Question
Q – “I worked in a nursery for nearly 2 year, I left for personal reasons. One month later I had an opportunity to work as TA and they asked for references. The nursery where I worked gave bad references what can I do. This was my first work experience, so how can I get a job if they are going to give bad references?”
Answers
A – “negative reference can be given if it’s backed up with disciplinary evidence and factual evidence regarding attendance, attitude, performance etc as long as you have records to back up your statements. I wish more settings would give open and honest references, it would definitely help in recruitment decisions.”
A – “My old work just ignored the emails to send a reference over for me. Instead I offered to work a day for free and let the new company judge me. It worked and I got the job”
A – “Speaking from experience, how about voluntary work (even a couple of hours a week) at a school or nursery. What about being relief staff too for a childcare setting. These gave me 2 good and respectable references and saved me having to have any further involvement with ….”
A – “Legally they aren’t allowed to give you a bad reference and also maybe with a future employer say you left because of your own reasons and that the employees have got funny about it causing them to give you a bad one”
A – “Your ex employer can only give a negative reference if it’s factual and can be backed up by disciplinary reports or other evidence. You could challenge it. But If you know your employer has disciplinary evidence against you then there’s not much you can do.
It may work against innocent people who’ve left due to other reasons but it’s pretty risky for an employer to give a bad ref that’s untrue. From an employer point of view and a safeguarding p.o.v I think employers should be allowed to give more detailed references, nowadays because of the risk attached many settings give a standard, basic reference that really says nothing about performance, only about the dates they were there and a satisfactory dbs. It would be far more helpful if you knew beforehand if an applicant was likely to cause issues! Although I can see that some would use that as a bargaining tool which isn’t fair either”
A – “Legally they can not give a bad refrence. Ask your future employers to ask for a statement of service rather than a refrence which is just basically what your role at the job was, how long you have worked there etc. Try to find out exactly what was said and get some free legal advice as there stopping you from moving on into your next career path”
A – “The almost same thing happened to me. I had to leave work after 5 yrs due to stress and other reasons. I think volunteering wld be good for anyone who is looking to grow in confidence and get more experience! I am still looking into this as i wld love to get bk into working with kids soon”
A – “Do you know what they said? as others have said they are not supposed to say negative things. Sometimes its more what they do not say rather than say. Many settings are asked ‘would you employ this person again, if not why not?’ here there is a little more scope regarding things like time keeping, flexibility, communication etc, so I am wondering if they put something there.”
A – “They are not allowed to give an unsubstantiated bad reference. But if for example they had evidence that you put children at risk, had poor attendance or left without notice etc then they can state things that they can prove. So in theory they can give a negative reference if justified”
A – “It’s not about a good or bad reference though, but an accurate account of the employee. An employer can give a factually correct reference – supported by evidence, which they can produce if challenged by the employee.”
A – “You can ask to see the reference they gave. If it is factually incorrect ie they said you had a poor attendance record but you can prove you didn’t you can take it further. I would contact the setting and ask to discuss it but it’s not impossible to get a new job if you are unable to use your last empmoyer. Good luck!”
A – “They can only provide facts so if u were given any written warnings or attendance was bad etc they can’t for example say you was bad at the job or have poor skills in certain areas. I wouldn’t use them as a reference for future jobs but don’t think there is much u can do about them doing that. Try and get voluntary experience elsewhere to use as a reference and see if any previous tutors or teachers are willing to give references. Have you ever done babysitting u can get references from too”
A – “I thought employers cannot give bad reference. But they can word the reference in a way that employers will get an understanding of what you’re like. I would contact the citizen advice bureau. It’d be better if they refused to give a reference than a bad one”
A – “Not allowed to I’ve bad references they can refuse or give good referneces”
A – “They can’t give “bad” references.. But they are allowed to give honest ones!”
A – “A bad reference is not allowed to be given unless it’s for safeguarding/ disciplinary reasons”
A – “Most references are very factual now where you just have write Sick days, Lateness, Would you employ again etc”