Ugh, that's what im afraid that my old job will do too, they lied on half the things they let me go for.

probably put like a co worker down. my old manager was really not a professional person.

Ok, you said that YOU left THEM, you were not fired. Therefore, you left "in good standing". What you need to do (assuming you don't have a lawyer to do it for you) is send them a certified letter (return receipt) telling them that if they do anything but give out dates of employment, pay level at separation, and a statement that you left "in good standing" you will sue their f**king asses. While what they are saying may be THEIR opinion, they are not objective fact, and no court of law would side with them.

I'm not saying sue, I'm saying that you should threaten it. If a family member has a lawyer that you can CC: it to, it would be of benefit, even if you don't actually cc them.

Just my $1.25

:king: Snoopy

I agree with Snow. I know in the state of California the only info your allowed to give during a reference calls is dates of employment, pay and if the person is rehire-able or not.

It's worth looking into if your state provides the same limitations. If so a friendly call to the labor board might also be in order

Snoppy is right. I dont know the law in the States, but here (Switzerland) the former employ

I suppose I should add that there is a difference between "references" and "previous employers". Previous employers are usually limited, references aren't. Often previous employers say that they cannot be "references" but co-workers can. Just think about who's name you put on which line.

I'll second everything here.

You absolutely need good references. I'm sure you can think of a few people who've been in a position of responsibility over you who really like you. I don't know your background, but possibilities include former teachers, guidance counselors, sports coaches, church/music/theater group leaders. Ask them to write a (sealed) letter of recommendation. The seal is to make sure that the person receiving it knows it's not tampered with; but of course, before you ask someone to write a letter of recommendation, make sure they'll write good stuff about you.

The other thing to keep in mind when filling out job application forms is that a form is just a piece of paper with ink on it; if filling out the form "by the rules" doesn't paint the best picture of you, feel free to improvise, cross out questions, give multi-line answers stretching way beyond the answer box for "previous employer's phone number". Your life doesn't fit squarely within the confines of an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. Feel free to communicate that to your future employer.

-- Raro

Raro's comment made me remember one point which could be a great help. I dont know if you have the same in the States, but here we have a lot of special books for writing the best job applications, including CV, models of letters of references. The way some HR managers write certificates include hidden tips for the next employer, which "invalidate" good written references, as a secret code between HR mangers. These books tell you how to decipher this "coded" references and how you can counter them.

Could somebody tell us if such books exist in the States ?

Old bob