2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

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Jessica Booker

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For my academic reference I chose a tutor who I've had a lot of contact with over the last 2 years. I'm sure he'll say nice things about me because I've always contributed to seminars and gone to office hours etc. Only thing is, he doesn't know what marks he's given me because of anonymous marking. If a firm calls him for a reference, what would they be looking for?
1) They won't call - it will be written correspondence
2) Your academic referee will have access to your transcripts or can request this from your admin office to help complete the reference.
3) Your referee will direct the reference requestor to your academic admin office for this information
4) You could provide an official transcript with this information.
 

LegalNim

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Have been posting about this a lot recently. The ideal is to get it from the company. But sometimes the company doesn't respond and so they look for alternative means to confirm the employment. There's various ways they can approach that - getting a more personal reference from someone reputable to confirm your employment at that time (e.g. a colleague) or for you to provide documentation that confirms the employment did happen.

This recently happened with me and a recruitment agency I had worked through. They said they had no record of me which was crazy! So I provided the reference check company with correspondence that confirmed the contract (which confirmed the agency should know who I was) and bank statements to show the period of time I had been paid by them (which demostrates length of service beyond the initial contract).

Ultimately how much a reference check company/team will place on how important that specific information is depends on your profile and the experience they are struggling to get the details from. If it is a more substanital piece of work experience, in a more comparable employer setting, more recent, or a job that is more comparable to the one you are applying to, they will care about it more and will strive to get full details/confirmation of it. With my example above, it was 5 and a half years ago, and although substantial in other ways (9-10 months, very senior role/experience), the reference company had received all my other references for the past 7 years with no problems and everything else added up. And so when I could show the agency employed me for at least 9 months based on the payments received into my bank account, and provided the signed contract I had, the reference company didn't really care that the agency didn't provide a reference. It might have been different if that was my only employment.
Thank you. I'm honestly having a nightmare with references at the moment for something else so it does make me worried that I'll finally get through it and have to try all over again! Or maybe I'll just be better prepared haha.
Seems mad that they wouldn't remember you!
 

AH97

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Jul 30, 2019
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That is actually a lovely story - my previous career was in academia, so I can provide some insight.

1. Most work is submitted very close to deadlines. He won't even remember yours was almost late.
2. Huge compliments to take away from this - your 78 grade and the lovely comment he sent you clearly meant he saw your potential. I would always make sure I told my exceptionally talented students that they were exceptionally talented. It was the best part of the job and I always meant it.
3. Marking a dissertation where you can award a high first is a huge pleasure. It makes a massive change from wading through the majority of other assignments, which are mostly not that amazing.
4. Based on points 1, 2 & 3, you have nothing to worry about.

(By late, I mean past the deadline)

Regardless, this is super helpful and really reassuring so thank you so so much 🤍
 

Jessica Booker

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Thank you. I'm honestly having a nightmare with references at the moment for something else so it does make me worried that I'll finally get through it and have to try all over again! Or maybe I'll just be better prepared haha.
Seems mad that they wouldn't remember you!
Absolutely no reason to worry about it.

The only time people should be worried is if they have presented false or incorrect information.

Good thing about graduate recruitment is that they have significant lead times to get these references in place before you join. Makes it a lot less time pressured than a normal job where usually they are chasing for information so you can start sooner rather than later.
 

Jxmxs00

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1) They won't call - it will be written correspondence
2) Your academic referee will have access to your transcripts or can request this from your admin office to help complete the reference.
3) Your referee will direct the reference requestor to your academic admin office for this information
4) You could provide an official transcript with this information.
My bad, the firm in question has said they call references because they feel they get more out of it that way. Obviously you won't know, but could you take a guess at what they'd be trying to get at with this?
 

Daniel Boden

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    My bad, the firm in question has said they call references because they feel they get more out of it that way. Obviously you won't know, but could you take a guess at what they'd be trying to get at with this?
    One reason would be to speed up the process by getting everything done in a phone call rather than with emails going back and forth
     
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    Jessica Booker

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    (By late, I mean past the deadline)

    Regardless, this is super helpful and really reassuring so thank you so so much 🤍
    If it was late and you still got a 78 it clearly wasn't that much of an issue.

    Even a "they submitted their dissertation late" point in a reference is unlikely to influence the decision with the employer when you got a 78 score in it.
     
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    Jessica Booker

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    My bad, the firm in question has said they call references because they feel they get more out of it that way. Obviously you won't know, but could you take a guess at what they'd be trying to get at with this?
    Speed more than anything.

    Most people won't give details over the phone anyway.
     

    Polyglot

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    (By late, I mean past the deadline)

    Regardless, this is super helpful and really reassuring so thank you so so much 🤍
    Pleasure! But also, it really doesn't matter one of your chapters was late as part of the process. Your tutor won't remember it and neither will anyone else. Celebrate getting a high first in your dissertation, forgive yourself, and move on 💜
     
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    tc123

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    I recently received my GDL results for first term modules and have added them on the supplementary info bit for many applications. For the applications that don’t have that functionality, should I email Grad recruitment or leave it?
     

    Jessica Booker

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    I recently received my GDL results for first term modules and have added them on the supplementary info bit for many applications. For the applications that don’t have that functionality, should I email Grad recruitment or leave it?
    Just leave it unless you think they are exceptional and bring something extra to your academic profile.
     
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