Mental Illness, Background Checks, Interviews
I have an unusual story and I thought I should share my predicament here to hopefully get some ideas from the WSO community. I’m currently leaving my job as an associate in a boutique in London. The reason has to do with a mental illness (psychosis) that was diagnosed and treated late. This year I had a relapse and my company asked me to resign. They will give me a good reference but it appears they don’t want to deal with the medical risk. I’m now fully stable and I take medication which I was not doing before and which makes the biggest difference.
I was told that medication means I can have a normal life from now on. It’s just proving hard to deal with the damage that this illness has done to my career so far. In 2012 I graduated from Oxbridge and I started to work in a boutique in London. The next year I got an offer from JPM IBD which I declined because at the time I had such a good experience at the boutique where I was, and also because I thought it would help to keep getting exposure to senior bankers so early on in my career.
But life is funny and things did not work out as I expected. I developed a psychotic (cue different from psychopathic) disorder which meant that my brain sometimes did not distinguish between reality and fiction. I was initially told that it was triggered by sleep deprivation. I started to think that some of the bankers on my floor were out to get me and trying to harm me. I sent messages to some of them to that effect, HR were told about it and looked into the matter. They could not find anything so they asked me to resign and I declined because I believed in what I was ‘seeing’. As a result I got fired because ‘I accused my coworkers inappropriately’. I was furious. My disorder had not been diagnosed.
I had no issues with references for the next job because I was only asked to give the name of two people who knew me. Also I received treatment after my first psychotic episode but then stopped taking medication. This is when I had my latest relapse this year. This time I willingly resigned and I can get a good reference.
The issue I am facing now is that companies where I’m interviewing do background checks instead of looking for two references. They verify employment information in the last 5 years. My dismissal was 5 years ago almost - 5 in January - so I have to include the place where I got dismissed.
I already had an offer rescinded because the dismissal came out in my background check. What do you recommend I do to deal with 1) the background check/ reference from my former employer and 2) interviews going forward.
I scheduled to speak to an employment lawyer but maybe someone here has good input. Thanks to all.
