Poor admin reference - how do I deal with this

[bluewhale]

Hi,

I recently had an interview with a school that was an excellent fit (in terms of subjects taught and because I was referred by a friend of one of the admins). Anyway, the interview went well. However, the exec principal asked why I hadn't included my head of school as a referee. As I had only just notified my school I wouldn't be returning, I told them that I hadn't yet put them as a reference. He asked for their contact details which I gave.

Anyway, I didn't get the job and no other of my references were contacted besides this admin. When asked for feedback by the school I was applying fo, they said the main reason they didn't hire me was because of the poor reference.

I have had a few run ins with this admin throughout the year. They don't like me. I am not saying I am a perfect teacher, but their justification for such a dislike/bad reference is reflective of issues on their end - they are known for having done this several times before. I get on well with the students, results have been good, references from supervisors and more junior admin are good, as are reviews from students and parents. Nothing that should cause a bad reference. I had even spoken to them and said that if I do not renew my contract, I would hope to get a reasonable reference. They agreed to do this. However, they have not upheld their end of the bargain.

Fortunately, I have not put them down as a confidential search associates reference. Nor will I be putting them on my CV. However, how do I deal with this situation if a school wants to contact them?

Should I talk to this admin about the issue? And what would I even say?

Should I just explain to prospective employees if they ask they we have butted heads a few times and that I fear the reference may not be positive, but if they do contact them to also contact the other referees which will give a more balanced viewpoint?

What are my options here?

[Jse217]

Sorry you are going through this. I was afraid that I was going to get a bad reference from my last headmaster, for we too had several clashes. He was kind, however, in his reference letter. He told me point blank that he did not believe in career sabotage. Due to this, I have not written a scathing review on ISR, even though I feel like I should.

Are there any deputy heads that support you? You could possible put them down as references and skip the head all together.

Tough situation... Wish you luck.

[bluewhale]

Thanks for your response,

Was there anything you did resolve the situation?

Fortunately, my Head of Department and the Head of IB MYP have both agreed to be referees and to my knowledge have written positive confidential references and have directly observed my classes. I am hoping this is good enough.

I have an interview today for a position that I don't have much vested interest in, so it will be interesting if they contact my boss, what the reaction will be this time.

I am just worried that any luck I have in important fairs like Bangkok my boss will obstruct those too.

[Nomad68]

I have this issue with one school I worked for. I just clashed with one of the Heads who was the most egotistical pr!ck I have ever known, who interfered in my work and indermined me. He was half of a married couple who were both my managers. I resigned at the end of my 2 years and have never given either of them as referees. They have both moved on but I am certain they have cost me job offers. I have had some excellent interviews that were heading to an offer but went dead with no explanation. I suspect either of these two scuppered me. Unfortunately I have just had another similar experience with a Head who made thinly veiled threats that he knows 'all' the Principals (yeah, sure!) TBH I am at the end of my patience with these douchey Heads and their bullying toxic ways. Sooner rather than later I will be heading for more civilized workplaces.

[Thames Pirate]

If you can diplomatically say that you aren't confident that this person's recommendation is representative of your professional abilities, it opens the door to a more extensive conversation about why you are not listing this person; if you can offer several alternate people at the same school (HOD, IB Coordinator, parent, division principal or assistant principal), they will know the issue is with the other person and not with you. We have run into a similar situation, and we got numerous other references from supervisors in the school.

You could also, when asked, say something like "Head has never been in my classroom and is unfamiliar with my teaching or professional capacity. I would recommend you talk to Principal, who is more involved in X/has had more opportunity to observe me with kids" or something. A positive rec from the current school can go a long way to making it clear the issue is the head and not you.

Beyond that, there isn't much you can do.

[PsyGuy]

You ghost the DS/IS.

You will otherwise run into this same scenario again. Even if you dont include it, they are going to ask for it, or will just Google search the DS/IS and contact them directly, and theres nothing you can do about mitigating it with any other refs if they only care about or contact this one ref.
How do you enforce their end of the bargain, was it even a bargain? What did you offer in return for this positive ref? You can ask them to do whatever you want, but they dont have to accommodate you at all.

I disagree with @Jse217, you cant skip the HOS if the recruiting IS leadership wants to contact them. there isnt a way to avoid this. if they know you were at X DS/IS they can easily find out who the HOS is and contact them, or ask you to provide a ref for the HOS.

I also have to disagree with @Thames Pirate,, you can say anything you want but just because you deem a particular membership of leadership as unqualified to comment on your performance and abilities doesnt mean they arent. An HOS is the only one thats going to be privy to the deepest concerns a recruiter is going to have. They dont even have to come out and ask the creepy stuff, they just have to ask "would you hire this person?".

[Thames Pirate]

Dishonesty will not get you far. I would not ghost an experience. Just get other recs, mitigate as much as possible, and let the rest of your application speak for itself. If you have 3 top recs from heads and only your current head is unhappy, well, smart recruiters will see through that. And yes, you might not get your dream job right after your current one, but if you are halfway decent you will get a good job. Then get a good rec from your new admin--who will then be your most recent. Ghosting, however, will increase the likelihood of your new head distrusting you, and you will face the same problem later.

You really can work around almost anything if you are smart about it. The HOD, Principal, Assistant Principal, DP Coordinator, and MYP Coordinator giving good recs can't completely make up for a bad word from the head, but they can substantially mitigate the impact in many cases.

I would only ever ghost experience that is not relevant to the job and not too recent, and even then only to fit your resume onto a page. Ghosting is both dishonest and leaves gaps that can hurt your app as much as a single negative word from a head.

[PsyGuy]

@bluewhale

Thats utter bunk, if anything @Thames Pirate claimed was true you wouldnt be writing this post, and youd have a new appointment.
Dishonesty works pretty well, leadership does it all the time and look where it gets them. How does this dishonesty work against you, the whole point of ghosting is that no one who is hiring you knows. There is no mass clearing house of ITs and DTs. Admittedly, the ghosting becomes more problematic the larger the amount of time you are ghosting (5 years is harder than 1 year).
Ghosting gets you an appointment, even if lower on the scale compared to not getting an offer at all. Only offers count.