Bad reference after written reprimandI am freaking out because I got a written reprimand placed in my personnel file today. The reason: i' m a newspaper reporter and I made a big mistake. Not a malicious mistake, just an honest, careless mistake. It' s a huge one, though, and I recognize that. Today my boss showed me the reprimand and she was very nice about it. She acknowledged that I' ve only made one other tiny mistake (nothing comparable to this one) in the time I' ve worked here. She seemed to acknowledge that I feel beyond terrible about this. I' ve also expressed this to her in an e-mail -- believe me, I could not feel any worse about this mistake. I would like some opinions: Do you think, with my past work history being very clean, that she would still give me a good reference for another job? I' ve been looking for awhile. I am not cut out to be a reporter. It is beyond stressful and I hate it. My boss today was, I think, as nice as it' s possible to be while handing out a written reprimand. I still can' t believe this has happened. I have never had this happen before; I take my work very seriously and I worry all the time about what my bosses think. That' s why this kills me, b/c I try so hard and still screw up. I would really appreciate your thoughts. Thank you everyone. Don't be so hard on yourself. You admit you made a mistake. You can succeed even wothout the supervisor's reference. Many employers these days, don't give references like they did in the past. Some only dates of working there can oly be verified. Ask someone in the company, what is the policy. Just because you made a mistake, that is only confidentlial between you and your present employer. New employers don't have to know or anyone else, but your present supervisor that the mistake was made and you feel very bad over it.. I hope that will make you feel better. When you' re ready to change jobs (that is, when you have another offer in hand and are turning in your notice to your boss), ask her flat out what she' ll say if asked for a reference. Chances are good that even with this incident (assuming you don' t do it again) that she' ll say something nice or at least neutral about you. If you' re changing fields, she may even be able to say: Copygirl just wasn' t cut out to be a reporter but she was a hard worker, tried very hard and I have no doubt she' ll be great in (this new job) because she' s really great at X, Y and Z... Know what? Humans are prone to making mistakes. I do not know ONE human being that hasn' t made a mistake. I have been written up MANY times at my former employer from HELL. I knew what my problem was. It was bad management and a bad attitude because I was always being passed up for a promotion in which my former company would never tell me why I was being passed up. Here is what most hiring managers do. If you have an exemplary work history that has a string of positives and advancements, then you have nothing to worry about. But if your work history is spotty and contains several reprimands, be prepared to discuss the issues with your hiring manager. The only negative spot on my career is being fired a few years ago. I always explained BOTH sides of the issue and what I learned from that mistake. Since being hired by my current company, I have more than demonstrated my work ethic. In three years of employment, I have not been reprimanded or written up. Matter of fact, my superiors tell me they do not understand why anyone would write me up. They have seen how I work, how dedicated I am and what a great team player I am. So that in itself vindicated to me that my former employer and boss from hell were the problem NOT me! | |
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