Job References

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A question for those of you in the US who work in the corporate world (particularly above entry level, ideally in or having obtained positions paying 70+/yr). I am a current MBA student who has 3 years of progressive work experience at a major company and an MBA internship from yet another good company. I know how to produce a good resume, market myself, and interview. My problem is basically, nobody likes me once I'm on the job. I"ll spare everyone the details as similar stories have probably been recounted on multiple threads. So I have 2 peer references (I assume they're positive) from my previous job and one managerial one (not so sure on this, the guy is a bit flaky and it wouldn't surprise me if he just refers anyone who contacts him to the "names/dates/titles/salary" department). I don't think I'll be able to have any references for this summer internship.

Has anyone here been able to land high paying jobs (masters degree quality/salary) without a solid slate of references?

The HR department from my 2 companies will confirm my titles, salaries, dates, etc.

References aren't that important, they are primarily used to identify troublesome candidates. E.g., if you can't supply any references they will assume you have problems and exclude you immediately. If you are able to supply references, they won't take much stock in them unless the reference is personally or well known.

Agreed. I've been a reference for several friends of mine, and I was almost never called by employers. If you want to test the mangerial reference, have a friend call him and find out what he says. It's perfectly ethical, especially if the guy is flaky.

For the most part, those I've listed as personal references haven't been called. Usually if they call those, it's often for a job where there's a security clearance or if you're going to be working with confidential information such as Social Security numbers or medical records. Sometimes they do call previous employers, mostly to verify that you've worked for them. Usually, employers have you take a drug test, and run a criminal background check.

It's an increasingly common policy for managers not to be allowed to say anything about their former employees except to verify job title and employment dates. I think most hiring managers and HR types understand this and won't hold it against you.