A lot of places with those policies also have a policy that all reference requests go to HR, even if they&#x27;re received by your manager, again, for liability reasons.<p>EDIT: just noticed that you expect former managers to risk their job to provide a positive reference for you, despite the fact that you left them. I&#x27;d gladly write recommendations on former employees linkedin profiles if requested, but when my former employee&#x27;s new employer is contacting my employer (via me) for a reference, I&#x27;m not risking my job for theirs, and I don&#x27;t think that makes me an AH. If they do, I&#x27;ve sorely misjudged them.