Short version - had a student professional last year - OK but nothing special, passed her on her course. Now she has applied to a team next to mine and passed the interview - but my boss loathed her, and has been very vocal to me (and various other people, some of them quite high up) how she wouldn't have passed her, thinks she'll fail etc.
I gave her a reference and now wish I hadn't (I was being pressured to do it quickly and and couldn't put my hand on my heart and say she can't do the job, though I do have doubts as to whether she can take the pressure), as if she does fail (and the pressures on our work are extreme right now, I don't think we should be hiring newbies at all,
Just got called in to a special meeting at which it was broadly hinted I ought to have given her a bad reference to stop her being hired (this is after the interview, mark you). If she fails (there is a probation period, but it's still time and money), is that the end of my own (pretty good at the moment) credibility, because it sure sounds like it?