I hate the whole concept of references. I don’t want to ask a favor from someone in my past. I don’t want to keep contact info for former bosses or co-workers.
Our society is like:
Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps.
Have personal responsibility.
Your success or your failure is 100% due to your good or poor choices.
Employers: “By the way, you are going to need help from some strangers in your past in order to get a job with our company.”
Companies are constantly trying to figure out how to pay workers less. I would absolutely take less money if the hiring process didn’t have so much hoop-jumping. How has capitalism not figured that one out yet?
I think you’re wrong about personal responsibility and boot straps, or at least that depends on your field. Certainly my successes and failures at work are closely linked to my coworkers and customer base. It’s not all on me, for good or bad.
Also, these days in many countries, referees don’t dare say anything negative. Most companies have policies about that. Nobody wants to get sued or be forced to deal with the labor board. In reality, former bosses most likely to confirm employment history, and they might throw in a few generic positive comments. Or if it’s someone you know well, they might say something that makes you sound good.
References are not going to hurt you, unless of course you don’t have any halfway decent ones. But if that’s the situation, you probably ought to work a part-time job, volunteer, or take a class at community college for 4 months, if that’s at all possible given your economic constraints.