DD18 got fired

[ElChapo]

So DD didn’t do very well at her GCSE’s. Got a couple at grade 4 one being maths but essentially didn’t get English despite taking it twice. After applying for around 200 jobs she got a position in what is effectively a call centre. Not cold calling but answering calls for a breakdown company. It was quite a distance from
where we live and the travel really got her down and started being late. Just before she’d complete 6 months there they called her in and fired her on the spot so is now jobless. My question is does she have to be completely honest with a prospective new employer that she got fired and if so is there a way to word it that doesn’t come across so badly?

That's an awful lot of lates and I can't think of a single employer of mine that would tolerate that. I hope it's a lesson learnt. I spent a year doing a four hour daily round trip and wasn't late once. You just have to get up earlier. I wouldn't put this job on a CV quite honestly.

This. Rather than teaching her how to fudge her CV, you also need to be talking to her about her work ethic. ' Only 10 minutes" every day is almost an hour a week. It leaves her colleagues having to pick up the slack. She needs to know that being late everyday is unacceptable

If you cant determine how my post is helpful, it proves your post was even less helpful.

SMH 🤦‍♂️

I would expect only dates are quoted which is standard, not that I agree with such a policy.

I am surprised the employment did not end sooner. If you think ten minutes late most days is minor, your views are very different from mine.

you and others piling on, berating the op, so off putting -

I hope getting sacked is a wake up call for her. She is only 18, so plenty of time to buckle down and think about her future, maybe a modern apprenticeship in a field where she will be interested and engaged enough to pull her finger out and get there on time.

In a few months she will see people she was at school with back to University and nearly halfway through their courses, or working at their first jobs and earning decent money, buying their first car, moving out of the family home etc she really doesn’t want to be the one left stuck in her teenage bedroom wondering if this is all there is to her life.

To be honest, I would not push her into a job. I would try to give her a profession first. If she does not want to talk to you, find a specialist who would find out what she would be genuinely happy doing in life, honestly, openly. She must find a meaningful occupation. There are so many round-about ways to professions, if only you have a proper look. Allow her to think she can do anything. An underperformer in exams, who got Cs in his subjects is studying medicine through 'Widening access to medicine' programme. Another girl I knew from when she was tiny went to a crammer, re-sat her exams several times and is a junior associate in a law firm now. Before you push her to work in call centres, please explore other options.

Well it's not acceptable in most work places. You need to employ strategies to manage your time more effectively. Are you someone who is consistently late to meet friends too?

I would state on a CV that it was a temporary job, but she will need to provide them as her reference. Work experience does count, and it's better than none at all. Your daughter needs to understand that for any job, in any industry, timekeeping is very important. You simply can't arrive 10 minutes late, on a daily basis, and expect no consequences!! The commute might have been a pain in the arse and taken time, but that's not an employers problem. If she needs to start at 8.30 am, then she needs to make sure she's there, and if that means having to get up earlier or catch an earlier bus, then that's what needs to happen. No employer is going to put up with consistent lateness. It's a lesson learnt. Unfortunately, she may need to contact them to ask what kind of reference she will receive. Hopefully it's basic, and nothing more.

i think references pretty much have to be basic now.
she can just say, if asked, it was difficult to get to

@ElChapo - this is an important lesson to your daughter but she is very young and has plenty of time to learn from it. She shouldn’t lie about it to future employers but I think she can say it didn’t work out because of travel logistics. As a PP said, that is correct.

Having no qualifications is going to make your DD very vulnerable in the job market. She must have some skills and talents - can she work on getting qualifications in those? Also REED offers loads of cheap on-line courses which have application in the work place (eg IT skills: Excel, PowerPoint etc) and which can go on her CV so she could get going on some of those in the meantime. Also things like first aid courses.

I'd say, if asked, it was a 6 month contract.
More likely than not, if they gave a reference it would be a "worked here from x to y".
It's a shame, when I have employed youngsters, if it doesn't work out, I would mark it as resigned due to being an unsuitable role. I would also record not to offer further employment.

I would not put that reference.

What has she learned from this?
It isn't OK to arrive late every day

Can she only have a job in walking distance ?
What is the max commute where she can arrive on time?

Probably they will just say she was employed from x tox date
More importantly can she arrive on time to next job?
Are there any jobs which would be flexible on time start??

Has dd linked in with the jobcentre or local college? Apprentice programme or pre apprentice programme would be useful for her. Usually funding available, esp if she claims ESA/universal credit.

Put the job on the CV. If asked at interview why she left that job she just says that the travel was getting to be a problem and it just wasn’t working out.
Most employers will only specify employment dates, especially a large company like that. They terminated her probation so if they state reason for leaving it will just say something like “failed probation/training”. Then if the new employer questions this she just needs to reaffirm the original response “the transport system there wasn’t reliable and the travel was a problem”.
Does it look perfect? No. But it’s not the worst thing either. Sometimes jobs don’t work out. Being fired looks way worse than failing probation. And not all companies will even give the reason for the employment terminating anyway.
I wouldn’t overthink or over explain, but I wouldn’t recommend lying. Just keep it surface level.

She does not need to say anything about why she was fired or even that she was fired

Late “only” 10 minutes for one month is not acceptable and you need to stop minimising the issue.

It’s 2025, she’s 18 - is this what you want for your dd? Is this what she wants for herself? A lifetime of crap minimum wage jobs you have to travel hours for? If she can do that job she has the capacity to pass her GCSEs. If she can get her GCSEs she can potentially do further education, apprenticeships, work her way up in various professions, start her own business, work abroad etc etc.

You need to get into some kind of virtuous circle of dd achieving small things and feeling good about it rather than this inertia where even a hard won job is slowly chipped away at because it’s a ‘long’ commute. It’s not a cv thing it’s a mindset thing.

You can be 10 minutes late once in a while, but not every day for a month without consequences.

Most employers give job title and dates when giving a reference. Quick and factual.

I got ‘let go’ a month before the financial year once at around 6 months. I just didn’t list it in applications as new employers didn’t need the p45 from the previous financial year and I can’t remember, but i’d signed on job centre after for all of a month and they may have provided paperwork following it. It wasn’t a first job and i had extensive work experience prior to it. However it was technically a ‘trial’ though so in hindsight may have been better to describe it as temp. I didn’t believe my employers would give a nice reference despite saying they would as they weren’t exactly honourable people. I am respectfully employed now though 😬👍 I had relocated and my time outwith work was busy decorating/reorganising sorting out the house so that’s how I explained the gap…not that I was really asked much about it.

One of life's lessons ... she's young so hopefully she has learned from this.

She can just say she left. I'm sure the call centre won't say they sacked her unless maybe it was for gross misconduct. They'll just give a tombstone reference. If it's to do with timekeeping she needs to find something more local or remote, and wake up earlier!

i make sure i have to get out of bed for my alarm clock

Why? Sorry, but that's no excuse. It's a requirement of life.