Re: OT: Job References; are they any real value?

In article <4r295lFp6h0oU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Pete Dashwood <dashwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[snip]

This made me think about the whole question of references. I'd be interested
to hear the views of other forum members, from both sides (employer and
prospective employee), as to how much weight is actually attached to these
and how much should be...

I haven't been an employee (except as a legal fiction for a temp agency,
stuff that has to do with intricacies of tax laws in the USA) for decades
now; the job-hunting drill, for me, usually consists of:

1) I come down off a contract and send off updated brag-sheets to various
head-hunters, some that I've worked with in the past and are still in
business (body-shops can be rather... transient) and others which are
freshly-sprung from the ground, like mushrooms after a storm.

2) Folks at either sort of place, new or old, will sometimes ask me for
references. I ask if they have an actual slot in mind or if they're just
filling in check-boxes... I don't like my references to be bothered with a
pimp's 'look, I'm busy!' activities. If there's a live one on the line I
give names and numbers of folks I've worked with.

3) Sometimes they call the numbers and find someone I've worked with...
and sometimes not, folks in this business can be a bit transient, as well.

4) The people they manage to reach give glowing evaluations of my
capabilities and skills... something along the lines of 'Wonderful
programmer... great programmer... singing programmer'.

5) The bodyshopper is either satisfied with these reports or dissatisfied
('Singing programmer? Too bad... the client is looking for a singing *and
dancing* programmer.')

6) The person who supplied the reference gives me a call, lets me know
that folks are looking into my background and tells me that I should send
off the usual payment... oh, all right, the last part I made up.

7) The bodyshopper calls the client and says 'Got a good one here,
relevant experience, good refs... let's set up an interview.' The
client-contacts responds with something along the lines of
'zzzzZZZZzzzz... huh? whuh? oh, OK, send him in/let's set up a phone
tech/sorry, the slot's been filled/hey, we were running a blind ad to
determine rates.'

.... and day passes into night, summer into autumn, the planets dance
through their epicycles and 'twas e'er thus.

DD
.