Son needs a Job - but I have a question about a job he lost

[pixiedust216]

I think in most places (if not all) it is illegal to give details as to why the person was fired. At my work all we can say is how long they worked there and what position they worked in.

Your son is really young still and being a recent college graduate, it wouldn't look that strange if he didn't list a full time job on his resume. The hiring managers at the jobs he applies to would probably just think he's been job searching in the time since he's graduated. Does your son have a lot of part time job or internship experience? If so, he could always just list those and leave the other job off his resume.

 

[KKB]

I think in most places (if not all) it is illegal to give details as to why the person was fired. At my work all we can say is how long they worked there and what position they worked in.

Your son is really young still and being a recent college graduate, it wouldn't look that strange if he didn't list a full time job on his resume. The hiring managers at the jobs he applies to would probably just think he's been job searching in the time since he's graduated. Does your son have a lot of part time job or internship experience? If so, he could always just list those and leave the other job off his resume.

It is not ILLEGAL to give details BUT it could be against your company policy. Important to know your company's policy on this--or you could be fired!

 

[ParkaPooh]

There's so much misconception regarding Unemployment. It doesn't hurt to apply for leaving a position for any reason. Unemployment was put in place for lay-offs or discharges not in connection with misconduct on the job. It varies by state and by decision maker in regards to what is job-related misconduct. Being fired does not automatically mean you'll get Unemployment. Companies can and do fight those claims, and if they have enough evidence, they do win.

OP, good luck to your son! Being young and essentially not tied down can work to his advantage if he's willing to relocate. Pains me to say that because it will break my heart when my little ones leave.

 

[sammielynn]

He's 23? I think you mean "he", not "we".

Excellent point.

 

[danygirl]

Go back to the career office at his university. Most help alumni

My dd is in school in TN. I was amaZed at all the industry going on near Nashville and Chatanooga. There are also tech jobs in VA near Blacksburg

He needs to look a little farther and do his own networking

Being super honest here, my kids got jobs because they networked like crazy, worked internships and hustled. If he isn't doing that he won't get anywhere.

 

[emilymad]

Is he on Linked In? I work for a large tech company and they basically have come out and said they find their applicants 90% through Linked In versus posted job openings. My company does higher people out of college but it is more for a sales rotation and it is very competitive. I believe most candidates have some sort of computer degree.

 

[dawnball]

He has been out of school for over a year, he is taking a course in a new(to him) programming language. Not even sure where he could volunteer. Our church does not care for volunteers in the office.

I would not encourage adding additional programming languages, unless there's a -very- strong reason. I WOULD encourage increasing depth in one language. Good programmers pick up languages much more easily than indifferent programmers become good. Find any open source project - work on bug verification, documentation, update tests, etc. There are plenty of small tasks that don't take a lot of experience.

Become active on a forum where people ask database-related questions. Read everything, try anything he isn't familiar with (an AWS server might come in handy for this - you can build a database, load in a sample dataset and start running queries/tests), answer questions when he can. Develop a reputation for knowing his own competence and do it under his own name, not an anonymous pseudonym.

Work the daylights out of every contact from the school. Linkedin is a very good place to be. Add as many connections as you can, keep a very positive presence.

 

[NYEmomma]

I would not encourage adding additional programming languages, unless there's a -very- strong reason. I WOULD encourage increasing depth in one language. Good programmers pick up languages much more easily than indifferent programmers become good. Find any open source project - work on bug verification, documentation, update tests, etc. There are plenty of small tasks that don't take a lot of experience.

Become active on a forum where people ask database-related questions. Read everything, try anything he isn't familiar with (an AWS server might come in handy for this - you can build a database, load in a sample dataset and start running queries/tests), answer questions when he can. Develop a reputation for knowing his own competence and do it under his own name, not an anonymous pseudonym.

Work the daylights out of every contact from the school. Linkedin is a very good place to be. Add as many connections as you can, keep a very positive presence.

For web programming, I'd encourage him to create his own website... for whatever purpose/reason. He needs something that he can provide examples of his work. DH got asked to provide some samples of his programming in almost every interview and was almost never able to do so because most of his jobs were on internal applications.

I also third the recommendation to get on Linked In. DH gets a TON of cold calls through there, asking him to interview for positions. It was how he found his most recent job. And he has never once said that he was job searching on Linked In.

 

[disneychrista]

He does not have to say 1 word about being fired and what he said. He just needs to say that he is now pursuing a different avenue. His former boss can not tell any future employer that he was fired and the reasoning behind it. BTDT from experience.

This is INCORRECT. A former employer can tell a prospective employer anything they know or believe to be true, as long as it is factual. The former employer can say exactly what he said / did.

 

[luvthemouse71]

He's 23? I think you mean "he", not "we".

I picked up on that too. He's an adult, he needs to be looking for his own job. It is tempting to help your children, I understand. But, the apron strings have to be cut sometime.

I wouldn't use the last job as a reference, at any rate. He may have to move to get an opportunity, A lot of fields are like that lately.

 

[Luvchefmic]

I used to work in HR many years ago and the service we used does not search for previous employment unless it was government/federal related jobs. This is a good link that talks about what typical background checks look for.

Remember that very detailed background checks are very expensive and I doubt small companies are spending hundreds of dollars per applicant. Unlikely.

Most job applications NOW want an explanation of what you were doing with your time. For example 1999 to 2000 worked at company A 2001 to 2010 worked at company B if there was a job in between 2000 and 2001and you leave it off you are lying by omission.

All the applications I have seen lately clearly state somewhere that if you are not honest you will be dismissed ( similar words ) Personally I think it's better to own up to the fact that he was fired and put an explanation that you will discuss during interview.

 

[belledreamer]

Most job applications NOW want an explanation of what you were doing with your time. For example 1999 to 2000 worked at company A 2001 to 2010 worked at company B if there was a job in between 2000 and 2001and you leave it off you are lying by omission.

All the applications I have seen lately clearly state somewhere that if you are not honest you will be dismissed ( similar words ) Personally I think it's better to own up to the fact that he was fired and put an explanation that you will discuss during interview.

Honestly, I wouldn't bring up that he was fired from the job during the interview unless he's specifically asked about it. For my first job, I left after only about three months because I simply did not enjoy the job. Granted, I turned in two weeks notice; I wasn't fired. But it's never been an issue finding other employment and I've never even been asked about that job during interviews.

So yes, be honest that he was fired or that he was terminated from the job on the application and keep the job on the resume. But I wouldn't go into the full story unless asked. Because if you go in there and offer up that information without being asked for it, you're setting yourself up for failure.

 

[Sadie22]

I would not encourage adding additional programming languages, unless there's a -very- strong reason. I WOULD encourage increasing depth in one language. Good programmers pick up languages much more easily than indifferent programmers become good. Find any open source project - work on bug verification, documentation, update tests, etc. There are plenty of small tasks that don't take a lot of experience.

Become active on a forum where people ask database-related questions. Read everything, try anything he isn't familiar with (an AWS server might come in handy for this - you can build a database, load in a sample dataset and start running queries/tests), answer questions when he can. Develop a reputation for knowing his own competence and do it under his own name, not an anonymous pseudonym.

Work the daylights out of every contact from the school. Linkedin is a very good place to be. Add as many connections as you can, keep a very positive presence.

I advised learning different languages because I know for a fact that that is a plus in being hired. The more variety someone can offer, the better chance they have of being hired. Good programmers do need to pick up languages easily. They can learn these things on their own, but taking a campus class or community college class can lead to contacts which yield prospective jobs.

 

[seashoreCM]

But what was the correct solution to the situation at the hotel with the difficult customer?

If the employer did not provide the needed training and did not have help on call, leaving it as the employee's guess as how to handle the situation, it may well have been an unjust firing. The employee could then feel free to answer any discussion (which he would not broach) about that former job accordingly.

OT: I hate it when someone asks the same question over and over again using different words. To this end I believe it is okay to give the same words over and over as an answer rather than have to brainstorm different answers each time. Also if I catch myself stating incorrect facts before acting on them I should be able to retract what I said and not perform the associated actions I realized later were not proper.

 

[disneychrista]

But what was the correct solution to the situation at the hotel with the difficult customer?

You keep your cool & stay calm and if someone asks you the same question 100 times then you have to repeat the same answer a 100 times.

 

[crisi]

Most job applications NOW want an explanation of what you were doing with your time. For example 1999 to 2000 worked at company A 2001 to 2010 worked at company B if there was a job in between 2000 and 2001and you leave it off you are lying by omission.

All the applications I have seen lately clearly state somewhere that if you are not honest you will be dismissed ( similar words ) Personally I think it's better to own up to the fact that he was fired and put an explanation that you will discuss during interview.

He'll never get an interview if he says on an application he was fired. He's probably having a hard time getting interviews because he graduated a year ago and only has unrelated customer service work on his resume since then.

 

[JenzyHP]

He needs to leave East TN. That's not exactly a hopping place. Be willing to move.

 

[disneylove69]

He does not have to say 1 word about being fired and what he said. He just needs to say that he is now pursuing a different avenue. His former boss can not tell any future employer that he was fired and the reasoning behind it. BTDT from experience.

Most employers don't but they can say why he was fired as long as it is the truth. Also, in some fields people know people and talk off the record. Just say you learned from the experience and move on. I know when people acknowledge the screw up and that they learned from it I take that into consideration. I do think it was wrong to term him instead of just counseling him first.

 

[dawnball]

I advised learning different languages because I know for a fact that that is a plus in being hired. The more variety someone can offer, the better chance they have of being hired. Good programmers do need to pick up languages easily. They can learn these things on their own, but taking a campus class or community college class can lead to contacts which yield prospective jobs.

Clearly, our experience in what employers want is different. IME, once you have two languages, you're much better off focusing on depth, exploring the libraries and really getting a visceral feel for the limitations and advantages of them. Syntax and basic coding is a relatively trivial part of programming.

I do agree that there are distinct advantages to the networking opportunities at schools. If you're going to spend time on extra languages, you ought to get the benefit of contacts and student placement services.

Depending on the young man's career aspirations (which really haven't been discussed here at all) - languages may be completely pointless. For all we know, he really wants to be optimizing queries, or tuning system performance, and all of the advice we're giving is irrelevant.

 

[lpereira]

He needs to leave East TN. That's not exactly a hopping place. Be willing to move.

Consider Charlotte, NC or Charleston. First choice Charlotte. Charleston is horribly expensive and the pay scale is awful.
Better yet Im going to pm you abd email address.