DH has seen the job he has always wanted, but thinks his boss will give him a crap ref

[emandjules]

Hi, dh has seen a civil service job that he really wants, but he has only been employed with new employer for 6 weeks. This employer is very flighty, does not give contracts etc, expects people to work 12 hr days 6 days a week. He is worried that present employer will give him a crap reference. He only left a civil service post in dec and would rather put them down as main reference (always got excellent appraisals and bonus) but app form states you must put current employer down.

Any ideas??

You say his employer is flighty but your dh appears flighty wanting to change jobs after 6 weeks. I think he would either have to come completely clean to his boss or do it in such a way that his current employer would only find out if he were offered the job.

Put current employer but put a note explaining the short time he's worked there and give details of previous employer. They will prefer a reference from the one he worked for longer, but they will question why he is leaving the new job so soon.

also, they are not allowed to give a bad reference by law, but they can refuse to give one at all

He was in his previous civil service job for 6 years. He was promised something else by this new employer and it has not happened. He admits he made a mistake

He almost got sacked at xmas cos he could not work on xmas day. He had temp of 40 and flu and could not get out of bed, let alone go to work. Boss did not believe him. Overtime was supposed to be optional, well its not.

Well, we all make mistakes and better him realising it now. If he has seen a job that he fancies then he should go for it!! Nothing ventured and all that...

If your DH's current employer doesn't give contracts then abuses his workforce your DH is wise to get out. Any length of service can be explained, & if as a prospective employer I had a candidate with a recent short employment I would want to know the reason but not hold it against them IYSWIM. As long as your DH is honest & says he was disappointed to be moving on so soon but found the job wasn't what he was led to believe (no contract, no fixed hours etc)then he can put this last employer down AND his previous longer employer & then offer a third if the interviewer wnated to get two positive ones.

You can't give a bad reference if you can't back it up with evidence.

Oh yes, goodness, apply for the job. As someone else suggests, attach details of his previous employer as an additional reference, I wouldn't expect to get a reliable reference from someone who has only known a candidate for 6 weeks anyway.

And you know your dh isn't the first person to make a mistake when changing jobs, and the selection panel will know that.

Will tell him to do that. Thanks for your advice. May be if he gets it, I can get nights out again . At the mo, i never know what time he is finishing. Can be anywhere from 6pm-11pm. Arranging childcare is a nightmare as I work shifts

There is a common misconception that it is illegal to give a bad reference. In fact as bossyb points out, you can as long as you can back it up.

A reference should be based on fact or capable of independent verification, they should be fair, accurate and not give a misleading impression of the employee in question. So they can be very bad, as long as it is a fair reflection and back up by clear evidence.

Having said that, it's highly unusual to find an employer actually giving a bad reference, they are more likely to be cagey and say not very much at all.

I agree, your DH should go for the job. As an employer, I would be far far more interested in the previous employment than a current job he's been in for 6 weeks. Explain the situation, ideally to the potential manager rather than some administrator in HR or whatever who might have no initiative or discretion in these things. They will take up references from both, and DH must be prepared to answer questions about leaving a job so early. It does happen that mistakes are made/promises are not kept and to my mind, someone who realises this early on and takes the initiative is to be commended rather than sitting there for a few months then doing leaving. If they do that it becomes less clear-cut that a genuine problem has occurred, and looks more like they couldn't hack it or something.