Another important factor in the reference selection process that job seekers shouldn’t ignore is “the trust factor.” It’s very important for job seekers to line up references who are trustworthy and are, hopefully, loyal friends, as well as coworkers of some sort.
Friends, by definition, are supposed to be trustworthy, but that isn’t always so. “Friends” developed in a social environment are sometimes of “a different stripe” than those acquired in the workplace. While job seekers don’t want references to overstate skills and abilities, neither do they want references to understate skills and abilities . Exaggeration in either direction is a disservice to both the job seeker and the prospective employer. Worst of all, it can lead to a serious job mismatch.