Some Employment Advice

[Empowerer]

Hi Everyone,
I wonder if I can ask your advice on an issue that I am having.
I work as a locum lawyer and I am being put forward through a recruitment agency for a two month contract with a firm in the North East to start the week after next.
The agency have asked for two references for the last 12 months but I am not sure that the two firms that I have worked for in the last 12 months will provide me with good references. In fact with one of the firms my contract was terminated early due to poor performance.
My dilemma is to whether to put forward the two firms as my references and hope that the references are good enough or to say I didn’t work during this period and therefore cannot supply any references. Of course if the recruitment agency find out about this they will not be very pleased.
I would be grateful for any suggestions as to what to do.
Kind Regards
Empowerer

[Buenchico]

In many occupations it's possible to tell a few porkies within employment applications without anyone bothering about it. I can't help thinking that though anyone applying for a position in the field of legal services should probably steer clear of falling foul of Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006!

Just tell the truth or, at least, your version of the the truth. e.g. "I'm not too sure as to whether Firm A will provide me with a reference, as I left there after we had a falling out. Firm B will, though, be sure to support my application with a decent reference". Employers (including employment agencies) are often happy to accept one personal reference (e.g. from a friend or former colleague) as long as they've got another reference from an employer to back it up.

[Hymie]

I would agree with Buenchico – something else to add, many companies don’t give references other than to confirm that you were employed during the relevant period and in what position - to avoid the possibility of litigation should the reference be disputed.

[Prudie]

I agree with Hymie. My company will only confirm those details on a reference and never reason for leaving nor performance whilst employed.

Have to ask, although my only experience of lawyers is as money grabbing heartless divorce lawyers, what actual value can a lawyer give in only 2 months. Surely that's not long enough to see anything through?

[Deskdiary]

We only ever confirm the person worked for us, and the dates they worked for us.

However, I always give the new firm the option of phoning me - which I believe is quite common.