Help me get my (somewhat close to a) dream job!

May 17, 2007 4:52 PM

I want to apply for a job in a field I've worked in once before. However, there is no doubt that I will not get a positive reference from the company I was at. What do I do?

So here's the thing: I found a great job in the...... basket weaving field (ok, obviously not really. but work with me - I don't want to go public with the actual job yet). For the most part, I stay in freelance graphic and website design, but I need a job with consistent pay. And I think I may have found one in basket weaving. I've only worked in the basket weaving field once before.

It was a great job, and I absolutely loved it and the opportunities it held for advancement. However, the last couple of months were hell: the wife of the husband/wife team that owned it got supremely jealous that I had to work solo with her husband a few times (she was not just jealous of me, it was with anyone that worked with him). The last month or so was complete hell, and I was fired because of "mismanaging the schedule" to accommodate my needs.

(the truth is, i had never mismanaged the schedule because I was never alone with it. I told them this and they basically bullied me to tears. anyways....)

But aside from their accusation (false, but still), I was excellent at my job - so much so, that I thought about opening up my own basket weaving shop one day. So when I saw the ad on Monster today, I got kinda excited to get back into that field. Unfortunately, the ad says "must have experience in basket weaving".

My question:

How do I tell them I have experience in basket weaving, when my only experience ended negatively? I don't remember anyone that I worked with back then (it was at least 5 years ago), and there's no one else to contact about references except for the same husband/wife team that fired me. Can I get away with putting down my duties and adding something like "it is not ok to contact this reference"? Do I have to explain why I got fired?

posted by damnjezebel to work & money (5 comments total)

When you give your list of references you don't include anyone from that job. If they call unsolicited all they will get is that damnjezebel worked here from date x to date y.
posted by caddis at 5:17 PM on May 17, 2007

Find someone at the old job who will give you a good ref. You can ask around.

Else, find someone, who, like you, used to work there, but quit and moved on. They have little to do presently with the current boss at the old job.
posted by carthik at 5:18 PM on May 17, 2007

If what they really want is proof of experience, talking to a 5 year old reference doesn't necessarily enter into it. What you really want to focus on is making it clear, through your first interview with them, that you know what you're doing and that you've got a really solid background in "basket weaving".

Talk about the time you managed to weave a basket in a really unusual shape, talk about how the technical skills you've mastered that let you weave 20 baskets an hour--that's what they'll care about. If they _then_ say they want to call a reference, just explain that the personal dynamics at that last job got really weird. As long as you've already established your credentials, the odds of that being a dealbreaker are pretty slim.
posted by LairBob at 7:10 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

You don't say how long ago the job was, but I second the suggestion of picking which references you want to list, rather than assuming they need one for every job..

Not sure about the states, but here in Australia you have a separate section in your resume/application for references, and you obviously pick those that will give the best reference and how you know them (John Smith from Jones University (which they can see you worked at previously in your experience section))... If the job was a while ago, this is even easier, because it is naturally assumed that your direct manager may not work there anymore (and if the job is in the same area as your current job, this is probably true more often than not!)
posted by ranglin at 9:10 PM on May 17, 2007

I was in a similar situation to you. A few years ago I was fired for completely unfair reasons from a good job that I really wanted to keep on my resume. It was a really nasty situation, the company owner literally fired me because I yelled at him in front of the other employees and threatened to report him or take him to court for coming up behind me and pressing up against me while breathing in my ear for the third time in as many weeks (somehow the elbow in the gut didn't dissuade him). He immediately accused me of lying and fired me on the spot and as I was leaving, he took me aside and told me that he would make sure that my performance reviews and the comments they contained would ensure that any kind of lawsuit I might try to bring would fail. I should have fought it anyway, but I didn't. Last year I applied for a job for which the kind of experience I'd gained from that job was a prerequisite, and rather than try to track down old co-workers (who, for all I know, might have believed the boss), I just filled in a friend about what she should say for the reference and listed her as a former supervisor, even though she wasn't. I explained in the interview that the company owner acted illegally towards me but that I didn't want to get into it any more deeply than that. My "former supervisor" confirmed that he had acted illegally and also gave a glowing review of my performance and skills. I got the job.

Yes, I lied, and got someone else to lie for me, and maybe I'm a terrible person for it, but I don't think so. I knew I could do well at the job (and I did do very, very well) and no one was hurt in the process. People lie on resumes all the time. Getting a friend to be a "fake" reference might not work if you're looking for work in a really close-knit field where everyone knows everyone, or at a company right down the street from the old one, or in something like teaching that is really stringent about background checks, but if it's your only option, go for it. The worst that can happen is that you won't get the job.
posted by Wroksie at 1:41 AM on May 18, 2007