You would imagine this to be the case, but I've definitely been asked to serve as a reference by people who should have no rational reason to think I'd be able to speak positively about their employment. In those situations, I've always declined, indicating I was not comfortable and suggested that they use HR instead to validate their dates of employment here.

Thanks for sharing your approach. We give references on Searchlight the option to decline for this reason.

It's true that references are inherently positively skewed. However, with the right questions, references still provide invaluable information in understanding the candidate's working style, ideal environment, and primary strengths. One of the benefits that Searchlight provides to the companies who use us is to parse these answers on the good-to-great spectrum. We've been excited by the range of feedback that comes back - not every reference is a ringing endorsement. References have been willing to provide development areas and tips for future managers, because no one is perfect!

I'm not saying references aren't useful, I'm merely pointing out the bias in contrast to the person I was replying to. The concern that people will leave negative reviews is more dependent on the applicant's judgement of character.