Vouches
What other people say, read for agreement, not volume.
References are the oldest hiring signal there is, and the easiest to inflate. So we ask everyone the same tap questions, keep the answers private, and add a second kind of vouch: ratings from people you met through the app, who you didn't choose.
Free to join. In your browser, on iPhone and on Android.
Example screen, simplified from the app.
Vouches: people you choose
Invite as many people as you like by link: managers, peers, clients, people who worked for you. Each answers eleven tap questions about you: follow-through, communication, quality of work, calm under pressure, teamwork, whether they'd work with you again, and five things anyone can see in one meeting.
They also rate your top skills and see a couple of moments from your story arcs. Nobody, including you, ever sees what any one person said. Cards show only counts by relationship: "Vouched for by 14: 3 managers, 7 peers, 4 clients."
Example screen, simplified from the app.
Counter-vouches: people you didn't choose
After every meetup, each person can rate six things they saw: prepared, listened, worked through the activity, on time, communicated clearly, professional and respectful. Any of them can be skipped. The person rated never sees them.
It goes both ways. Candidates rate hiring managers, and doers rate project hirers. Employers are held to the same standard as everyone else.
In hiring, a manager can also tap "Knew their stuff" on the skills a candidate showed, which confirms them.
Example screen, simplified from the app.
How vouches are read
We test this for fairness by network size, because people with small networks have fewer people to ask. The results
Read against the norm
A "good" from someone who rates everyone highly reads as average. A tough rater's "good" means more.
Friends compared with strangers
Once people you met through the app have rated you, your chosen references are compared with them on the things both could see.
No lone voices
Nothing moves on one person's say-so. It takes agreement from more than one independent source.
Not a popularity count
More vouches don't mean a higher rank. They make the picture clearer, in whichever direction it points.
Fair to newcomers
No vouches yet? You start neutral, never behind.
Ranking only, never a gate
Vouches change order, never who can be matched.
Questions
Can I see what my references said?
No. Not even you. That's what keeps them honest.
What if I don't have many references?
Having none never counts against you. Newcomers start neutral, and people you meet through the app add evidence as you go. More vouches don't mean a higher rank.
Can a friend inflate my profile?
Vouches are read for agreement, not volume. No single person can move anything on their own, and references from people you chose are compared with what strangers saw.
Keep exploring
Let your work speak, through the people who saw it.
Free to join. Answer the basics in a few minutes and you can be matched right away. Everything else you add makes matching better.