References Are Dead — Here’s the New Hiring Currency

Digital endorsements now outweigh personal phone calls

Aleya / Adobe Stock

For decades, the basic job search process remained largely the same. You located a job opening, applied for it, perhaps got called for an interview, and then provided a list of personal and professional “references.”

Your potential employer then “checked your references,” talking with those people you chose to speak positively on your behalf. The information checked in this process was basic factual information, like how long you held a job and what your job title was, as well as more nebulous information like your working style and personality.

Then? If the person in charge of hiring liked what they heard, you probably got the job.

This has been the system for so long that many current job seekers are unaware that the hiring process has changed.

The problems with traditional reference checks

To be fair, human resource professionals have been trying to show job seekers why potential employers might be depending less on reference checks for some time now.

One of the major weaknesses of the traditional reference system, as pointed out by those HR experts, is that job applicants only…