How Can My Friend Recover from Job Termination Due to Misrepresentation? Seeking Advice

Dear All Seniors,

I want to share my best friend's problem and need your suggestions

I know this person since college he was not from a strong financial background so he took education loan and did his MBA marketing from a Pune college , this college was not able to provide campus placement and as his family was dependent upon him so he had to get a job anyhow… after struggling for 3 months he joined an insurance company after working their for 6 months he got an opportunity of Assistant Manager from this big Indian bank, to get this job, he did a terrible mistake of not showing the gap between MBA & insurance firm. He was working with this Bank for last 11 months but due to recession the bank need to do lay off so did employee ref check again... then the Bank came to know that he had misrepresented his experience and issued him a show cause notice. He accepted his mistake in written, But unfortunately he got terminated.

After that he didn't wanted to do anything wrong so he was sincerely telling truth to every company wherever he goes for interview but from the past 5 months he is unemployed. He was an excellent performer in the company and was been awarded for it but his career is ruined by his own mistake. I trust him and he was such a kindhearted person that he would go up to any extent to help anyone but now he is so depressed so dull because he doesn't have any job, his family is dependent upon him and he also have to pay his education loan. He has lost hope from life. I really want to do something for him

My question is

1. What should he do now?

2. I know HR has some regulations which they need to follow but they could have asked him to give resignation immediatly rather than terminating him. It's like giving death sentence to a criminal which is not a solution to stop crime.

3. Don't you think by getting terminated a person is again been forced to do wrong because if he shows it he wont get a job so either he again misrepresent or sit unemployed.

4. Should he again do misrepresentation of exp.? Coz If he shows he is a fresher company would ask “you have a gap of 3 months after MBA then you join a company for 6 months and then again for the past 16 month you are not doing anything …why shud we take you?

Thanks for reading this, your suggestions would mean alot to someone.

Regards

Tripti

Dear Friend,

I am an MBA (HR) with a 4-year gap between my graduation and postgraduation. During this gap, I was working as an entrepreneur for 3 years. After completing my MBA, I did not secure a placement. However, I pursued entrepreneurship to give myself a break. I ran a proprietorship small-scale firm and developed a strong profile which I can now use to apply to larger companies.

I also attempted to bluff, but found it nearly impossible in my case. I decided to drop that plan and now feel good about that decision. I believe I can now confidently present to potential employers my experience, education, confidence, and potential, despite the 4-year gap.

I would appreciate feedback from experts regarding my situation.

Regards,
Pratap Kambale:icon1:

Hi,

I am a manager in recruitment, and if I am asked to add any comments or give any view about the above two situations, I will say, it's better to be honest than to get terminated later.

Tripti: Your friend got terminated because he didn't show the experience, which I believe is a little unacceptable for me. Because if a person does not show the experience, his salary will be less than he would have been offered after showing that experience. I believe he should have asked more questions and tried convincing the HR. In case he wasn't listened to, he should have approached the higher management. I am taking the fact into consideration that he/she was a good performer.

The company could have retained him by reducing his salary or some other solution should have been given to him rather than termination.

What I think is he should be honest in any of the interviews that he/she will give now, giving the reason for why he didn't mention the experience while giving the interview at Indian Bank and why he got terminated.

Pratap: What you did was good; you were honest in the interview, that's the reason you made it. There is nothing to be ashamed of having a gap in a career if you have a reason for it to justify that gap.

Hi Meenakshi,

Thank you for your advice.

1) I think you have misunderstood the situation. My friend was terminated not because of "not showing" the experience but because he did not disclose the employment gap between his MBA and joining his first job.
2) He made every effort to explain this to the HR of the Indian bank. However, they were in the process of laying off employees due to the recession, so they did not listen to him. There were many employees under scrutiny like him, and the HR terminated all of them.
3) He even offered to resign immediately, but the HR stated that they could not do anything as it was company policy.
4) I appreciate your suggestion of being honest during interviews (I also recommended this to him). He has been truthful for the past five months, but he is still unemployed as no company is willing to hire a terminated employee.

That's why the situation is so critical.

HR is a highly competitive field, and it often operates under a cutthroat mentality. It seems like everywhere you turn, it's a jungle out there. You have to be willing to outperform others to survive; otherwise, you might find yourself left behind.

Hi Tripti,

There is a difference between being honest and being brutally honest. If I were a prospective employer and your friend informed me they were terminated due to misrepresentation of facts, no matter how good they are, I would have second thoughts about hiring them - there are some things better left unsaid or tactfully answered.

The following is not a guide to cheat a prospective employer, but as I said, being brutally honest may not be the right way:

1. Your friend need not provide false information about their experience. They should show the 3-month gap, the 6-month, and 11-month experience at the firms they worked.

2. The reason for leaving the last organization could be mentioned as forced separation due to lay-offs instead of using the word termination - and certainly no explanations, please.

3. The 5-month no job period should also be shown.

4. Ask them to get 2-3 references, preferably from their last employers or college to assure the prospective employer of their ability.

I hope this helps,

Neeraj K. Singh

Nice to see that Citehr has come across to help Tripti's friend. This is the only reason I like this site the most. Ask your friend to mention that due to the recession and lay off, he lost his job. Tell him to prepare for banking as a lot of banking jobs are coming in the market.

Regards,
Shine

Hi,

I don't know whether this place is right or wrong to post this query. If this is not the right place, then please forward this to its correct location.

I am Imran. I want to pursue an MBA in HR (full-time). Along with this, I also want to do LLB (correspondence). Is it possible to do this? Is this a good idea? And after this, what kind of job can I get?

Please reply, it's urgent. Email: imran0654@gmail.com.

I will advise your friend to adhere to the "HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY" principle. Explain to the interviewer the facts where he is not the defaulter, whereas the circumstances explained are beyond his control.

Bhajiya

Dear Tripti,
I understand your concern for ur friend, everyone does mistakes but repeating them is a wrong thing. Many senior HR professionals might have read your request, they will definitely contact you for your friend's details as you said that he is excellent in his performance and he is regretting for what he has done and hope he will not repeat such mistakes. No company wish to loose calibre personnel, may be he will be under observation for some time until the company get confidence on him.
So no worries, let him try thru references he will certainly get an employment soon as per my view. Certain exceptional cases can be taken on humanity basis after all we are human beings.
As a member I request all the senior HR professionals who are in a position to take decisions in company kindly give him a chance as the total family is dependent on him and a talented person is loosing his hope on life.
Best Regards
Naini.

Any applicant has to be expected to be honest with regard to his employment. If certain information was concealed by him in his attempt to get a job, it becomes a suppression of material information, whether done willfully or through oversight. Hence, the employer has the right to initiate disciplinary action against the employee. The extent of punishment has to be decided by the disciplinary authority. Therefore, the employer is legally justified in their actions.

There is nothing wrong for an applicant to openly state that there was a gap between education and employment or between employments. It is possible and very common for Indian university graduates. Therefore, advise your friend not to panic about the gap. Instead, explain to interviewers and include the truth in the CV.

Truth will always prevail.

Gopan

Thank you so much to all of you. I had never expected such a helpful response from all of you, my friends out there! It really meant a lot to me and my friends.

Hi Trupti,

As an HR professional, I would suggest that one should never bluff or cheat anyone. Whatever you do comes back to you, so it's better to do good work than engage in negative activities. Your friend may have resorted to such actions due to a need or greed for a bank job.

However, he seems to have forgotten that during a reference check, the ex-company will provide details based on the records they have. I would advise you to tell your friend not to falsify his resume. Initially, he lost his job because he misrepresented his tenure by 3 months, and if he repeats this by adding a false 5-month unemployment period, it will create a negative perception of his candidacy. This may lead to a generalization that he is someone who forges documents. It's better to be honest and stay away from such complications.

Regards,
Sheetal