References

[Needanewadventure2021]

Hello

Asking on behalf of a friend.

They worked at a job 3 years ago where the manager took a dislike to her and made her life hell. She recorded many incidences of bullying and ended up having to report it to the council. All the appropriate meetings were conducted but she ultimately decided to leave as she should never have been bullied in the first place.

Fast forward to now, she has been called for an interview for a job she is doing now but closer to home and more hours. She's over the moon but as she doesn't have much work history she will have to give the bullying place of work as a reference.

She's told me she is worried. The bullying was all logged appropriately however the referee will be the boss who bullied her. Can she give a bad reference? or should my friend explain to the new recruiter that sadly she had to make a complaint of bullying but ultimately decided to leave

Thanks in advance

You say she ended up reporting the bullying to the council. Why? Was she working for the council at the time? Usually it is HR, not the individual manager that responds to reference requests. Most prospective employers are only interested in knowing the employment dates and what the job was. Your friend shouldn't worry, but shouldn't give her former manager's name as a referee.

She was recruited by the council to work in a school, however the school was her permanent place of work. She went back to the woman at the council who recruited her as she didn't know who was above her manager. At her interview it was the manager of the team and the recruiter from the council so it seemed the obvious person at the time.

I will let her know though but she has been asked for a contact name

Okay - it's highly unlikely, even if the school has to provide her reference, that it will be anything other than a factual X worked at Y between a and be dates as Z job role.

Oh is that all references consist of?

These days employer references aren't all about "X was a great employee, honest, trustworthy and a key member of the team" etc.

I think there's a fear of being sued if X turns out not to be honest and trustworthy.

The ref is really just to confirm you worked where you said you did, when you said you did.

So very basic then.

I think your right. It is the fear of them not being complimentary. My friend wouldn't dream of mentioning the reason why she left. Her worry is though her old boss really wasn't a pleasant lady and picked on her from day one.

So its good to know references are pretty basic

Unless the boss is in HR she should refer the reference to HR, whom ever that might be.

Just a quick update, the bullying manager refused a reference and it was brought up in the interview.

Luckily my friend had a fantastic interview and glowing references otherwise and was given the opportunity to let them know if there was any reasons why she would refuse. She kept it professional and told them that sadly she had to report her manager for bullying. She was asked to stay but she chose to move on. There was a person from the council at the interview and at the end she told my friend not to worry about anything. This isn't the first time it's happened with the same person.

My friend last week found out the manager has since bullied out her replacement and the position hasn't been able to he refilled. How can this person keep her job.

How horrible though to actually make a point and refuse.

How horrible though to actually make a point and refuse.

I don't necessarily disagree, but to be fair, we don't know the line manager's side of the story. It was poor form on your friend's part not to check with the referee before listing her. This is generally considered to be a common courtesy but it also seems like common sense when there has been a history like the one you describe. She would have been better off asking the HR team to provide one instead.

I have declined to give a reference before for someone who did not ask me first. Not to be pigheaded about it, but because I did not have the option of providing a factual reference only as there was a form from the new employer asking me to rate the employee and comment on various aspects of their performance. I was not able to say anything positive and did not wish to make negative comments, so I declined instead. If she had asked me first, I'd have declined to provide her with anything other than a factual confirmation of dates worked.

FWIW, employers can provide bad references as long as they are strictly factual and not just negative opinions about someone.

But the manager had no reasons to say anything bad. My friend had witnesses to her being bullied. Yes there are two sides to every story but there was plenty of evidence supporting my friends allegations.

She didn't want to give her as a reference but she was told she needed to as they were next on her CV.

And I had no idea you need to ask a manager to be your referee. I wouldnt dream of asking mine until I was offered a job. He wouldnt take it kindly at all knowing I was looking elsewhere.