I strongly disagree with this. Professional qualification and achievement come first, reference is checked at the very end. Everyone has that kind of reference if she is not lying on her CV.
Only reference isn't going to give you a good job.
There are exceptions. For unskilled labor i.e. for very unimportant roles, where anyone can do the job and not much is expected from the position - reference play an important role. Entry level govt. job, clerical job in banks, entry level programmer maybe who is expected to do coding without any tentative succession plan in place - are this kind of jobs.
It's very simple. If I have a company of my own, I won't hire my brother in the position of Business Development Manager or CTO if he doesn't have any experience or track record of success. Business needs success, and I will only hire someone who has the most probability to bring me that.
Well, If my aunt request me a lot, I will probably consider hiring my cousin as an Assistant Administrative
Officer. Low risk, low expectation and low pay, too.
So, if you want to break the vicious circle of references, be a high achiever, be visible. You can do that right from your own position. Internet, for example, is a wonderful tool to make yourself visible in the corporate radar. Make your own reference.
Recently one of my colleagues got a high paying job recently. The employer found him in the internet; read his blog. There are numerous examples of this kind.
I have a hypothesis. After five years, say from 2015 the employers will not ask for your CV, they will ask for relevant URLs. URLs of your LinkedIn address, blog address, published CV, published projects, contribution to the communities, personal websites etc. Employers will search on google to check your background. If you are not visible in www, you are nobody.
Sill a hypothesis, though :)
P.S.: Last 12 years, I worked for four companies of varying sizes ranged from 17 persons to 5000. References didn't work for me.
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