Looking for a new job while still working, and not getting sacked for it?

smyth

smyth

smyth

Associate
Joined
29 Apr 2004
Posts
696
Hi forum members,

I was wondering how best it would be to carry out a job search while you are already working.

How should you let the prospective new employer know you are working but that you don't want them to contact your current employer in case that gets you the sack?


Any advice on job hunting/applying while working?

Cheers
 
similar situation myself, fed up of 16k for 60hrs per week of work and no life! will be hard to arrange an interview....also looking to change "profession" (ie: leaving hospitality) so any tips here would be useful
 
smyth said:
Hi forum members,

I was wondering how best it would be to carry out a job search while you are already working.

How should you let the prospective new employer know you are working but that you don't want them to contact your current employer in case that gets you the sack?


Any advice on job hunting/applying while working?

Cheers
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Look on the internet on your dinner break. As a rule they only contact former employers after an interview. Thats what I do anyway and I ask the prospective employee if it is ok to do so.
 
Standard practice, it's how you move jobs and up in the world :) It is also the best position to be in - you can choose your new employer and be fussy doing so.

I turned down offers for 2nd interviews (one even offered me the job when I said I wasn't interested in the 2nd interview) simply because something didn't feel right in their office.

Be picky, take your time. Only go for interviews you are really interested in and only take a new job you are 100% confident with (does it feel right? Does the company have a future?).
 
Thanks for the replies, I'm just worried that I'll get in trouble if I go for an interview and then the prospective employer rings up my current employers asking for a reference when they don't know I'm looking for a new job :S
 
smyth said:
How should you let the prospective new employer know you are working but that you don't want them to contact your current employer in case that gets you the sack?
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You just have to hope they aren't complete retards tbh...

Seriously though, in general, if you send your CV off to a prospective employer they're not about to phone up your current company and say "Oh we're interviewing Smyth today as we're thinking about poaching him from you..."

If somehow your current boss does find out you've been for an interview its more likely to prompt him to give you a pay rise or arrange a meeting to find out why you want to leave/what you're unhappy about.
 
smyth said:
Thanks for the replies, I'm just worried that I'll get in trouble if I go for an interview and then the prospective employer rings up my current employers asking for a reference when they don't know I'm looking for a new job :S
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They won't ask for a reference until they've given you an offer and you've accepted. You'll then have handed your notice in at your current place and a couple of weeks later HR at your new place will probably send an e-mail to HR at your current place - they will then simply confirm your job title, how long you've worked there and perhaps how many sick days you've had in the last year. That is quite literally it - tis very rare to get any form of reference either positive or negative just a quick confirmation that you worked there, when you worked there and in what capacity - anything else they state either +ve or -ve potentially can't be backed up and therefore leaves them open to law suits.
 
smyth said:
Thanks for the replies, I'm just worried that I'll get in trouble if I go for an interview and then the prospective employer rings up my current employers asking for a reference when they don't know I'm looking for a new job :S
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Oh I forgot to say - be very careful of agencies. Don't let them know your current employer as they have a habit of ringing them up and letting them know you are leaving just so they can try to advertise your old job as well as ensure you need to get a new one.
 
JBod said:
Oh I forgot to say - be very careful of agencies. Don't let them know your current employer as they have a habit of ringing them up and letting them know you are leaving just so they can try to advertise your old job as well as ensure you need to get a new one.
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The new job advert is direct so not going through an agency.

RedDanDoc said:
Is it not Illegal to give a bad reference ?
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I'm pretty sure they just have to tell the truth, bad or good.
 
RedDanDoc said:
Look on the internet on your dinner break.
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Personally I wouldn't if it involves using their internet connection. Even if it is during your break time, most employers have some sort of internet policy (there for work purposes blah blah) and generally one shouldn't be using their connection for anything inappropriate.

Going back to the OP, if you are interviewing for jobs and they want references just speak directly with HR (assuming they provide the reference). Obviously if there is no dedicated HR department then at some point you will have to approach your boss about it; normally this wouldn't be until after you've been offered a job elsewhere though anyway.

Time off for interviews is a bit more of a tricky one as I know in some jobs it can be hard to get a day off at short notice.
 
RedDanDoc said:
Is it not Illegal to give a bad reference ?
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You can sue them for defamation if they lie, but if you had been sick 50 days in the past year, there is nothing you can do if they put in the reference they you were sick 50 days in the past year.

You can't sue them for the truth.
 
They can't give a bad reference but to get round this they have a box on the reference form saying would you have this person work for you again. Then just tick the no box.
 
SHREDDER1UK said:
They can't give a bad reference but to get round this they have a box on the reference form saying would you have this person work for you again. Then just tick the no box.
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?? WTF is a reference form? I've never known a referee use one, they just write a letter. If they hate you, they just something like the following, with no emotion: "Gordon Brown worked here from x to y and was responsible for a, b and c."
 
The companies I've worked for in the past have a standard form.

It asks:

Dates Worked
Sickness / Time Off
Any other comments*

*The any other comments bit is the area you have to look out for. My previous employers have been very favourable to me but, I can imagine, there are going to be those that are not. Also as the Reference is confidential you can't even look at it! So if they've slagged you off then you have no idea and can't even see the evidence to rebuke it.

Most just put down the dates, sickness and sign it though.



M.
 
Anybody can put anything they want in a reference: be it good or bad. However they take a substantial risk in putting any non factual information down.

By committing it to paper they are in effect making a legal statement. If they tell your future employer that you are a wonderful employee and wrote DOS from scratch, and as a result your employer takes you on, but it turns out your computer experience is limited to switching on a PC and you only go to work when you can be bothered. Your new employer could sue your old employer for loss of earnings resulting from your employment.

Similarly, if you land a job and are then fired cause your old employer tells a pack of lies in the reference, you can sue your old employer for loss of earnings.

The majority of official company references these days involve a bland factual statement with very little or no reference to performance.

It all comes down to libel and the only defence to libel cases is the truth.
 
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