Verbal warning affecting a reference

[RedRibbon123]

Dear all,

I have received a job offer last week but unfortunately I have recently been given a verbal warning due to causing an outage accidentally - I work in IT.

There will be of course a written record of the verbal warning.

Does the fact that it is officially a verbal warning mean that it would not be used in a reference?

Is there a possibility that my prospective employer could ask whether I have received any disciplinary action specifically?

Would it be possible to get a reference from a college instead of my boss? Would this be accepted?

The difficulty I have of course is not being able to ascertain whether it will affect a reference without making the situation at my current employer untenable. With this in mind, would it be possible to ask for a reference personally 'albeit only for my filling cabinet' directly to HR.

Any help is greatly appreciated,

Alex

[Wu Banger]

As far as i know, references can only be positive and list the good qualities of any employee!

[Machecoul]

If you do not give a reference from your current employer they would want to know why. And would probably make up answers or ask you straight out.

I think you have to go for it as it stands - it might not be mentioned in the reference / and a prosepective employer would have no reason to ask about a disciplinary record. If they do be honest and staright about it.

If you are not successful with getting other jobs then there might be something in your reference - then would be the time to ask to see it.

[Machecoul]

Just re-read the question and see that you already have the job offer. Still think you will have to trust to luck.

You are obviously a good candidate that someone wants. Keep that in mind.

Good luck.

[Polotoo]

Hi Alex

What a predicament! Where I work, normally if a reference specifically asks about disciplinary action, then the question will be answered. However, sometimes we don't fill that in - purely if the action is still ongoing or being appealed against.

Most companies will not accept colleagues references, only from your line manager or the HR department. And although, as I understand it, they cannot give a bad reference they can give a factual one, or enough information to be interpereted as bad at the other end.

I don't work in the IT field - so don't know how bad an outage is? (in fact I'm not too sure what one is!!) Would it be better to be honest with your prospective employer - say you have learnt from it etc? That would go down better with me than finding out from a reference.

Some companies will give a you an open reference, but beware as not all companies will accept them - we won't as it is too easy for someone with access to headed paper to write their own. You may be able to negotiate some sort of agreed reference for the future with your HR department, ie, a standard reference will be given if anyone enquires about you. Many companies only comfirm the barest of facts now anyway - like length of service, position held etc.

Don't dispair as all is not lost, happy job hunting and let us know how you get on!!

[RedRibbon123]

Thank you very much for your help. I have decided to go for it.