Is it Ok To call Companies that laid you off, for References?

[quietGuy13]

Laid off in a kind of mean way.. with no warning or nothing. But i know that they did it cause i'm not a good speaker and they thought i was stupid. So it was kind of a mean way to fire me. In other words, I don't think it was just "ohhh we don't have enough money to hire you we're gonna let you go"

it was probably "that a**hole speaks like a baby and is stupid immature " So they laid me off with anger most likely.

 

But i heard you have to call them to tell them that you've listed them as references.

 

Moreover I dont' know their lastnames spellings so i need to call to ask them how to spell them.

[Ouroboros]

I have never called a previous employer to tell them I was going to use them as a reference. It is naturally assumed you will.

 

If you don't have many other recent references then you might have to bite the bullet and use them. It is possible a company which thought poorly of you will give you a bad reference but most people won't. They'll try to find something good to say about you and not harpoon your chances at future employment unless your boss or employer was psychopathic.

 

I use my best guess when it comes to names I am not sure about. As long as it looks how it sounds it is good enough. There must be a reference to their business on the internet even if they have no web presence or in a phonebook where you could pick up their name. Being that you have their phone number you could do a reverse look up using a website. That might produce their name since you really don't want to talk to them.

 

Your perception on the beliefs they held about you and your abilities sound more like a persecution complex than the reality of their perspective.