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Lost my Contract...

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samsung
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Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:22 pm

Lost my Contract...

Post by samsung » Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:18 am

Hey Guys,

I was serving a contract. I was working on one of the weekend and I used the office phone to make some calls to India, never knew that could be a problem. The other day my manager called me and said my contract has been terminated because I used the office resource for my personal purpose, he said BT alerted them as they monitor phone calls :-( Now out of job and looking for a new contract.

Guys will this affect my job prospects in the UK, will it affect my extension as well. One of my friend that this will also go in the database and might affect my extension.

Pls advice guys. Will this be a problem in the future.

Regards...

T1_Mainframe
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Posts: 190
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Post by T1_Mainframe » Sat Sep 25, 2010 3:26 pm

Grow up! you are not working in India.

1. Job prospect - most likely, unless you lie. You will be asked for references (feedback) from last employer.
2. No impact on extension

kenfrapin
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Re: Lost my Contract...

Post by kenfrapin » Sat Sep 25, 2010 3:44 pm

samsung wrote: I was working on one of the weekend and I used the office phone to make some calls to India, never knew that could be a problem
Did you use a calling card to call home or did you REALLY call India directly from the UK from your office phone? I know my post does not add to this thread but come on - that's the most ridiculous thing anyone could do - Which company allows their employee to make International calls and that too personal ones and how could you ASSUME it was ok to do so?

:roll:

KP

samsung
Junior Member
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Post by samsung » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:09 pm

Yea guys that s a mistake i did. Never realized am gona lose my contract cos of this. I even offered to pay for the calls made, but guess it was late.

I did not use calling card, i used it directly from the phone guys, what a crazy mistake. I know that was not one of the mature thing to do, but it happened :(

I still regret that moment. But nothing can be done, other than looking for a new contract.

Regards

namastelondon
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Location: Hitchin
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Post by namastelondon » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:35 pm

samsung wrote:Yea guys that s a mistake i did. Never realized am gona lose my contract cos of this. I even offered to pay for the calls made, but guess it was late.

I did not use calling card, i used it directly from the phone guys, what a crazy mistake. I know that was not one of the mature thing to do, but it happened :(

I still regret that moment. But nothing can be done, other than looking for a new contract.

Regards
I think now you have no other option then just looking for new contract. May be you have to remove the current contract experience from your profile altogether, otherwise face lot of questions.

I think it is good lesson for others also, who are looking forward to work in UK. When you join a company first and foremost thing is to read employee handbook. It will basically give you information about do's and dont's.

samsung
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Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:22 pm

Post by samsung » Mon Sep 27, 2010 10:56 am

Well i got friends in the company, and they will just say that it was a fixed term contract and it never got extended, if they call them for reference.

So, i guess i can put that experience in my CV.

Still looking for a contract, guess will make it sooon.

Idea
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Re: Lost my Contract...

Post by Idea » Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:00 pm

samsung wrote:Hey Guys,

I was serving a contract. I was working on one of the weekend and I used the office phone to make some calls to India, never knew that could be a problem. The other day my manager called me and said my contract has been terminated because I used the office resource for my personal purpose, he said BT alerted them as they monitor phone calls :-( Now out of job and looking for a new contract.

Guys will this affect my job prospects in the UK, will it affect my extension as well. One of my friend that this will also go in the database and might affect my extension.

Pls advice guys. Will this be a problem in the future.

Regards...
He says Bt alerted them - but from experience i know its std. practice for companys to monitor personal calls. my friend called home (local) every day before he left home. after a month his line manager had a chat with him and told him that it came to notice and that its not a good idea to make more than 1 or 2 calls for personal use.
he started using the mobile

PaperPusher
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Post by PaperPusher » Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:56 pm

Well i got friends in the company, and they will just say that it was a fixed term contract and it never got extended, if they call them for reference.

So, i guess i can put that experience in my CV.

First thing you learn when checking references is never ring the number the applicant gives you, and speak to someone in authority not necessarily the named person, because it could be a friend......... unless you friends are contract managers (or whatever they call them there) well wouldn't like to say if your strategy would work.

Getting caught lying about your contract getting terminated is worse than just getting your contract terminated.

kenfrapin
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Post by kenfrapin » Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:56 pm

I am really not convinced that a single mistake of calling home over the weekend the very FIRST time results in termination of a contract - it just sounds too harsh.
If, on the other hand, the company was looking for an excuse to try and end the contract, then this was perfect else they never fire you on the spot for a long distance call - they could make you pay for it but wont send you packing!!!
And as most companies these days have VOIP lines - mainly as some managers and team members have to officially make international calls for work, it costs them peanuts for such calls.

Know its not very useful but you could check if there was any such clause to validate lawful contract termination. I only suggest because the law in UK helps resolve such cases quickly. While you made a really stupid mistake, you should not have to suffer the consequence for a long time especially in such a tough beaten down market.

KP

sarah_id1
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Post by sarah_id1 » Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:40 am

I agree with kenfrapin you cannot be fired for that reason on the first go. A warning sounds fair. But looks like they had already decided to fire you and searching for an excuse.

prisat
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Post by prisat » Wed Sep 29, 2010 2:22 pm

T1_Mainframe wrote:Grow up! you are not working in India.

1. Job prospect - most likely, unless you lie. You will be asked for references (feedback) from last employer.
2. No impact on extension
Well - if you work for a Indian Company which has its office here and almost most of the hires are of indian origin, then you might not have issues, reason being right from program / department Director till security will use the personal phone. 8) . So B!G eSc@pE.

Atleast in US to some extent from what i have seen, this is not an issue. As a matter of fact, they will have separate phones placed at a common place to make personal calls. Policies and process differ from company to company and organisation to organisation. Anyways ISD was a bit too much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Disclaimer :

I am not from a law firm or an attorney who provide Consultation for Immigration to UK.
Information that i provide is not the same as legal advice or legal advises. Use the message (s) and information at your own risk.

Mohanfromblr
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Post by Mohanfromblr » Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:14 am

Dear Mods and Senior Members,
I faced same kind of situation as 'samsung' faced, my short term employment was terminated over a controversy. I worked for that Org. from Dec,2009 to March,2010.
What I am planning is when the next employer asks me about my previous employer, I decided not to give contact details of that company as my reference. I also had 6 more years of previous experience including 1 year of UK experience apart from that controversy company.
My main question is do the companies normally take our permission to contact previous employers before they offer a role/make job permanent?

Thanks in Advance

kenfrapin
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Post by kenfrapin » Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:21 am

Mohan,

They will not know whom to contact at the last organization you worked without you providing contact details of your manager. And almost all companies never approach your previous employers without your consent - if they do so and reject you on that basis then its good in a way because its not worth working for a company that at the start itself wnet behind your back and without your consent and approached someone.

On another note - everyone has been asking you one question but you have been avoiding it - you said you got 2 roles and then later say job market is tough and here you are asking about references!!!!
Did you get a final offer on any of those two jobs yet????

KP

Mohanfromblr
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Post by Mohanfromblr » Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:46 am

Dear Kenfrapin
Thanks for your consideration.
Yes, I got 2 offers both said formally that while doing Background checks, they would contact recent employer.
I said market was tough because given the magnitude of my applications & interviews, the success rate is abysmal.
Unlike in India where people with my exp. getting loads of offers in hand, people from India normally have the tendency to compare with Indian IT market.
I was vexed up with application process here in UK, especially when some consultants told me that companies interviewed me even after their vacancy is filled-up!!!, When asked why they (consultants) said that companies wanted to show that they are 'Equal Oppurtunities Employer' and they take into consideration people from all the backgrounds.
To be frank, I got one offer in the month of June itself but if you can recall I told that I lied about previous company's salary. You (members of the board) warned me that it would send me into problems so I rejected that offer.
I needed to battle again..till I got last 2 ones.
I can't reveal names of those 2 at least till I join one of them.But I would definetly tell you after joining and settle there.
So thanks for your advice and I wont give permission to make checks with that trouble employer

Thanks

Mohanfromblr
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Post by Mohanfromblr » Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:49 am

Sorry Kenfrapin..
I have missed your main point...yes both of the employers said that they will undertake back ground checks after my joining by taking references....what do you say?
As per my experience most of the people do before the employee joins the company , right?

kenfrapin
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Post by kenfrapin » Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:23 am

For so called background checks - its more about you as a person. All checks are done by external agencies and this will be to check if you have criminal convictions, your legal status, any bankruptcy declarations and those sorts - this is standard and they do it just because it is a legal requirement within the company

Reference checks is not part of background checks - they can only validate the references you provide so just dont provide your previous employer. A practical thing to do, which many people really follow, is to give details of your any colleague of yours who you are close to in your previous contract to validate your work. Do this ONLY if you have used your previous contract experience in your CV because companies will expect references from most recent jobs you completed.

Else, just avoid your previous contract references and give the one before and you should be fine.

Finally - you made a grave mistake of comparing Indian and UK IT Markets - they are worlds apart and the processes completely different. Everyone here applies to a MILLION job adverts before getting calls, I mean average profiles like ours - unless you have an MBA or Masters from a Top Uni or have worked in some of the BEST companies, you will never get picked for a call easily.
Without pointing a finger at you, please remember that the QUALITY of your CV plays a big factor in getting shortlisted. As 99% of the jobs are via recruitment consultants, most CVs just get rejected because of the CV being poor, key words not matching the job profile, irrelevant experience or insufficient experience.

Finally - the Indian IT market is at its peak so you get picked for several interviews in one month while the UK market is still close to its bottom and you will be lucky even if you manage to get 5 F2F interviews in 1 year!!!!

All the best
KP

Mohanfromblr
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Post by Mohanfromblr » Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:51 am

Dear Kenfrapin
Thanks a TON for distinguishing between two key checks. It really gave me a detailed understanding of the offer letters I received. It seems that companies are more interested in Background checks as now a lot of legal issues are being faced by companies.
Its not a problem at all for me for Background checks.
For reference checks they said they would take my permission and hence I assume I am safe by avoiding one employer.
Apart from these..not even a single word of you is to be contradicted.
Thanks for your post

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