What can I do if I have a bad reference on employment history?

Sunshine321, if you are applying for positions in which you are too qualified, the potential employers may be reluctant to hire you as they are worried their future employee can get bored with their job and move on after a few months with the company.

Here is a suggestion, maybe tone down your qualifications on your CV depending on the type of positions you are applying for. If your certificate and degree isn’t applicable for the jobs you are applying for, leave them out entirely.

At our work, we get lots of applicants who apply for administrative assistant positions and candidates with university and TAFE degrees never seem to get much luck with progressing to the next stage where they get shortlisted to come in for an interview. The managers and supervisors know the candidates only want to get their foot in the door and once an internal position matches their qualifications they will jump to another division.

The only time, when your qualifications matters is if you are applying for jobs which are skilled or field specific, for example, an civic engineer would need to be a undergraduate and hold an engineering degree, preferably majoring in civic or infrastructure. A financial accountant would need to have a bachelor of business degree, majoring in accounts and finance. A leading hand would need to have a mechanical or a heavy diesel certificate if he wants to supervise a team of staff in the workshops…etc..etc…

Good luck in your job hunting and all the best. Keep looking and you will find one. :)