Job References

Hey, thx for the great points. I'm in the IT field and have given and requested refs many dozens of times legitimately. I would say from all those calls the same questions come up over and over. More recently, due to legal reasons, I'd say the calls have become very basic and short. Every so often, there will be an inquisitive HR/recruiter, but after 20 years of IT, it's never a problem. As for giving refs via communities like Lemmy, Reddit, etc., I did that myself the 1st time due to not wanting my current employer to know and being 1 short of the typical 3 refs requested because of last-minute ghosting. I ended up finding someone on Reddit, did a quid pro quo, and it went great. After that, I continued to participate, giving another 6 refs or so successfully. One guy has reached out to me about once a year, which is typical for IT. I eventually switched to gig work and at one point needed 9 refs total for 3 bids. I ended up using a combo of legit, old, and new Reddit refs, and a website service. I never heard anything negative from anyone and got 2 of the 3 bids. Anyway, I think you raised some great points, and skepticism is the best approach when connecting with someone. I also think my perspective is distorted because my world is corporate IT. However, due to observation over 4 years in various communities, it appears people have been successful in other fields as well. You also had a great point when you said, "Reaching out to users you know and discussing in private the details would be better than just hoping someone will lie for you." Typically, these communities are for doing exactly that, meeting new people, getting to know them via communication, skills, bio exchanges, and then helping each other out. Thx for your input, take care!