How to avoid bad job references ? Suggestions ? (employee, applying, jobs)

[Don44321]

Hi,

I thought I'd put this out here and see what feedback some of you may have had with this. I was at a job for the past 6 years in the same position and there was a management change the last year. My job title did not change during that time, just the managers. Once the new managers came in they started pressuring several employees to leave, in which I was one. I did 'resign' I was not fired.

I am now applying for jobs and several of them want professional references from managers. All the employees I worked with I can use as a reference so that's not an issue. The most recent manager though was new and made things hostile so I don't want to use him as a reference. My prior manager who I worked with for several years, we didn't get along on a personal basis, so I don't want to use him either.

I have only had one other job, but one position wanted THREE manager references.

Is it a red flag in the future to only use employee professional references ? I'm worried a company may look and say why isn't there any manager references esp from a place he worked at for 6 years ? A lot want manager references specifically and that's very difficult from my most recent position.


What's the best way to go about this ? I have several non-manager references, but I only have one solid manager reference and some want multiple. Thanks.

[MJ7]

Do you have references from previous managers prior to the 6 yr job? Literally it could go either way. Some might not hold it against you, some will. The best thing to do is at least get 1 or 2 of the 3 asked for. So, if you can gather some from previous jobs then that will help.