who recommended me for the job, the person who is doing the interview is very keen to meet me. Which is a definate positive, but this explaining the dismissal I am not looking forward to. I need to pull up my big girl pants and be positive and confident I suppose!

[AnnieAnoniMoose]

It sounds like a bloody horrible environment to work in, I’m surprised you said you enjoyed it and I’m surprised they’ve let you go if you seemed to be happy there and it was a one off mistake. More fool them really.

Try not to over think your response, just tell them exactly what happened & how it came about.

If they’re the sort of company you want to work for they’ll understand. If they don’t understand, you’ve dodged a bullet.

[ListenLinda]

I enjoyed the work as I had good rapport with the customers and was good at delivering the customer service. I didn’t enjoy the strict stats in regards to AHT, ACW etc.
In a call centre, everything you do can be traced, monitored at the press of a button. Every email you send etc.
Which is why now, I want to move away from contact centre work and this job is a perfect fit. I really hope I get past it and the new employer can potentially look past this blemish on my employment record :(

[FrankUnderwoodsWife]

@ListenLinda good luck today. Read through a pp (i think @joe66) description of what s/he thibks yous should say. It’s clear, succinct and gives you the opportunity to drive the narrative.

Personally, i would tackle the elephant in the room immediately. Mention gross misconduct being the reason for your departure from previous role, and address it, so you can relax into the rest of the interview.

If i was interviewing someone and they were proactive and honest immediately, it would define them as someone who wont hide behind their mistakes, is trustworthy, willing to tackle difficult conversations and direct in their approach. 100% someone i’d want working for me!

We all make mistakes, but don’t let this one impact you negatively. Put a positive angle on the tough experience you have gone through professionally, and share with the interviewer what you’ve learned from it (taking care to read company policy, not assuming something “minor” doesn’t have serious implications for the firm etc)

Just be as direct and honest as you have been on the thread and you will be the one in control, which hopefully gives you more self confidence.

[supercalifragilistic2]

I got sacked from a previous role and to be fair why I was leaving was brought up in my interview (call centre). I explained why (that I had booked a client in incorrectly) and they said thank you for the honesty and said that everyone was allowed to make a mistake. I'm still with the new company 3 years later. People will get sacked for all sorts of reasons. Just be honest when they ask. If they don't ask during he interview make sure you bring it up. So either in the interview or an email after the interview which clearly explains what happened and that this behaviour wasn't the norm.

The reference will probably be x worked here from day Y to date Z. Her role was TYX. Unless you have asked your manager for a personal reference they don't normally provide that (I'm saying this coming from a call centre environment) and that's acceptable normally to new employers. They may ask for a personal reference, but that can be normally anyone of your choosing.

Good luck with the interview. For what it's worth we've all done a bit of call avoidance

[Thatsfuckingshit]

Call avoidance is a nightmare in call centres. You get one person who discovers a new way of doing it, then other people notice or find out how to do it. Before you know it loads of people are doing it, which put pressure on the agents that aren't doing it. The agents who are doing their are having to pick up the slack.

A lot of people who are call avoiding don't do it here and there. I ha e seen agents spend the majority of their shift manipulating the systems and not take calls. Other agents see it, see they are getting away with it and decide they are going to do it. Why should they take loads of calls when others are getting away with doing less work.

It leads to longer waiting times for customers and more complaints because of this.

That said I do think companies put far too much pressure on their staff and can totally get why people do it occasionally.

I have been in call centres for about 15 years. If I caught staff call avoiding (more than the odd time), my first step would be to have a word. Tell them I am aware of it, point out it's call avoiding and tell them to stop it. If it continued, then I would do it formally.

[Thatsfuckingshit]

Posted too soon.

I agree with what people have said about being honest and driving the narrative.

I would still employ someone who had been dismissed for call avoiding, who was honest about it and had clearly learned from it.

Like you I am moving away from call centre work for the same reasons.

Good luck OP

[TittyGolightly]

They may not ask why you left in the interview, if they do you could just say it was nt a good fit for you, that you think the company you are interviewing with will be a great fit though because....


My last job was in HR for an FCA regulated financial organisation.

Do not do the above. Your reference will come back with dismissed for gross conduct and if you’ve lied you’re highly likely to be out before you’ve even begun. And 2 dismissals on your employment record will see you locked out of the financial sector for the forseeable future.

[Thatsfuckingshit]

I work at home, and I heard the tornado sirens. I immediately took shelter. I failed to log out of the system properly, which caused me to sit in an idle status for a long period of time. I was accused of call avoidance and fired.


This is disgusting. I have never worked for a company that would sack someone for one off, even if it was call avoiding. Certainly not in such circumstances.

It appalling!

[ch0c0milkrox]

Good luck today OP

[desperatehousewife21]

The job you were dismissed from is exactly the same as my role. Inbound CSA and I also look after their social media and live chat advisor as well.
It does seem extreme to dismiss someone for a one off time call avoiding but it did happen to someone at my place too so it’s probably more regular than people think. The whole point of a contact centre is for customers to get in touch and if agents call avoid than that is completely going against what we are there for!

Good luck in the interview today, I really hope it goes well for you. It sounds like a nice role actually

[Pebblesandfriends]

Can you find out from your old HR what your reference will say?

[ListenLinda]

I really appreciate everyones in put, thank you all!
As originally stated, I know I have to be honest and will gain nothing from trying to hide it. So I’m going to go in, explain what happened, why and what i’ve learnt from it, and emphasise why it will never happen again and that it was definately out of character for myself. Hopefully they will decide my other skills and attributes make me considerable for the role :)

[TittyGolightly]

A financial organisation will use the word “dismissal” and probably “gross misconduct” due to a requirement to limit the risk for other financial organisations.

[ListenLinda]

Pebbles, it’s in the financial sector so it will include reasons for leaving, in this case gross misconduct. Which is the need to be honest, as when you work in the financial sector, gross misconduct without any explanation could mean that i’ve defraud x amount of customers credit cards etc

[Cauliflowersqueeze]

Definitely come clean and move on. Say things like
I’m highly organised and I have shown that by a, b , c
I always finish off a job to a high standard, for example d, and e
I have very positive relationships with colleagues and bosses and an example of this is f and g.

In other words, prepare the 3 best things about yourself (which are aligned to the company) and have examples of them.

I’m really shocked by how strict the call avoidance policies are!! I would be appalling at that job. I often let the phone ring and don’t pick up if I’m busy.

[TittyGolightly]

I’m really shocked by how strict the call avoidance policies are!! I would be appalling at that job. I often let the phone ring and don’t pick up if I’m busy.

A call handler only takes calls though.

When you call a call centre and have a long wait before your call is answered what is your view of the company? And if that wait was caused by staff routinely pushing your call further down the queue, what would you think?

[ListenLinda]

Just an update guys, had the interview and explained straight away what had happened, how I learnt from it etc and the interviewer smiled and thanked me for my honesty :) the rest of the interview when really well a I believe. So now it’s a waiting game until early next week they said.

[Thatsfuckingshit]

Ah that's sounds positive!

Good luck and hope you arent waiting too long for news.

[lookingatsomemarrows]

In my bit of the nhs we have to answer within 6 rings I think.

[Cauliflowersqueeze]

Titty - yes I do agree with you. I can understand the reasons as well.

[desperatehousewife21]

Yay! Glad it went well for you. Fingers crossed you get it!