Do-Not-Hire Lists

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I suddenly got paranoid about whether these could actually exist, not just within a company but that a company could put a name on a list that could be accessed by the other companies in the same field and keep a person from getting hired by ANYONE in that field. So I googled it, and there was some speculation about whether or not they were a real thing, but so much of the focus was on "blowing an interview" like that was the worst thing you could do. I just keep thinking ok, but what if you got FIRED? Especially when you're dealing with the helping professions and vulnerable people, could the company who fired you (purely for social issues, not for any kind of negligence or abuse) have put your name out to every other organization doing that work and tell them not to hire you?

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be legal, it would also be hard to manage.

Anyway, usually people working in an industry, will have HR etc do the background checks (which consist only of confirming that you worked there, period.), and they'll ask around their colleagues to see who knows you and what you're like.
I've been asked about people, and, when they've been terrible, I've said so, specifically stating what they've done wrong. BUT, of course, none of these people has worked for me. They've all been people that I've just worked on a project with. I'm not capable of being asked something like that and lying about it.

So, while there's not likely going to be a central list, if someone ticks people off, it's possible that a future employer might hear some smack-talking about it.

it doesn't exist

While I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any physical "Black List" of people whom employers are reluctant to hire, it might be fair to point out that in closely-knit corporate communities, word can easily spread within those communities regarding troublemakers, junkies, thieves, and slackers.

So if you've lost your job because you've cost an employer millions of dollars of revenue, then it would not be unreasonable to expect that the friends of that employer might show some reluctance in hiring you, especially if you bad-mouth your former employer to them during the interview process.

This.

I've been "blacklisted" in some professions. Word gets out, sometimes just by one person who wants to see you blocked, and everyone does the "professional courtesy" of passing you over.

Thankfully, it's not a nationwide thing, but it could kill a promising career overnight, and it's disgusting that so many people will act on the word of someone they don't know "in the club" rather than get to know the person being blacklisted and judge for themselves.

In the UK in the 70s and 80s, mining and construction-site companies shared with each other 'don't-hire lists' of union members because of issues with unions in the Thatcher era. Luckily those days are gone but many honest people working to feed their families suffered due to this, all because they were simply members of a union as they wanted a safe work environment and fair pay.

I live in one of the European microstates (takes half an hour to travel from one side of the country to the other, very small population, etc.) and here the larger companies' HR departments are quite pally with each other as it's a small workforce and they often come across the same candidates. They might know the same people and some information or gossip might be shared off the record, but I can't imagine they'd have an official don't-hire list as this would be illegal (in any western country) under privacy/data-protection laws and there would be big repercussions if someone was found to be doing this.

I was on a blacklist, in a town more-or-less "controlled" by Big Auto. The independent union that I was in at the time defeated a measure to merge with the auto union. I was instrumental in swaying the vote to remain independent.

It turns out that a few influential people at the workplace had been promised significant positions in the merged union, and were upset with me for my actions. So they filed grievance after grievance against me, making me look like the biggest slacker since J. Wellington Wimpy, forcing the employer to fire me.

Then they made certain that not even the third-tier auto supply companies and retail establishments would hire me. Doors were literally slammed in my face when I made the rounds looking for work.

It was about five years later (after getting a federal job in another state), that the P.I. that I had hired came back with the full report. However, everyone who spoke with him did so on the condition of anonymity, and nothing was in writing except the P.I.'s own handwritten notes.

The gist of the report is that I will never be able to work in that town again.