Previous Job apparently is giving me extremely negative reviews, what do i do?

I joined a fairly large company in January, as a new grad. After 5 months or so i felt i wasn't getting paid what i was worth, so i decided to start looking for a new job. I found a new job in Septemb

I joined a fairly large company in January, as a new grad. After 5 months or so i felt i wasn't getting paid what i was worth, so i decided to start looking for a new job. I found a new job in September, which gave me a 30% salary increase. Unfortunately the company underwent layoffs in October and i was cut loose after 3 weeks. I reached out to a few friends i knew in the valley, and managed to get a bunch of interviews over late October/Early November. Unfortunately every single one of them i would make it to the last round of interviews and not receive an offer. I thought it was due to my skill and interview ability. Today i went a did a final onsite that i had left, which was more or less arranged by a close friend. Well my friend gave me some less than favorable feedback, apparently my first job left me a less than stellar review. According to them i did not accomplish anything (not true), and they would not recommend me under any circumstances. Of course i didn't get the job, and unfortunately now i have exhausted most of my network. I don't really know what i am supposed to do now. Listing myself as a recent grad seem wrong as there is a giant gap now in my resume. Any suggestions?