References are a safety net as far as I can tell. If they see something suspicious or get a bad impression they may request references to check in. Unless you h

References are a safety net as far as I can tell. If they see something suspicious or get a bad impression they may request references to check in. Unless you have someone that has offered to give you a good one ahead of time, it's really not necessary to include them. And fyi, if an old coworker called me up and asked for a reference I would totally give one. So no sweat.