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The Workplace

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    For what it's worth, if you're in the United States, many companies now have a policy that the references can't do much more than indicate whether you worked for the company, and whether you were fired, laid off, or left on your own. Anything more is opening them up to legal liability. Not that that always stops people from gossiping, but it has created a strong incentive.
    – Sean Duggan
    Commented May 22 at 12:20
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    @SeanDuggan Couldn't that information be provided by the HR Dept of the former companies? The point of human references is to sing your praises.
    – Barmar
    Commented May 22 at 15:07
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    It's been a while since I've applied for a job, but references were generally provided pretty late in the process, after the interview if the company is still interested. How did this company get your references already?
    – Barmar
    Commented May 22 at 15:10
  • @Barmar: The process has changed, but when I was actively applying a decade or two ago, references were standard on most applications (and most resumes had standard boilerplate of "References available upon request" that I finally removed when I realized how meaningless it was).
    – Sean Duggan
    Commented May 22 at 15:26
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    There's something in the air, and it doesn't smell sweet. Too much missing context. Are you working now? Is the ref to be dropped your current job? Is the reference from a period 2 years ago or 12 years ago? Why would a "ref from 10 years ago" suddenly go sour? Roughly how many references do you think you need? How many do you have (incl-/excl-uding the problematic one)? How relevant is the ref to be dropped to the position you are interviewing for? ... The 'B' string is usually made up of weaker players... Too many unknowns... There's something in the air, and it doesn't smell sweet.
    – Fe2O3
    Commented May 24 at 7:53