Should I provide a fabricated reference for a friend?
Instead of fabricating a reference, fabricate a reference request. Call the employer and ask for a reference, so he’ll know what to expect. If they know you too well, maybe someone else can do this. A blatant lie about a reference could backfire so badly. He should assemble any performance reviews, and seek a reference from someone in the company who will be honest & positive. It’s also possible to tell Old Company that they do not have permission to discuss his employment. They can only verify dates of employment. Then he can use selected references.
The science industry is surprisingly close knit. There’s always someone who knows someone, people talk (particularly about who is being hired to do what) and word gets around. It would take very little digging for the hiring company to find out you were in grad school across the country, and it might not even be intentional digging, just people gossiping. It might not come up in this specific hiring instance, but still could in a future job application (yours or your friend’s). When it is found out this will hurt you as much as your friend, this kind of dishonesty is really frowned upon in an industry where reputation is so important. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it for either of you. In general when working in this industry you need to be very careful not to piss people off. Always be upfront when applying for jobs, don’t jerk anyone around and never lie about your qualifications/experience. I’ve seen people hurt their careers by acting in this way and heard stories that are several ye
If you were in a different industry, or it would be harder to figure it out (e.g., you were in grad school at the time). Explain to your friend that he could end up doing a lot of damage to his own career if an employer put 2 and 2 together, either before or after he got this job. I agree with writing him a personal reference – you’ve worked with him, you recommended him as your successor (you don’t need to mention that was the job he got fired from) – you have a lot of material to really put together something that will help him and not hurt either one of you.
No. You can offer to write a professional reference as a colleague but don’t lie about being his supervisor. Don’t add lying and deception to your friend’s troubles. For your part, the biotech/biomed world is small and chances are good that eventually somebody will catch your lie. Professional integrity is still valued in this field and once yours is shot, well, there’s always plenty of better candidates for whatever jobs you apply to. As an aside, letters of reference are never requested, in my experience (biotech industry, small and medium-sized companies). Because of US labor laws the only thing previous employers will ever disclose is dates of employment and job title. Companies tell their employees not to say anything about former coworkers and to refer all requests for references to HR. Potential employers know they won’t get anything but “name, rank and serial number” so they don’t bother asking for letters any more. They interview candidates over the phone, bring in the good on
