Last Employer The Reason I Cannot Find Work?? Could It Be Something Else??

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 17:43

Hello people can anyone give me some advice please I have been unemployed for 2 and half years now, 3 years in august. I cannot find a job, I get no reply or anything most of the time and when I do it`s always the same you are not suitable, Agencies say I have no recent experience but there must be something I can do??. I had this problem before and I think it might be to do with me not passing my maths GCSE, which also probably does not help and am so fed up with it all as things have been so difficult over the past 3 years.

I did take Adult Literacy last year but failed I have always struggled with numeracy. I did try again but just have a great difficulty understanding numbers, my real concern regarding why I cannot find employment is my last employer who I did not leave on good terms with at all. It was not my fault one of the other employees was not pulling her weight and could not do her job correctly, I do not undertsand why they made her supervisor as she could not run a marathon let a lone make sure things ran smoothly on shift, there were other people who could have and would have definately done that job 100 times better.

She acted unreasonably towards me on more than one occassion, brought her personal problems to work and just acted unprofessionally regulary on shift. This was witnessed by a customer who had complained to my manager because of how she had spoken to me, this is someone deemed suitable to be a supervisor?? we had 3 managers in total, the second one was the one who employed her that manager was alright, and we did not know what she was like as she did not show her true colours until later on. The third one was the one I had all the problems with, due to other things happening I became more and more stressd and aggitated at work, due to an armed robbery and a serious incident with a verbally abusive customer and this being a regular occurance being shouted out by customers and sworn at threatened and people just generally being vile to you on a daily basis.

I asked to be put on days as I did not want to work nights, due to the armed robbery, also I could not work with her anymore as things were not being done on shift and because I was not the supervisor I was being blamed for it. I did not tell my manager things were not right perhaps I should have, there was an incident with a customer who was verbally abusive to me, he would not get out so and called me a disgusting name I cannot repeat on here so I came from behind the counter and shoved him hard into a bin and he fell over I was so angry and had just had enough I then told him clearly that he was barred and not to come back as I would not serve him. The manager was so unsympathetic and acted like a complete idiot until he saw the CCTV evidence and realised that I had reason for doing what I did.

I was working with her again as I could not swap shifts, the customer I had trouble with before came in a few days after and told the supervisor if you could call her that, that I had been telling people about the incident so he was going to the Police to report it. She then went on to tell him he was not barred and she had no right to do that as she was not a manager. I got so angry I asked her why were being so polite to him?? your supposed to be on my side we work together and we are a team and someone had spoken to you like that I would not be polite to them, and most importantly why did you tell him that he could come back in it is not your place. She was being alright with me, I was so mad though I told her to tell the manager to come in as I was going home enough was enough as far as I was concerned.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 17:44

Then I came in to work another shift and the manager asked to speak to me, he said we needed to discuss what had been going on, because I brought up with the supervisor the issues I had with her finally and she did not like being criticised or being in the wrong as she was perfect and never did a thing wrong in her life yeah alright then. Really what he meant was lets criticise everything I do on shift. He said that when I was on shift things were not done right and you could tell, that I had to pull my weight I kept interrupting him amd having my say. He then asked her to come in, to me that is not professional if she had issues which I do not see why she would he could have spoken to us both seperately.

He acted completely unprofessional for a manager and should have been sacked immediately for how he acted and what he said to me. She started saying that I did not respect her I told her it works both ways and she did not respect me so why should I respect her??, she told the other supervisor to lie about me so the manager bleieved her and not me despite me being in employment with this company longer than her.

I had heard enough I walked out for good, the next day I took in a letter of resignation with an eight pages on how much of a disgrace she was as a supervisor and how much of a complete disgrace he was as a manager, I sent the area manager a letter of complaint about the managers behaviour and explaining what had gone on, my side and how the supervisor had acted unprofessionally towards me. He was suspended but now works back in that same shop. Her job could not have been as important as she made out to me as she left soon afterwards along with the other two faced supervisor.

So because of all this I am worried that to be spiteful he is ignoring my references or giving me a mediocre reference, so that the possible employer does not employ me, as I know other people who have not been unemployed as long as me who have found employment, they too struggle with numbers but have found employment you see so were there references alright and mine are not?? is this why I have been looking for so long??, I know there is a recession on but other people are finding work but not me??.

I had a job interview about 2 and a half weeks ago for a local job where I live, could not believe my luck as I found the advert before it had even gone in the window due to knowing the person who`s shop it was to be advertised in. I turned up on time for the interview, made my CV look professional, wore my smartest clothes and did everything else you should do in an interview but did not get it. I did not put that employer down as a reference but could that person who interviewed me have done a quick check with the person that I put down as I did put that employer down on my CV as employment in the last 3 years??. Also could that employer refuse to give me a reference?? as I am getting conflicting opinions from people that I know?? can they say anything bad about me??, all these things worry me as it is unfair just because certain things happened at that employment it should not effect me gaining further employment should it??, as what that employer has to remember is it is only fair that I am able to get on with my life and past incidents do not hold me back from doing this otherwise I will never find new employment will I.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 17:49

Sorry for the long and drawn out post it is just I wanted to fully explain my concerns and worries and had to explain fully what happened, as it really is getting me down and I am worried that I am now un employable.

andygardener · 22-04-2012, 18:07

Tricky one. Reading the above my gut reaction if looking to recruit would be potential troublemaker, avoid. I'm not suggesting you are and your grievances may be perfectly well founded but given you're trying to get hired by a manager 8 page letters about how useless your supervisor and manager are to their boss are going to ring alarm bells in potential employers. Would just removing that employer from your CV leave too large a gap in it?

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 18:17

Yes it would leave too big a gap and my CV would not follow on and make no sense, I was quite within my right to report them for unreasonable behaviour he did not act professionally as a manager he was out of order.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 18:19

I am not a trouble maker I just stick up for myself, and do not let people walk all over me or treat me like something they just stepped in there is nothing wrong with that is there?? let people walk all over you and they will just keep doing it.

andygardener · 22-04-2012, 18:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsDavies2Be

Yes it would leave too big a gap and my CV would not follow on and make no sense, I was quite within my right to report them for unreasonable behaviour he did not act professionally as a manager he was out of order.

Was there any kind of financial or other settlement in your favour that would set a potential employers mind at rest that it was a genuine case of constructive dismissal?

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 18:24

No there was not unfortunately, but it was not constructive dismissal as I handed my notice in, they did not sack me although they sent me a letter a few days after I left saying that I was dismissed pointless as I had already voluntary left, I was treated very unfairly and he should take that into consideration when I am looking for further employment do you not agree??.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 18:26

I also feel that why should I remove that employer from my CV and have a gap which also looks bad, as I did nothing wrong and again it is going to look bad for me??.

andygardener · 22-04-2012, 18:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsDavies2Be

No there was not unfortunately, but it was not constructive dismissal as I handed my notice in, they did not sack me although they sent me a letter a few days after I left saying that I was dismissed pointless as I had already voluntary left, I was treated very unfairly and he should take that into consideration when I am looking for further employment do you not agree??.

So think about it from a potential employers perspective.

You didn't take action for constructive dismissal (meaning they have made your role so unreasonable by their actions that they have effectively forced you to resign and can than take tribunal action against them). You say you resigned, they say you were fired.

Alarm bells ringing yet? Yup.

If you need to use this firm on your CV then you need a clean reference from them, you're not going to get one from the manager you got suspended but have you tried approaching the area manager whom your complaint was dealt with by to see if he will provide you with a reference?

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 18:44

Yes but it is still unfair as, as I keep saying it was not my fault he did not listen to me when I asked to go onto days, as I did not want to work nights due to an armed robbery which I only had two days off from then came back. He refused to let me swap jobs with another girl as I was deliberately put on the till all the time, as he knew this stressed me out and agitated me.

He acted unprofessionally in the meeting, how he had spoken to me the things he said, I did try to take the matter further with the company I approached the Union that I had paid into and they said there was nothing that they could do as I no longer worked for this company in that case why did I bother paying in?? they just dismissed all my accusations and claims I cannot remember the area managers name it was years ago. They might not even work there now it is nobodys fault but the managers and supervisors that I reported them. It was his fault that I had to take the matter further to the area manager if I had been treated decently by my so called manager and supervisors, I would not have had to take further action against them would I??.

andygardener · 22-04-2012, 18:51

What is it that you do, do you have specific qualifications and skillsets that will set you appart from other candidates for the jobs you are going for? Edit the reason i'm asking that is all the stuff about it was their fault etc will just put potential employers off. It might be true but it marks you out as a potential troublemaker and thus not worth the risk.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 18:54

So what your saying then is he can refuse to give me a reference?? I thought that was the case as I know they cannot say anything bad about you, but my friend told me that they can refuse??, no not really no special skills it was just a shop job, I know I did not tell the last person who I went for interview with the whole story I just said that we had an armed robbery and my manager would not let me work days instead of nights and was unsympathetic, which is true.

I then told the person I interviewed with that I left, he said I do not blame you I don`t think he was put off, thats why I cannot understand what went wrong I did not say anything bad about my former employment I tried to be as diplomatic as possible about the matter, as I realise I need to get another job I don`t think that my former employer does though.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 19:03

All the jobs I have been going for are just general shop, office work, call centre, factory, warehouse etc you get the idea?? relevant to the experience I have. The last one was a job in a warehouse that I went for an interview for.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 19:05

I can only look for certain jobs as I do not have a degree, or A Levels I have a degree in life perhaps lol.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 19:07

I am worried that even a job in a call centre would be out of bounds as it seems impossible to get on if you do not have a masters degree in something completely irrelevant to the field of work.

indizine · 22-04-2012, 19:09

Try leaving it off one version of your CV/app form for jobs and see what happens. Maybe that reason you give is all too easy to think thats what it must be, because the alternative might be that you are not doing well at interview, since you managed to get an interview. Getting in first has no bearing as people will only hire the right person for the job.

andygardener · 22-04-2012, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsDavies2Be

So what your saying then is he can refuse to give me a reference?? I thought that was the case as I know they cannot say anything bad about you, but my friend told me that they can refuse??, no not really no special skills it was just a shop job, I know I did not tell the last person who I went for interview with the whole story I just said that we had an armed robbery and my manager would not let me work days instead of nights and was unsympathetic, which is true.

I then told the person I interviewed with that I left, he said I do not blame you I don`t think he was put off, thats why I cannot understand what went wrong I did not say anything bad about my former employment I tried to be as diplomatic as possible about the matter, as I realise I need to get another job I don`t think that my former employer does though.

He can refuse to give you a reference unless doing so was part of your contract. However if you're not offering him as a reference but putting the company on your CV how many potential employers would not give your former firm a ring and ask to speak to your former manager? What he says then will be obviously off the record and likely not complimentary as you tried to have him fired, hence I suggested trying to remove the firm from your CV.

MrsDavies2Be · 22-04-2012, 19:16

@Indizine I have tried doing that on some occasions but still no luck thats why I said on my thread could it be something else, it could possibly be that as I have always been nervous in interviews. I do feel that I would have been right for so many of the jobs I applied for that`s why most of the time it just feels so unfair.

andygardener · 22-04-2012, 19:30

The recurring theme seems to be stuff in the past being unfair. You need to forget about that and focus on why a potential employer should choose you over the many other candidates here and now. Given the sort of jobs you're going for bad handling by your former employers of the aftermath of an armed robbery which led to you not being able to continue in that job (without a load of he said she said stuff) answers the question as to why you left, then it's down to showing how keen you are to work which comes down to the interview.