If the panel persists, and asks for more details, or even wants to know why you didn’t include a referee from your former job in your application, I think you can go one of two ways.
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The first is to steer the conversation away from your bad experience and towards better jobs you’ve had. You might say that you didn’t get the chance, or the time, to do your best work in your last role and wanted to provide referees who knew you and your skills better.
The second is to consider opening up a little bit more about what happened at the last job. If you take this route, make sure you keep any negative comments measured. As I mentioned earlier, there’s little point anticipating what a panel wants to hear.
They may, for example, have little interest in the particulars of why you left; instead, their question might be a way of assessing how you respond to demanding situations or difficult people. Are you discrete and composed or do you have a tendency to blow up and then unload?
While your heart might want to “badmouth”, try to let your head take control and coolly explain why the last item in your job history isn’t an exemplar of your career to date.
If your prospective employer doesn’t ask, you have no obligation to tell. Unless you have a very particular reason why (I’ve mentioned one below), you can keep this unpleasant experience to yourself and concentrate instead on talking about work you’ve enjoyed and excelled in. Remember, a prospective employer can only contact a referee with your explicit consent.
One final thought: currently, you might be looking back at your last job with pure dejection. But is there a chance there are some unexpected gems to be salvaged from the dreck?
“How did you manage a challenge involving X, Y or Z” is an often-asked question in job interviews, and it sounds like you faced numerous challenges as you dealt with your previous boss. You don’t necessarily need to mention the organisation by name but you can use instances of when your team leader threw an obstacle in your path as examples of how you solve or surmount problems.
I hope some of this advice might help you find a new job that is much more agreeable than your last one.
