should i be worried?

[Austin.J]

Right, i've got an interview tomorrow with Halifax Building society as a call centre worker, but the problem is,they want a referance from my last employer, my last job (fabricator) ended rarther badly, he pushed me & i hit him, but other than that it was fine.

Anyway do you reckon he'd just say i was a total pillack or say it how it actually was?

Also fairly worried about the interview itself... only ones i've had have been with big bald blokes in boiler suits handing me a welder & saying go on then what can you do, never had a shirt & tie one before, what should i expect to be asked ect?

thanks, Austin.

Interview today... far too tired, at 3am my dog decided it was a perfect time to go for a sh1t in my room... bloody stank...

[Ernie]

I think by law they have to tell the truth imho.
Good luck with the interveiw.

[Lee]

Its against the law to give a bad reference. Stupid I know, but the only thing he can do is use the words good or great. Good normally meaning bad lol.

Im surprised halifax are employing tbh, i thought they were laying loads of people off!!

[Iain]

There's lots of websites offering sample interview questions (e.g. http://bhuvans.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/50-common-interview-qa/) (http://bhuvans.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/50-common-interview-qa/%29). If it's anything like the HR interviews I've been to, they ask obscure questions along the lines of 'Describe a time/project/scenario when you...', to show teamwork etc. Interviews vary really though so it's hard to prepare for. Try and do some reading on the company to make it look like you're interested too.

[brainsnova]

dont worry about the interview dress acordingley and go in and blitz it. also phone your last employer and ask if its worth getting a reference after all we all need to make a living.

[Austin.J]

ah right, should be alright then, hopefully, & the main Halifax, the one thats actually in Halifax are hiring a fair few people.

[Tidy Max]

as long as you wearnt a fabricator of the truth you will be fine... (haha see what i did there, bit gay bit ahh well)

anyway, employers aren't allowed to give bad references any more, it was made illegal a couple of years back, they can only say good things, they can be limited with the good things, but its all they are allowed to say,

also, with it being such a large company any reference checks will be formal, so they will have a preset list of questions, which usually go as:

How much time did they take off?
how many days off did they have?
were they work shy?
team working?
ect ect

they dont go...
Did he ever break an employees nose....?

so i dont think you should be worried about the fact you decked your last boss, at the interview also it would be very unprofessional to say "i didnt get on with my last boss, he was nasty to me etc, its just not done and employers dont like it"

its al about using the correct wording, so if asked about your past job say, me and my last boss had conflicting interests or something along those lines, iirc its also counted as discrimination for a company to NOT employ you because of an event in a previous job for the exact reason you are now posting this,

good luck mate, best thing to remember is the interviewer will see themselves as your employer, so whatever you say about your past employer, they will see it as you are talking about them, that wasnt worded very well but i hope you understood what i meant!

[Austin.J]

Christ, thanks for great replies, atleast i dont really have to worry about being turned away because of hitting my boss now :D

[Mike]

By law an ex employer cant give you a bad rep is it would be slander :thumb: but they can refuse to give a reference, which is also a way of saying you were that cr@p they cant be @rsed too lol

[Jack]

Any hassle, punch the guy :D

[Tidy Max]

Any hassle, punch the guy :D

lol lol

[Austin.J]

Any hassle, punch the guy :D


Naw, 'tis a lass who's doing it all, punch the nearest bloke? lol

[Tidy Max]

nah **** that, just punch her lol

[Austin.J]

nah **** that, just punch her lol

She'd be chuffed to bits, i'd be straight in with a job lol

[djshaggeh]

I worked for the local motor factor and was sacked for telling some guy in a suit to stop sticking his nose in where its not wanted and **** off back to his office. Funnly enough it didnt go down too well and I was sacked a week later.

So i went for a job at a local garage. He asked where I worked previously and I said the local motor factors and he asked why I left. I told him I didnt enjoy it and wanted to do something more hands on. He then said we do alot of trade with that company, so if I call so and so (my old boss) will he give you a good reference? So in the end I told him the truth.

As a result I thought Id ****ed it all up and didnt hold out much hope - until the next evening when I got the phone call asking if I wanted a trial. Now im employed :D

[Lauren]

I actually used to do that job. Are you taking inbound and making outbound calls to people in arrears?
If so, from what I can remember from my interview, part of it was a team building exercise where you sat with other interviewees and they asked you to make something or explain something as a team. The other parts are basic questions, i.e 'where do you see yourself in 5 years?' 'what do you think you can bring to this role?' 'why have you applied for this position?' etc etc.

The other thing is, they CAN give you a bad reference (coming from someone that has been sacked and found it very hard to get another job).
They can say on your reference that you had a summary dismissal, but they can't say why. So you will need to tell them or you will lose the job (if you get it) when your references come through. You can however tell them it was for a slightly better reason. A good one is, you had a lot of time off due to personal issues which are now resolved, but at the time they had to let you go. ;)

[mowgli]

an employer can legally give a truthful reference.... we have been there, done that etc....... the simple fact is that if someone is useless at their job, why should anyone flounce around the fact, trying to be nice?

I give you a week till you're bored half to death & wishing nasty thoughts on the person on the other end of the phone.. Offices are not much fun compared to other places of work

[Austin.J]

i know, there boring as sin, but 6.50 an hour at 17, i'm not gonna complain.

[mowgli]

i know, there boring as sin, but 6.50 an hour at 17, i'm not gonna complain.

If I was offered ten times that, I wouldn't work in one..
I am not of the right mentality to work in an office, the petty politics & 'not my problem' thing really sent me mad when I worked at unipart. If I could fix a problem & get the customer sorted out, I'd do it & them sort out the paperwork. Aparently, that was not how I was meant to work. they held staff training on the first 2 days of the month. the first 2 days of the month were the busiest in terms of sales. So I refused to go on a 'putting customers first' course 4 months in a row & got send to Human Resources to be told of the importance of putting customers first.... That was when the trouble started, I told the HR monkey a few home truths & marched off, back to my office.. they never pestered me again.

[FUSION X16XE]

She'd be chuffed to bits, i'd be straight in with a job lol

Im getting flash backs of stoos chat up lines lol

[draper]

office work is horrible imo, wearing a shirt and tie everyday was like going to court

[Austin.J]

Off to the interview *gulp*

[Stoo]

Good luck mate

[Lauren]

Let us know how it goes!

[Tidy Max]

good luck lad! you will be reet, im sat in college readin performance vaux (the first one ive ever read/bought lol)

[Jack]

office work is horrible imo, wearing a shirt and tie everyday was like going to court
Office? Shirt? Tie? I've never worn a shirt and tie to any office. I was told once I had to, refused, and never been told since.

[Austin.J]

Office? Shirt? Tie? I've never worn a shirt and tie to any office. I was told once I had to, refused, and never been told since.


Just got back... I HAVE MY OWN DESK! :cool: :cool: Starting on monday :D

after 2 years of oily overalls, a suit is a lovely thing to wear :D

[Stoo]

Congrats punchy

just dont spark your boss this time yeah

[Austin.J]

Congrats punchy

just dont spark your boss this time yeah


Cheers & i'll try my best no too... but no promises...

[Jack]

Nice :D So how was the interview?

[Austin.J]

Nice :D So how was the interview?

Wasn't too bad, filled in 5 sheets of paper saying that i wasn't going to over throw society ect...
Then about an hour of interview, she was impressed i'd brought a note pad to write everything down :cool:

All in all went well :D

[Tidy Max]

well done mate!! congratulations.

now for my interview assisting services i charge a minimum of 5% of your annual salary, shall i pm you bank details?

<edit>

and half your desk space for an assortment of porn mags and used mugs

[Austin.J]

well done mate!! congratulations.

now for my interview assisting services i charge a minimum of 5% of your annual salary, shall i pm you bank details?

<edit>

and half your desk space for an assortment of porn mags and used mugs

haha cheers, and for the 5% you better get in line... the agency i went through want 1%!!

Might just bring half the crap off my desk at home and put it there... see how well that goes down? haha

[Stuart]

I do "office" work and wear jeans + semi smart shirt.... **** the tie, if you wear a tie here it means you are off to an interview lol.

Dress down friday is MY own personal rule that I've not had flak for in over 3 years now :D

[Austin.J]

I do "office" work and wear jeans + semi smart shirt.... **** the tie, if you wear a tie here it means you are off to an interview lol.

Dress down friday is MY own personal rule that I've not had flak for in over 3 years now :D

place i'm going to be working at is "the" halifax, the one thats actually in halifax, got to wear suit ect majority of the time due to inspections and other rubbish like it.

[Jack]

I do "office" work and wear jeans + semi smart shirt.... **** the tie, if you wear a tie here it means you are off to an interview lol.

Dress down friday is MY own personal rule that I've not had flak for in over 3 years now :D
lmfao yep, sounds like my place. If my boss comes in with a shirt on, we know there's something up lol

They do say you're supposed to dress for the job you want though, not the one you do. I would say if you were a customer facing member of staff, then looking tidy and smart is a must though tbh.