What to do with a bad job reference?

Question

I worked for a company for 18 months as a full-time consultant developer doing R&D and architecture design and the things I wrote for this company literally runs the company. I'm still good friends with most of the senior development staff but considered the anti-christ by the company owners. My crime, refusing to sign a non-compete agreement.

Now maybe not so mysteriously while looking for new contracts and positions, all of them have followed the same pattern: "Wow your a perfect fit for what we're looking for, lets schedule an interview" then dead silence. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that something is scaring these potential employers away and since I haven't killed anyone lately my only thought is that I'm getting slammed when they call my prior employer.

What the hell do I do? Do I tell potential employers my concerns, change my resume to not include the companies name ( losing a year and change of important milestones in my professional development) or start the ball rolling of hiring an reference PI and lawyer?

Answer 1

Give the name of one of the senior developers instead of the owner?

Answer 2

Give them the name and contact details of your manager/supervisor, rather than letting them contact the company directly and being put through to whoever it is giving you the bad reference.

I'd also be inclined to explain the situation in advance to any prospective employer/recruiter.

Answer 3

I tend to put 'references available on request' on my CV, rather than giving references straight away. It saves some space, and means that you can usually get in for an interview without them checking your references. When they ask for references, give them some that are friendlier to you than the owners, if there is some bad blood there.

Answer 4

You haven't had an interview yet but think they are calling for a reference first? That doesn't seem right to me. Currently the market is down. Someone might find you perfect but when they go to try and secure the money for the position or after your call HR yanks the money from the potential employers budget.

You will need definitive proof that your former employer is giving a bad reference for you to move forward with any lawyer.

I would suggest following up with one of your potential employers and find out what went wrong. Most times they will let you know what happened and I'll bet it's outside of their control or yours.

Good luck.

Answer 5

You can also call and ask your previous employer and find out if this is true (them giving bad references), it is very hard to actually have a previous employer really trying to ruin your life.

From my experience, you can even be a complete maniac and still have good references from a previous employer because they are usually dished out by a junior clerk on cruise control..

Another option is to call the prospective employers and ask what happened to your application. You would be surprised how much you can learn by asking these simple questions.

Answer 6

Call your previous employer (or get someone else to call, if they can recognize you by voice) so that you know what they are saying about you. Then you can be better prepared to alter your resume or inform potential employers about what's going on.

A lot of companies aren't allowed to say anything bad about a former employee for legal reasons, though that doesn't always stop everyone, and they sure aren't going to give you praise if they don't like you.

Not really related, but when my father fires a bad employee (like one that is stealing from his company) and he gets a call asking for a reference, he won't say anything bad about the employee, but he does ask some follow up questions. "Yeah Ted's ok, shows up on time, doesn't leave early. So is everything secure there? I find that when I start up a company it's good to have a lot of office equipment bolted to the floor. Do you have good strong bolts holding down the furniture? You should probably get some."

Answer 7

You need to be up-front with a prospective company at your first contact and tell them briefly about the situation, your viewpoint, and how the management has reacted. This should be very objective, none of this "he's a jerk", similar to how you described above, leaving out the antichrist part, of course ;-). If you are using a recruiter you should have a very frank discussion with them so they can deal with the issue up-front too.

You suspect this is happening, but you are not sure, so find out! If you have a friend or contact placed high in a company or HR, have them do a reference check. Barring that, there are services that will check references for a small fee. See what they come up with, you might be surprised.

Also in the US at least, it can be considered slander for a company to give a very negative reference and could be grounds for a lawsuit if what they are saying is not truthful (or could be proven to be in a court of law). This is why most HR departments refuse to give references and will only confirm employment periods and title...at least formally.

Answer 8

I was recenttly in the same situation. Let go after a year of putting my company on my shoulders. Similar decidedly sketchy reasons as well.

This will sound hokey but what ended up working for me was complete honesty. After a few similar responses of "We love you".....silence I finally got a tip from one of the places that I just needed to come out and tell them what happemed as, apparently, I made them nervous, like I was hiding something.

Finally, I did that at my next interview and they looked at me and said," They let you go for that!"

Just my two cents and results may vary but I have found that "The truth will set you free!" ;)

Answer 9

I don't doubt that you are a good candidate for these positions, but you should keep in mind that the job market is currently seeing some of its worst times.

There are many companies who are working their hardest not to lay people off, and it is hard for them to justify hiring a new employee when the company is trying to conserve resources.

The best advice I can give is to be diligent. Friendly phone calls to check up on the status of your application are a very important part of the application process.

Answer 10

A few thoughts.

1) Is your previous supervisor in your camp or part of the player-hater's club you mentioned? Usually that is the person a prospective employer wants to talk to anyway, so make sure to offer contact information early.

2) The stealth approach: Have a friend who works at another company call them and do a reference check and see what exactly they say. No sense going off all half-cocked if things aren't going down the way you think they are.

3) In most cases employers are too afraid of litigation to really give a bad reference, at worst they will drop subtle clues. More often than not they will only answer the question "Is xxx eligible for rehire?" One problem with that is that in your situation the answer could very well be no, and unfortunately the rationale would HELP your case in this situation.

Hang in there, you'll find something!

Answer 11

1. Get a friend to phone up for a reference and record what is said
2. Get legal advice

In the UK (maybe the US) you may then be able to bring a libel case.

In the meantime be as helpful to as many people as you can both on-line and at local user groups. A person that knows you is more likely to give you a job when you have a bad reference.

Answer 12

i a 53, i work very hard and i never call off , im always very early for work. i scheduled myself for a double and realized i could not do it . i was exhausted and realizes i could not do the job performance i needed to do and it would be not in the best interest of my residents, i am in nursing. i told this to the supervisor and he said i could go home, the next thing , i was called and he told me not to come back,that i left my assignment unattended. my job reference has kept me from me getting pther jobs ,ive had great interviews, ive even had my a friend to call and see what kind of reference i would get and they told me i was a great employee until i left my job in the middle of my shift.it was totally untrue and i guess i have grounds for a libel suit . this my career, i have to fight it let you how it turns out

Answer 13

For the nursing person, it is totally illegal to give negative reference like that whether or not they are telling the truth. If someone didn't go so far to actually killing people or breaking a law, no one should take away others' right to find a job and live their lives. With the bad economics, I don't think any adults would be stupid enough to perform badly on their jobs.

Therefore, job reference should never be negative because if someone actually broke a law, it will be shown on their background check.

Many managers, supervisors, and etc working in a company can be a real ass hole and did nasty nasty things to their subordinates. Those people who ruin others chances in getting a job are the worst type. I hope you win the case and kick these people's asses.

Answer 14

Hi everyone,

I would like to know if I can take my former employer to court for giving me bad references? How can I prove it and what is the process? Many thanks.

Answer 15

Thanks for the comments guys.