DEAR JOYCE: As a career coach, I was asked for advice by a nervous client who formerly was employed by a company that became infamous for being tainted by fraud. He has to list the company on his resume, a fact that he believes turns off employers. "It's like I'm damaged goods," he says. My client wants to know how to handle this potential career-ender. Suggestions that I can pass on? - N.L.

Many hiring decision-makers and their recruiters blow off candidates who were employed by a bad-rap company, whether it was a Ponzi-scheme operator, a failed bank, or a company otherwise disrespected for one reason or another. The hiring attitude for branding the employee with the reputed sins of the employer starts like this:

Why take a chance on hiring a bird of a bad feather, especially today, when there are so many high-flying and spotless candidates vying for the same jobs?

To move forward from that hurtful perception, here are a few suggestions for your client and others exiting from a company with a not-so-hot reputation.

-- Get interviews any way you can. Don't be surprised when you run into titanium resistance in the initial screening process. Bypass that roadblock by calling on every connection known to humankind in your effort to line up interviews with hiring managers. You want personal introductions with a few good words about you. Additionally, contact recruiters you've worked with in the past, whether as a customer or a candidate.

Only in an interviewing environment will you have a good chance to "change the conversation" by redirecting focus on how your qualifications and strengths will improve the balance sheet. If this task is Greek to you, you really need the services of a wise career coach who can guide you through your specific maze (no two mazes are exactly alike).

-- Classify your former company's sin. Coming from a company that collapsed because of poor business decisions is far less problematic than having worked for one facing criminal charges.

In the first instance, you want to show that you're not dumb; in the second, that you're not a crook. Continued...