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Comment by OptionOfT | Hacker News Reader

> Please note that we will also rely significantly on both solicited references (where you introduce us) as well as unsolicited or "back-end" references (where we do our own). For the latter, please rest assured that we will never contact a current employer without first getting your permission.

References already give me goosebumps. Having them reach out to people who haven't given you permission to be a reference sounds like a recipe for disaster.

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Every job does that, whether they tell you or not.

No they don't. Source: have hired people without doing that.

Sorry, no. That might be a thing you've personally experienced, but it's far from universal.

I've hired dozens of people and have never done that.

If they do sensitive work for the government, it'd make sense that they'd do those back-end references. Also if they are in high end finance where you want to weed out people who have demonstrated moral flexibility was well as total lack of it for certain things.

> If they do sensitive work for the government, it'd make sense that they'd do those back-end references.

If they do government work that requires clearances, the clearance process already covers this sort of investigation on its own.

In any case, they are free to do whatever background checks they want within legal limits, but I'd never apply to a company with such ridiculous hiring processes.

i hate references.

all a good reference means to a potential employer is "you are on good terms with somebody from a previous job".

and as a job seeker, it's awkward reaching out to people you may not have talked to in a couple years to announce that you're job hunting.

in my experience it (announcing to people in your network that you are job hunting) is precisely what you should be doing. Some might even point you to the next opportunity. I understand your concern though and have personally only shared it with close contacts (guess it is an ego thing).

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