References after leaving company through redundancy

[america]

I was made redundant in December last year and was bullied by my boss even during the notice period. I initiated grievance procedure against my boss but realised quickly that I was not getting any help from HR and ended up feeling like a pariah so I gave up and was promptly made redundant.

Now, I have finally some job interviews and was asked to provide a reference from my previous employer. I swallowed my pride and contacted my former boss and she got back to me after a week saying that "she is not in a position to provide me with a company reference" and that I should talk to the HR about it.

Two questions really, I guess I would need more "personal" reference for the potential new employer so how to play this?

And second, how do I explain to the potential new employer that my former boss refuses to give me a reference?

many thanks.

i would be very honest and tell them the truth about the bullying and say that it would not be helpful to contact them ..honesty is always the best policy. they will understand.

Lots of companies including ours do not allow managers to giver references - all references are completed to a generic template by the hr department.

You have two options; call up hr and ask for a reference or simply give your new employer the hr departments details so that they can write / contact them. Any questions just tell them it's company policy.

Ask for a reference.

Bear in mind that an employer can't give you a bad reference. Well they can they'd just have to back up whatever they said with evidence or you could take them to court.

Hence most references now are:

"You worked here as an x. You started at date, left at date due to redundancy."

Most placed now only bother getting references if your offered the job anyway just to make sure your not lying to cover up a prison sentence.

AFAIK companies do not do "personal" references any more, they are all one-sentence factual things as seeyoukay said. This is because some companies have been sued for statements people have made in personal-style references.

So your new company shouldn't be expecting anything other than a factual reference.

If they really want it, do you use LinkedIn? Would any of your former colleagues be prepared to write a recommendation for you on LinkedIn? This may get round the reference rule.

LOL seeyoukay

Thanks for the advice. I asked the potential employer to contact my former HR manager for references. I was worried that lack of more personal reference would be counted against me but hopefully this will be enough.