Dear Joanna,

I’m very worried about the last five job interviews after which the recruiters have asked for my three work-related references. In each case, I have been rejected and have not received the job offer. These opportunities are exactly in my field and I meet all the qualifications required.

I think that I might have bad references! How do I check this out and overcome these possible negative references in my job search?

Signed: Reference Blockage (RB)

Dear RB

When you’re looking for jobs, a bad employment reference can make or break the final job offer, even if it’s inaccurate or biased. I found the best advice on this issue from speaking to my colleagues at JVS, as well as this blog post.

Based on that, and my experience with job seekers and employers, here is what I recommend doing:

Verify your references.

Find out what kind of references you can expect from your previous employers, especially if you left on bad or uncertain terms. Have a script ready and ask a friend to pose as a prospective employer. Your friend can call the human resources department or your old boss to get a sense of what kind of employee you were, and although the tactic has a sneaky element to it, your former employer has nothing to lose, while you, on the other hand, could lose a job offer

Be proactive with recent negative references.

If you use your current boss as a reference, you could be in trouble. Did you ask permission to use them as a reference? What was the response? What was your relationship like? Prospective employers almost always want to know about your most recent job experience, and usually you can’t hide it, so be proactive.

Either way the facts will come out, so know how to tell your side of the story to a prospective employer. Be polite and congenial, and focus on conveying yourself as someone who has learned from past mistakes. Think twice before challenging the validity of the bad reference directly – even if you’re in the right, you would hate for your prospective employer to interpret your challenge as egotism or stubbornness.

Consider whether you want to use older references, if they are negative.

If you have a bad reference further back in your employment history, it’s easier to gloss over it. Don’t volunteer the information, though. If a prospective employer asks you directly whether they should expect a bad reference, you can say you had a job sometime in the past that didn’t end well. In a sentence or two, succinctly lay out the crux of the bad reference, explain what you learned from it, and finish up by noting that your overall record speaks for itself. Additionally, be creative with your resume. If subsequent employers or the passage of time gives you an opportunity to cut off your resume at the point of the bad reference, do it.

Reach out to bad reference sources

If you’re dealing with a particularly negative reference that has cost you multiple job offers, consider reaching out to your former employer’s human resources department. Let them know that their reference is costing you the opportunity to get work – after all, human resource workers tend to have a greater appreciation of the legal risks of defamation and slander.

Be level-headed and polite, and ask if you can work out an agreement on a less-negative reference. Any time you learn that a former employer has issued a factually inaccurate reference, it’s important to call the human resources department immediately to correct the record. If the company has no human resources department, then call your old boss or his replacement — or, if the two of you have too much bad blood, call their boss. Try to proactively approach bad references before they get the best of you – and your future career.

Bring in new fresh references.

Find opportunities (volunteering or consulting) that can help you meet and use new and positive references. Never stop networking, even with current and former co-workers. Consider with their permission using them as references. Hopefully you have built some solid connections with your co-workers or even a manager from another department. See if you can use them as references.

Best of luck with your job search,

Joanna