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Comment by s73v3r_ | Hacker News Reader

I really don't understand this concern over alienating managers who actively fuck you over. You're never going to want to work with them again, and you can remove them from your LinkedIn profile.

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For me, my present manager is my main referee, and the longest I've held a position in years. I don't have many other referees, most have left the country or just disappeared.

There's also the bad reputation that can be spread around the golf course meetings. It's quite a small city.

It's more a concern that unless I take the company off my LinkedIn and resume, when I go to apply for a new job inevitably someone will ask the people who screwed me over, "Hey what did you think of him?" And that person will then get to say whatever they want... and it could torpedo my job application before I get a chance to build enough rapport to counter a BS claim / or won't even get the chance to tell my side of it. I worked there for a year, and I'm mostly proud of the work I did -- costly too to lose a year of work history.

So tell the prospective employer not to contact them, and sue the company if they say anything other than the dates of employment. They don't have a right to tank your future employment chances because they're upset you called them out for breaking the fucking law.

Inevitably, in reality, you don't just talk to HR. Anyone who interviews you is going to look at LinkedIn, look at other networks, and talk to people who they know who used to know you. Often times the management are well connected, at least on LinkedIn... it's not realistic to expect all of the people who interview you for a new job not to contact a former employer. AND... as soon as you say, "Don't do it..." that'd be a red flag, of course they'd want to reach out then.

The thing is, you'll never know what people say behind your back, or who they talk to... or if they honor your request not to talk to past employers. Only option would be to remove all traces from that company from your references / LinkedIn... and then what do you do about the gap year(s)?

A friend in HR told me once that HR people very rarely give bad reviews, especially to people they don't know. Badmouthing an employee, without the legal case to explain it, is often seen as giving a bad rep to the organization. You should expect something more like a bland, generic 'that guy was alright'.

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