Should a candidate for a position be rejected based on 1 negative reference?

I will assume that you did not give the potential employer the name of any person who would give you a bad reference. It is possible that past employers can provide a negative reference although many are being more careful of doing that because of potential lawsuits.

The best way to defend against a negative is to provide overwhelming positives. Plan to go to a job interview and provide evidence of various job awards and job reviews by your employer that says you are a wonderful. Also if you have references from satisfied customers or other co-workers this will make a disgruntled past employer who wants to give you a bad review will look pretty silly and not credible.

Always try to leave each job on the best of terms. You never know when you may be back there in the future to apply for a different job. If you think it will be fun to tell off your boss and other people on your last day of work just remember that the few minutes that you enjoy could come with a high price. Later your boss could give you a bad recommendation. Also you could end up working for some of these people again at a different company. Always leave on positive terms if possible. Be a professional.

If you have left your old job on bad terms you will need to likely say something about this in your interview. Do not dwell on it. If you spend a lot of time telling about what a terrible company you worked for and how terrible management was you will likely be labeled as a whiner and not get the job.

Here are some examples of what you could say when asked about your old company.

"I really loved my job there and really enjoyed my teammates at the XYZ company. I left because it seemed like I had learned and accomplished about all I could there and it was time for me to move on. So this was really a positive career move for me."

Or

"I had a difference of opinion with my manager about a raise he had promised me that did not happen even though I met the performance goals he had set. I am a real straight up person and when I tell you that I am going to accomplish something I will follow through and do it as promised. This break in trust hurt our relationship and I could see it was time for me to find a better company."

Or

"I worked for the XYZ company for about 10 years and would have been very pleased to remain there but there were some changes in management and the previous boss I had gotten along with so well was moved to a different branch office. He is the one that had given me so many glowing reviews some of which I brought along to show you today. My new boss and I just never seemed to get off on the right foot. I will admit some of that was probably my fault because he may have sensed that I never really respected him like the previous manager. So eventually I decided it was time for me to move on to a new position in another great company."

It could be a case of sour grapes-ask the candidate why they provided a reference that was negative. Until you know why the candidate supplied a negative contact the candidate will not know. If the person is otherwise the best fit and qualified for the position you should give them an opportunity to explain. It may be that they were told they would be given a good reference but the person you queried has a "problem" giving a good review.

Yes. If you're silly enough to provide a reference who's going to be negative then you don't deserve the job.

properly... the humorous element is... they get voted in on abortion... and DO no longer something approximately IT! that's like if I ran on a platform of "i prefer to furnish ever American a million money and shrink taxes to 0" and then did no longer something approximately it in congress ever... and then human beings VOTED FOR ME each time using fact I stated i wanted to furnish them a million money? that's ridiculous... we had a Republican majority and president that pushed by all forms of charges that democrats did no longer like during the final 6 years, yet did no longer do something on the only undertaking that folk vote for them on...abortion? why do no longer republicans care that their Representatives are not doing something on the subject? (they could have handed like one bill that banned abortions on 5th Tuesdays or something that rather had no result... in basic terms minor alterations) yet besides... a secondary element is.... Rudy and McCain (mind-blowing 2 nominees interior the early polls) are type of accessible on abortion... Rudy is professional-decision and McCain is very on the fence on the subject... so it must be an exciting election if the two applicants are professional-decision from the two events... who will they vote for then?