'I thought we were on good terms': Job candidate asks former boss for reference, she sabotages candidate's chances with the recruiter

They say to never trust your employer, but we always need a former employer for references so do we have much of a choice in the matter? The truth is that we do not. Even after you leave a company, you're still beholden to your former employer in some way. If you have minimal work experience, you might not have another employer to use as a reference. It's the cyclical nature of the working world. Even when you leave one place, you're never really free now, are you? Sure, it's possible to frame this kind of networking in a positive light. One opportunity leads to the next, and so on. However, for those of us who had unfortunate experiences with our former employers where it wasn't our fault, why does it feel like we still have to suffer indefinitely afterward? To that end, shouldn't recruiters be able to let prospective candidates start fresh and bring their skills to the table on their own terms rather than through the perspective of a potentially toxic former boss? 

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