Employer feature · Elite plan
References you can actually check.
Worker references on VirtualWorkers.Asia come from the people who know the worker’s work. Our team contacts every referee, confirms they’re real and stores the reference on the profile, rated for relevance to the role. Elite lets you read them all — and request one when a profile is missing it.
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- Referees contacted by us, not by the worker
- Every reference rated for relevance to the role
- Request a reference on any worker you’re considering
Updated 26 August 2026 · VirtualWorkers.Asia
- EmploymentHigh relevanceDaniel TanOperations Manager · managed Maria for 2 yearsVerified referee
- ProfessionalMedium relevanceKate WalshClient · Harbour Accounting, NewcastleVerified referee
How a reference gets onto a profile
Four steps. The worker starts it, we do the checking, you read the result.
- Step 1 · the worker
Nominates a referee
From their dashboard the worker adds a referee — a former manager, a client, a colleague — with their name, role, relationship and contact details. Family can’t be nominated. Collecting references is free for workers, and many do it before they apply for anything. Worker? Start here.
- Step 2 · our team
Contacts the referee directly
We get in touch with the referee ourselves — the worker never handles it. We confirm who they are, how they know the worker and for how long, and ask for the reference in their own words: what the worker did, what they were like to work with, whether they’d hire them again.
Reference · Daniel TanContacted by us- Relationship
- Managed Maria, 2021–2023
- Confirmed
- Identity and role
- Asked
- Role, strengths, would rehire
- Status
- Awaiting reply
- Step 3 · our team
Verifies and rates it
Once the reply is in, the reference is labelled with the relationship — employment, professional, academic, community or character — and rated for relevance: high, medium or limited. Anything we can’t verify stays hidden. The referee’s contact details are never shown to employers.
- Step 4 · you
Read it on the profile
On Elite, open any profile and go to References. Each one shows who gave it, how they know the worker, what they said and how relevant it is to the kind of role you’re hiring for. A reference a worker attaches to an application is free to read on any plan.
Employment referenceVerified- Referee
- Daniel Tan · Operations Manager
- Relationship
- Managed Maria, 2021–2023
- Would rehire
- Yes
- Strengths
- Calm on the phone, owns the follow-up
- Relevance
- High — same role type
Who can be a referee, and how much each one counts
Every reference is labelled, so you weigh it correctly.
| Reference type | Who gives it | Typical relevance | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | A manager or supervisor who directed the worker’s day-to-day work | High | Reliability, quality, how they handle pressure, whether they’d be rehired. The reference that matters most. |
| Professional | A client or a colleague on the same team or project | Medium | Communication, responsiveness and how the work landed — from the receiving end. |
| Academic | A teacher, lecturer or course supervisor | Limited | Aptitude and diligence, useful for a first role; says little about a workplace. |
| Community | A community or volunteer-group leader | Limited | Commitment and character outside work. |
| Character | Someone who knows the worker well but hasn’t worked with them | Limited | Honesty and temperament. Real, but about the person rather than the job. |
| Family | — | Not accepted | Family members can’t be nominated as referees. |
Relevance is set by our team against the role type, so a “high” on a customer-support profile means a referee who saw the worker do customer support.
How to read a reference
Five things to weigh, in order.
- Who and how long
- A referee who managed the worker for two years knows more than one who shared a project for two months. Tenure is the first thing to look at.
- Would they rehire?
- The most honest question in any reference. A verified “yes” from a former manager is worth more than any list of adjectives.
- Specifics over praise
- “Owns the follow-up, calm on the phone, never missed a shift” tells you more than “excellent employee”. Look for what the referee actually saw.
- Match the relevance to the role
- Hiring a bookkeeper? Weight the reference from the accounting firm over the one from the volunteer group — the relevance rating does this for you.
- What isn’t there
- A profile with only character references and no employment ones isn’t a red flag, but it is a question for the interview. Or request an employment reference and wait a week.
Profile thin on references? Ask.
Request a reference straight from the profile. The worker nominates a referee, we contact them directly, and you’re told the moment it lands — verified, labelled and rated like every other reference. The worker never handles the reference; it comes through us.
Most arrive within a week. It’s the cheapest due diligence you’ll do on a hire, and it costs the worker nothing.
- You request from the profile
- Worker nominates, we contact
- Verified and shown — you’re notified
- Worker
- Anh Le
- Requested by
- You · 2 days ago
- Referee
- Nominated · contacted by us
- Status
- Awaiting reply
- You’ll be told
- When it’s verified
You read the reference. The referee’s email and phone are never shown to employers — it’s how we get honest referees to take part, and it’s why a verified reference here is worth reading. Free for workers, always: get your references ready.
Reference questions
Are the referees real people?
Yes. Our team contacts each referee directly to confirm who they are and how they know the worker before a reference is shown on the profile. Anything we can’t verify stays hidden.
Can I contact a referee myself?
No. Referee contact details are never shown — that protects the referees and keeps them willing to give honest answers. You read what they said, labelled with the relationship and rated for relevance.
What does the relevance rating mean?
How closely the referee’s experience of the worker matches the kind of role you’re hiring for. A manager who supervised the worker in a similar job is high relevance; a client is usually medium; a character or academic reference is limited — real, but about something else.
What if a worker has no references?
Request one from their profile. The worker nominates a referee, we contact them, and you’re notified when the reference is verified. Most land within a week.
Who can be a referee?
Employers, managers, clients, colleagues, teachers and community leaders — not family. Each reference is labelled with the relationship so you know what you’re reading.
Are references free on any plan?
A reference a worker shares with you as part of an application is free to read on any plan. Reading the full set on any profile and requesting new ones is part of Elite. For workers, collecting references is always free.
What do I need to get started?
An Elite plan. Open any worker profile and go to References — nothing to set up.
Stop taking “great to work with” on faith.
Post a free job, then go Elite to read verified references and ask for the ones that are missing.
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