Overcoming Bad References

Q: I got fired a few months ago, and I think my references are getting in the way of me landing a new job. What should I do?

First let's look at this from the other side of the desk. The worst job any manager has to do is to terminate an employee. Termination is not only a distasteful job for a manager, it's an admission of failure to hire and manage productively, something that doesn't look good on their performance reviews. A manager who consistently makes bad hires or who loses employees through poor management skills or because of inadequate performance effects his own reputation. Think of the analogy of the coach of the ball team. Ultimately, that poorly performing team will result in the coach losing his job. It never happens without warning and, like it or not, you had some role in the termination and bad reference.

So if you have been terminated with cause, the first step is to take responsibility for your actions and recognize your own role in the events that have occurred. If you don't take responsibility for inappropriate performance or behavior, the result will be continuing terminations for cause and a truncated career that ultimately will make you unemployable in your chosen profession.

If you can take responsibility for your actions, you have a chance to clean up the mess and move forward. If the reader can recognize that the manager had to terminate him, perhaps because of excessive tardiness and time off, he may be able to go back and clean up the situation, but it does require a clean understanding and acceptance of the causes of your dismissal. Given that, you can call up the prior employer/boss and say something along the lines of, "Mr. Jones, this is Mark Stevens, I'm sure you remember that you had to terminate me about eight weeks ago. I'm calling to apologize. It was a very awkward situation at the time, and I really wasn't taking responsibility for my actions. I've had time to think about it, and I realize that you really didn't have any choice in the matter. So I wanted to call and let you know how sorry I am for what happened and to let you know that looking at the situation calmly, I had a great opportunity working for you and I really gained a lot from the experience.

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