I'd second this. I have read recommendations for a lot of people but have never put any value to it. It's almost always You scratch my back, I scratch yours kin

I'd second this. I have read recommendations for a lot of people but have never put any value to it. It's almost always You scratch my back, I scratch yours kinda thing which causes me to questio the credibility of the whole thing. If a person needs to ask for such references and publicly use them to sell themselves that tells me that I probably don't want to hire them.