Jobs asking for references... Whats the point?

[Agent Smith]

As if im going to ask someone who hates me or even borderline thinks im uninteresting.

What do employers expect to hear? "No Sanstos is a terrible person, dont hire him or he'll poop all over the Begonias"

Whats the point of wasting time calling people who will vouch for us blindly?

Even my "Professional" references with PhD's and high up county/state careers will lie for me if I asked (not that I need to)...

I suppose im just curious.

[Monster Hunter]

As if im going to ask someone who hates me or even borderline thinks im uninteresting.

What do employers expect to hear? "No Sanstos is a terrible person, dont hire him or he'll poop all over the Begonias"

Whats the point of wasting time calling people who will vouch for us blindly?

Even my "Professional" references with PhD's and high up county/state careers will lie for me if I asked (not that I need to)...

I suppose im just curious.

In the UK its illegal to give a bad reference, you can only refuse to give one. Usualy there just looking tlat least here that you have at least a couple people In a professional position who like you enough to give you one meaning you're not a complete shit head

[melodramocracy]

In the UK its illegal to give a bad reference, you can only refuse to give one. Usualy there just looking tlat least here that you have at least a couple people In a professional position who like you enough to give you one meaning you're not a complete shit head

I'm 80% certain that's the case as well in the US, at least for prior employers. The place can only say whether you worked there or not.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Hate to break it to you most jobs don’t check your references. Some will, but most generally will hire you or send you to HR for the next round based on reading you which most are not very good at.

But if they generally don’t like you then fuck your references. If they do like you fuck it that’s HRs department. Seriously most employers before they met you personally anticipate your a liar.

As for H.R they don’t give a shit either. They are there mostly for insurance. I mean you do sign an agreement under a threat of perjury you’ve told the truth. As long as you don’t lie about something glaring like you went to Harvard or you worked for someone you didn’t. Which they can check based on if you went to Harvard you had to pay for it so there would be records and if you worked somewhere there is going to be tax forms.

Other than that it’s just who has the best game face.

[kamuimac]

As if im going to ask someone who hates me or even borderline thinks im uninteresting.

What do employers expect to hear? "No Sanstos is a terrible person, dont hire him or he'll poop all over the Begonias"

Whats the point of wasting time calling people who will vouch for us blindly?

Even my "Professional" references with PhD's and high up county/state careers will lie for me if I asked (not that I need to)...

I suppose im just curious.

i find it higly unlikely

no proffesional woudl risk his "good name" for a shitty ex employee.

a couple of time i had to openly refuse references when people asked me for them because they were not up to certain standards in my eyes.

[Nobleshield]

I've always found references to be a total waste of time. If I left a job chances are it's because the manager was an ass, why would I give you their contact information?

It's just another hoop to jump through so the company you're applying to can make you feel like it's only you who needs to impress them rather than it being a two-way street. It's basically to make the applicant feel inferior.

[cuafpr]

sometimes they ask for them and their work number to confirm you worked at the past location in the position and duties that match a resume. They may even call the number and ask does "john doe" work there before even saying who they are. I've been a reference and gotten calls for co-workers looking for jobs, and friends looking for jobs. Considering its often more important who know than what you know it doesn't hurt to have good ones to give out when asked.

[Vorkreist]

As if im going to ask someone who hates me or even borderline thinks im uninteresting.

What do employers expect to hear? "No Sanstos is a terrible person, dont hire him or he'll poop all over the Begonias"

Whats the point of wasting time calling people who will vouch for us blindly?

Even my "Professional" references with PhD's and high up county/state careers will lie for me if I asked (not that I need to)...

I suppose im just curious.

Who vouches for you blindly ?
If you fucked up big time in the previous place I can't see how some ex employer will lie for you just because you ask him nicely.

[G3 Ghost]

I've always found references to be a total waste of time. If I left a job chances are it's because the manager was an ass, why would I give you their contact information?

It's just another hoop to jump through so the company you're applying to can make you feel like it's only you who needs to impress them rather than it being a two-way street. It's basically to make the applicant feel inferior.

I completely disagree that references are a waste of time. I've called plenty of references and you are really confirming employment history.

The second thing I confirm is whether or not that person would be hired again at their firm based on the individual reference's opinion.

Now, the last part, I agree with. I typically wont hire someone who doesn't ask questions about us. A modern job interview should be more of a discussion, not an interrogation. I am gauging whether or not you are a fit, and you should be trying to find out the same. Even if the questions are as mundane as employee gatherings, I'd prefer you ask rather than blankly answer questions.

[Sixnalia]

US-Florida here.

We call some references.
Usually interested in if they work better alone or in groups.
We normally ask about what their job involved. (If reference is former employer)
And how they handle boredom.

If we call references we are normally on the verge of hiring you.
We will try to ask questions that don't naturally have a negative answer. Our usual concern is behavior in our work environment.

Sure, the references will normally butter up their responses. But we take their statements with a grain of salt.

Our questions are mostly to see if the person is a team player and if they sit around when they have no work, or seek out more.

Also if you provide the reference phone number. I'm searching it to confirm their identity. We had to indirectly tell a few green college students that having fake references is a bad idea.
When sites that let you pay for constructed fake references, with their own phone numbers, emails, website, etc.
The value of references drops.
But identifying the fakes helps weed out candidates.

[unbound]

Most companies will never actually call your references, hence why it has become common to simply state "References available upon request" to avoid wasting space on a resume.

In the unusual circumstance where they do reach out to your references, it is actually pretty easy to tell if the reference really isn't familiar with your work and is just a friend lying on your behalf. Furthermore, even looking at your references, if you can't provide peers or supervisors, then it becomes a red flag.

Overall, your references are only valuable if there are some open questions about how you interviewed. And if your interview threw some flags, then having bogus references will simply result in you being put in the "Don't call us, we'll call you" pile.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

We don't ever call them. It's an legacy hold over from a time before computers / internet age. Now its not very hard to if you were actually employeed by the places you listed. We know no one is going to give a bad reference or even a reference at all due to legal issues that could arise.

[Bodakane]

As if im going to ask someone who hates me or even borderline thinks im uninteresting.

What do employers expect to hear? "No Sanstos is a terrible person, dont hire him or he'll poop all over the Begonias"

Whats the point of wasting time calling people who will vouch for us blindly?

Even my "Professional" references with PhD's and high up county/state careers will lie for me if I asked (not that I need to)...

I suppose im just curious.

As an employer, I'd want to know why you pooped all over the Begonias.

I mean was it with malice and spite or did you think you were fertilizing them?

[Vakna]

Now, the last part, I agree with. I typically wont hire someone who doesn't ask questions about us. A modern job interview should be more of a discussion, not an interrogation. I am gauging whether or not you are a fit, and you should be trying to find out the same. Even if the questions are as mundane as employee gatherings, I'd prefer you ask rather than blankly answer questions.

Depends on the job to be honest. If it's a career defining professional position then sure, but if it's like some pompous manager at a convenience store expecting an applicant to be interested in the company and what they do personally the manager is living in a dream world. Most jobs nobody actually gives a shit about, it's just a necessary stepping stone to getting the money you need to live. If you're one of those managers in a random store that expects such things all you are doing is milking lies from the employees, they don't care, they just want to do a job for some money. How many people in the world do you think are actually interested in the jobs they are doing?

[Sol Candens]

I had to get my secret clearance renewed and the FBI showed up at my references job and pulled her aside to talk about me. I thought that was pretty crazy

[zenkai]

As if im going to ask someone who hates me or even borderline thinks im uninteresting.

What do employers expect to hear? "No Sanstos is a terrible person, dont hire him or he'll poop all over the Begonias"

Whats the point of wasting time calling people who will vouch for us blindly?

Even my "Professional" references with PhD's and high up county/state careers will lie for me if I asked (not that I need to)...

I suppose im just curious.

I never understood it either. I had a friend who I never even worked with as a reference who would talk about how great of a worker I was.

[Lodreh]

I've always found references to be a total waste of time. If I left a job chances are it's because the manager was an ass, why would I give you their contact information?...

I feel this is the point. If at no point in your working history you feel comfortable to give a reference and have burned every bridge behind you... that is somewhat telling of the kind of worker/ person you are.

[Blueobelisk]

In the jobs I've applied for I've never needed a reference. I'm in the software world so if your code looks legitimate and you seem nice in an interview, that's good enough.

[Independent voter]

You at least have three people in the world who think you're an okay employee.

[Didly]

The key is to put "reference available upon request" at the bottom of the resume.

I've yet to ever be asked to provide them.