• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Probationary Letter from previous employer

FLGUY

FLGUY

“Technique only”
pilot
Contributor
Hello all,

I've got a concern. In my previous part-time job, I unfortunately received a probationary letter from my boss, due to a few mistakes I had made. The mistakes were not legal matters, just things like missing a meeting, and "not prioritizing my job". He gave me this letter, putting me on job probation and placing said letter in my employee file. A few months later, right before I left the position, my boss stated that I had since made great improvements and superceded the letter with another one stating my since-excellent performance, removing me from probation, and also placing this new letter in my employee file.

My question is this: Will this look bad on my SF-86, where one of the questions specifically asks whether I've received any such letter? I already brought this up to my recruiter, and he was a bit dodgy about it. He downplayed it and he said "don't include it, it'll hurt you".

I know the Background Investigators do a thorough job, and I don't want there to be any reason to question my integrity.
I do not want to lie on my SF-86 or any part of my application, no matter what my recruiter says, but I also trust his judgment as to what the Navy cares about. At this point I'm leaning towards including it.

Thoughts?
 
E

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
most employers will not talk about a previous employee, hell sometimes it is hard enough to get a letter saying they were employed there, the reason, lawyers, employers are afraid about saying something that could impact a persons future employment and then lead to a lawsuit, there are many major companies that will only confirm a persons employment and not discuss any other details, so don't worry about it at all.
 
webmaster

webmaster

The Grass is Greener!
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
One of the main metrics for a security clearance is analyzing your trustworthiness through a background investigation. The depth of the background investigation depends on which type it is. Quite honestly in my opinion, this sounds like a non issue. You had a work related probationary letter that was superseded by improved performance on your part. As long as there aren't legal matters that call into question trustworthiness that you haven't mentioned, I seriously doubt this would cause any concern by the security clearance adjudication process. If this was even discussed by the employer when queried by the agents performing the background investigation. I have requested the details of each of my background investigations after they were complete, and it is always interesting to see how much info they are successful at compiling on you and where they can get in depth info. While I agree with NavyOffRec that HR and employers don't generally disclose information due to legal reasons, there generally aren't the same qualms releasing that info when you have a federal agent asking the questions.

I think the recruiters advice not to disclose it isn't very good.
 
Flash

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
If the poor performance involved hookers and blow then it may be a problem, otherwise probably not.
 
Last edited:
FLGUY

FLGUY

“Technique only”
pilot
Contributor
webmaster said:
One of the main metrics for a security clearance is analyzing your trustworthiness through a background investigation. The depth of the background investigation depends on which type it is. Quite honestly in my opinion, this sounds like a non issue. You had a work related probationary letter that was superseded by improved performance on your part. As long as there aren't legal matters that call into question trustworthiness that you haven't mentioned, I seriously doubt this would cause any concern by the security clearance adjudication process. If this was even discussed by the employer when queried by the agents performing the background investigation. I have requested the details of each of my background investigations after they were complete, and it is always interesting to see how much info they are successful at compiling on you and where they can get in depth info. While I agree with NavyOffRec that HR and employers don't generally disclose information due to legal reasons, there generally aren't the same qualms releasing that info when you have a federal agent asking the questions.

I think the recruiters advice not to disclose it isn't very good.
Click to expand...


That's about what I figured, I didn't think it was too big of a deal. No, haha there's nothing I'm hiding. I don't have any legal issues, DUIs, arrests, or any of that. I really appreciate the input, as I've been sweating this detail for weeks now. Thank you all for your insight!
 
E

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
webmaster said:
One of the main metrics for a security clearance is analyzing your trustworthiness through a background investigation. The depth of the background investigation depends on which type it is. Quite honestly in my opinion, this sounds like a non issue. You had a work related probationary letter that was superseded by improved performance on your part. As long as there aren't legal matters that call into question trustworthiness that you haven't mentioned, I seriously doubt this would cause any concern by the security clearance adjudication process. If this was even discussed by the employer when queried by the agents performing the background investigation. I have requested the details of each of my background investigations after they were complete, and it is always interesting to see how much info they are successful at compiling on you and where they can get in depth info. While I agree with NavyOffRec that HR and employers don't generally disclose information due to legal reasons, there generally aren't the same qualms releasing that info when you have a federal agent asking the questions.

I think the recruiters advice not to disclose it isn't very good.
Click to expand...

not saying not to disclose, I am saying don't expect it to come up from an employer, and I wouldn't even characterize what he rec'd as "disciplinary action"
 
webmaster

webmaster

The Grass is Greener!
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
NavyOffRec said:
not saying not to disclose, I am saying don't expect it to come up from an employer, and I wouldn't even characterize what he rec'd as "disciplinary action"
Click to expand...
Oh it wasn't directed at you. Just the original post where his Receuiter gave dubious advice.

Concur completely that it shouldn't be characterized as disciplinary action as described.

Meh. Non issue.
 
Brett327

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Concur. There's nothing on an SF-86 that even asks about this. I can't imagine how this would even ever come up.
 
FLGUY

FLGUY

“Technique only”
pilot
Contributor
Brett327 said:
Concur. There's nothing on an SF-86 that even asks about this. I can't imagine how this would even ever come up.
Click to expand...

Ok, that's good to know! The question that I was relating this incident to was under Personal History: Employment History: Received Discipline or Warning: Where it asks: "For this employment, in the last seven (7) years have you received a written warning, been officially reprimanded, suspended, or disciplined for misconduct in the workplace, such as a violation of security policy?"

Just to be clear, would my incident fall under this category? The wording gets a bit specific around "for misconduct in the workplace, such as a violation of security policy". I don't mind declaring it if that is what it's asking for, but I don't want to give them any extra information if they aren't.
 
Spekkio

Spekkio

He bowls overhand.
FloridaHawk said:
Ok, that's good to know! The question that I was relating this incident to was under Personal History: Employment History: Received Discipline or Warning: Where it asks: "For this employment, in the last seven (7) years have you received a written warning, been officially reprimanded, suspended, or disciplined for misconduct in the workplace, such as a violation of security policy?"

Just to be clear, would my incident fall under this category? The wording gets a bit specific around "for misconduct in the workplace, such as a violation of security policy". I don't mind declaring it if that is what it's asking for, but I don't want to give them any extra information if they aren't.
Click to expand...
Rephrase of the question in layman's terms:

Were you ever fired for violating a confidentiality agreement or for revealing a company's sensitive information?
 
FLGUY

FLGUY

“Technique only”
pilot
Contributor
Spekkio said:
Rephrase of the question in layman's terms:

Were you ever fired for violating a confidentiality agreement or for revealing a company's sensitive information?
Click to expand...

No sir. Just a letter basically stating "You messed up, you're on probation, start prioritizing work or further action will be taken" I guess I got hung up on the "written warning" part of the SF-86 question. I do remember the question before the one in question specifically asking about being fired, to which I obviously answered no.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top