References for apprenticeship/job

[nckc]

Hi everyone!

New to this forum (have been reading but not posting) Know there’s a fair few threads out there already on this topic however couldn’t find one specific enough to this question.

I’m hoping to get a job/apprenticeship on the railway but am currently leaving a job. My contract says i should give a 1 week notice (and so I have done) but my employer is trying to get me to give a longer notice saying it’ll benefit me for “reference reasons” if I were to give a longer one and not just the 1 week stated in the contract. Implication from this convo today was that I’d be given a “bad” reference if I only worked the obligated notice.

How much does SWR care about references? And will this “bad” one, however unjust, actually affect any of my chances landing a job or apprenticeship on the railway? Have only been at this job just over a month and am still on probation if that helps.

Thank you for the help!

 

[Horizon22]

References cannot just be "bad". Most of the time a reference is simply just "We can confirm that nckc worked at this company between A - B in the role of XYZ". It's a legal disaster for reference givers to go off-piste and HR always tells people to be straight forward and by the book.

This is true for both good references and those where they'd rather not.

As you are still on probabtion and have only been there 1 month and are already leaving, then they are not obliged to give you much. Frankly, I would consider skipping that as a reference entirely (if you can) because it's such a short period of time.

 

[nckc]

References cannot just be "bad". Most of the time a reference is simply just "We can confirm that nckc worked at this company between A - B in the role of XYZ". It's a legal disaster for reference givers to go off-piste and HR always tells people to be straight forward and by the book.

This is true for both good references and those where they'd rather not.

As you are still on probabtion and have only been there 1 month and are already leaving, then they are not obliged to give you much. Frankly, I would consider skipping that as a reference entirely (if you can) because it's such a short period of time.

thank you! i thought that might be the case but wasn’t sure if i was missing info.

Yes, hopefully I’ll be able to skip this job as a reference given the time period. Think i got in my own head about it a bit . thank you for the response.

 

[Roger1973]

Subject to the disclaimer that I'm not a lawyer and it's a long time since I was a union rep, but...

The idea that it's illegal to give a bad reference is a bit of an urban myth.

It is possible to claim damages against a (former) employer if a reference is not fair and accurate / or is misleading, inaccurate or discriminatory. if (for example and i'm not for a moment suggesting it applies here) someone was dismissed for gross misconduct, it would not be improper to say so.

A lot of employers avoid any risk just by confirming dates of employment and not giving any information that could be subjective or subject to argument.

ACAS have a page on it all here.

Although being morally / legally in the right and claiming damages after the event might not get you the job you want.

I'm a bit unclear from the OP whether you're at the stage of a job offer with the railway, and if so whether you're at the stage where they won't give a firm start date until references and medicals and all that sort of thing is done, or whether you're taking another job now but hoping to go on the railway at some point in the future.

If current employer is being difficult now, then can you trust them in the future anyway? Are you in a situation where a new employer needs you to start at a week's notice and will withdraw the job offer if you can't?