You have several options. Tell them that you are currently employed and you'd wish for them to not contact your current employer. Or use/give a friend's number for the "reference" number. People lie on their resumes and in interviews all the time.
You are not allowed to badmouth a former employee, only to confirm employment...you shouldnt have a problem brah
Accentuate the positive, gloss over the negative. You don't have to lie (it's never a good thing), but you can say 'left' instead of fired. Both are true.
^This! The part is to tell the truth but not the whole truth...Difference in philosophy, etc...Good luck
I'd say that the communication wasn't all that great in your last company and that they were not clear on what was expected from their staff. Then if your previous employer says "He wasn't doing what we expected of him" your new employer can fill in the blanks, i.e. they weren't telling you what to do.
Photoshop some pictures of your ex-boss with goats and strippers and threaten to send the photographic evidence to his wife, if he doesn't give a good reference. Some would call it black-mail, but I prefer the term "creative photography".
This, unless you worked for a tiny company. All companies with proper HR departments would know not to give any type of reference in regards to former employees. They usually only validate if you actually worked there and what your title was. They say something wrong, they could get sued for libel
What you really want to say is tell them the truth but lie about why. "I was going through a really tough time in my life, which greatly affected my work, which lead to my termination. It was a very hard time in my life and the first time I've been terminated from a job. I have since gotten over that hump and am ready to move on with my life"
