How to Get Hired for a Remote Job Without References

The situation is common for Nigerians applying abroad. You may be a fresh graduate or an NYSC member, or you've freelanced through WhatsApp clients who never wrote anything down. Your last employer may have closed, or the HR team stopped replying to emails.

This guide covers what employers mean by "references" and when they actually check them. It also covers who can act as a referee if you've never had a formal job, what proof can stand in for a reference, how to answer "Can you provide references?" without lying, and how to build your first two or three solid referees within a few months.

Quick answer

You can get a remote job without traditional references if you give the employer other ways to trust you. Offer referees who have seen your work, such as a lecturer, NYSC supervisor, volunteer coordinator or freelance client. Back them with verifiable evidence: work samples, a paid trial task, LinkedIn recommendations and documents like an offer letter or contract. Never invent a referee. A fake reference is a reason to withdraw an offer.

What employers mean by "references" (and what they don't)

A reference is a statement from someone who can confirm facts about you, such as your job title, your dates and how you worked. Nigerian applicants often confuse it with two other things, and each needs a different response.

International remote employers rarely ask for a guarantor. If a foreign "employer" demands a guarantor form plus a fee, treat it as a warning sign. Referrals are a separate route into a company, and they can work well when you have no referees. Our guide on asking for a referral for a remote job covers that route.

UK guidance from Acas, the government-funded employment advice service, says a work reference can be basic or detailed. A basic reference may only confirm job title and dates of employment. A character reference covers how the writer knows you, for how long, and your strengths. This helps you, because a referee doesn't need to be your former line manager to be useful. They need to know something true about you and be willing to say it.

When references actually come up in remote hiring

References usually come up at the end of the hiring process, not the start. Acas advises that employers ask for references at the final stage, when making a conditional job offer and with the applicant's permission. That is UK guidance, not a global rule, but many international employers follow a similar order: application, screening, tests or interviews, then reference checks before the contract.

In practice:

• Don't let the reference box stop you applying. If an application form asks for referees at the first step, you can usually write "Available on request" or give the alternative referees described below.
• Your test and interview results carry most of the weight. By the time an employer asks for referees, they have already decided they like you. The reference confirms that impression. It rarely creates one.
• Some remote employers test you on real work instead. Automattic, a fully distributed company, describes on its published hiring process page (checked October 2026) a paid, part-time trial of around 15 to 35 hours over two to eight weeks before an offer. That page describes its engineering process, and the steps for other roles may differ. A paid trial gives the employer direct evidence of your work, which is what a reference is meant to provide. Check each vacancy for whether it accepts applicants in Nigeria.

US employers often run a formal background check alongside references. The US Federal Trade Commission explains that when an employer uses a background reporting company, it must tell you in a separate document and get your written permission first. These checks can cover employment history and education. If you have nothing to hide, a background check can actually make up for having no referees, because it confirms your history independently.

Why you have no references, and what fixes each situation

"No references" covers several different situations, and the fix depends on which one applies to you.

Two of these need extra care.

If your current employer doesn't know you're job hunting, you're entitled to protect that. Acas notes that asking a current employer for a reference before an offer can make things difficult for the applicant. It's normal to say: "My current manager can be contacted once we're at offer stage."

If you left a job on bad terms, don't hide the job. Use a different referee from that company, such as a team lead or senior colleague who rated your work. Keep any explanation short and neutral. If that job sits next to a long gap, our guide on explaining employment gaps in remote job applications helps.

Who can be your referee if you've never had a formal job

A good referee has directly seen your work or behaviour, can be reached by email, and will respond within a few days. Job titles matter less than most applicants think.

People who usually work well as referees

• A lecturer or final-year project supervisor. They can speak to your deadlines, writing and analysis, and their university email address makes them easy to verify.
• Your SIWES, internship or NYSC PPA supervisor. This is real workplace evidence, even when the placement was unpaid or informal.
• A freelance client. One Lagos boutique owner whose Instagram you managed for six months is a legitimate work reference.
• A volunteer coordinator. NGOs, church or mosque media teams, campus clubs and tech communities all count if you did real tasks.
• A course or bootcamp instructor. This works best if they reviewed your projects rather than just teaching a class you attended.
• An open-source maintainer or community lead. They're useful for developers and writers who contributed publicly.

People to avoid

• Family members and romantic partners. Recruiters may ask "How do you know the candidate?", and the honest answer ends the conversation.
• Friends pretending to be managers. This is fraud, and it's easy to catch (more on this below).
• Anyone you haven't asked first. A referee who says "Who?" on a call can cost you the offer.
• Anyone who is hard to reach. A brilliant referee who never replies is worse than an ordinary one who replies the same day.

How to ask someone to be your referee

Ask early, keep it short, and make it easy for them to say yes. Send the job description and remind them what you did together.

Example (hypothetical): "Good afternoon, Dr Okafor. I'm applying for a remote research assistant role with a UK organisation. You supervised my final-year project on maternal health data in 2025. Would you be willing to serve as a referee? They'd likely email you a short form near the offer stage. I've attached the job description and a one-page summary of the project so you don't have to remember the details. If you'd prefer not to, I completely understand."

When someone agrees, ask for their preferred email address and phone number, and whether you may share them. Tell them the company name when you reach the reference stage so the email doesn't look like spam.

Replace references with proof employers can check

A reference is second-hand evidence that you can do the job. If you can't give the second-hand version, give the first-hand version. These are the substitutes that hold up best.

Work samples and portfolios

Show the actual output: a support email you wrote, a cleaned dataset, a design, a code repository, an article with your name on it. Add one line of context to each sample: the brief, what you did and the result. For how to structure this when you have no job history, see our guide on proving your skills when you have no work experience.

Paid trials and test tasks

Treat any skills test as your reference. Do it properly and deliver on time. Then, at the reference stage, you can say: "You've seen my work directly in the trial task. I'm happy to do a further short paid task if that helps."

LinkedIn recommendations

LinkedIn lets you ask your connections to write a recommendation that appears on your profile. As of October 2026, you send the request from your profile's Recommendations section or from the connection's profile, state your relationship and your position at the time, and add a personal message. You can only have one open request per connection.

Recommendations don't replace a formal reference check, but they help in two ways. Recruiters see them before they ever contact you, and they confirm that real people vouch for you. Write a specific request ("Could you mention the onboarding emails I rewrote?") so you don't get "Great guy, very hardworking."

Platform reviews

Client reviews on freelance marketplaces are public, dated and tied to paid contracts, which makes them strong evidence. Link to your profile in your CV and mention them when references are requested. Our guide on showing freelance experience on a remote job CV explains how to present this work.

Documents that confirm your history

When nobody from an old job can be reached, documents can confirm the facts a basic reference would cover:

• Offer letter, appointment letter or contract
• Payslips, or bank statements showing salary credits (hide balances and unrelated transactions)
• Pension statement from your PFA showing employer contributions
• NYSC discharge certificate and PPA posting letter
• Invoices and payment records for freelance work
• Course certificates that have a verification link or ID

Offer these, don't send them unprompted, and only send them once you've confirmed the employer is real. Never share your BVN, card details or banking login. The FTC also advises against putting bank details on applications before an interview, because early requests can signal a job scam.

How to answer "Can you provide references?" honestly

Say what you have, explain the gap in one sentence, and offer a substitute. Don't apologise at length and don't bluff.

On an application form

If the form insists on names, give your alternative referees and label the relationship accurately, for example "Project supervisor, University of Ibadan" or "Client, freelance social media management, 2025 to 2026". If you have no one yet, "References available on request" is better than inventing names.

In an interview

Example (hypothetical): "This would be my first formal remote role, so I don't have a previous manager to give you. I can give you my NYSC supervisor and a client I've worked with for eight months, and you've already seen my writing test. If you'd like more, I'm happy to do a short paid trial."

At the offer stage, when an old employer won't respond

Example (hypothetical): "My former employer closed in 2024, so I can't get an HR confirmation. I can share my appointment letter, three payslips and my pension statement showing their contributions, and my former team lead can confirm my role by email."

Recruiters deal with gaps all the time. A calm, specific answer with an alternative reads as honest. A vague answer reads as hiding something.

Build your first references in 60 to 90 days

If you have no referees at all, you can create two or three in a few months while you apply. The plan below is a suggested structure, not a guarantee of results.

Some tips that make this work:

• Choose tasks with a clear deliverable. "Rebuilt the donor spreadsheet and wrote the monthly newsletter for three months" gives a referee something concrete to say.
• Work in writing. Remote employers care how you communicate in email and Slack, and a referee who has worked with you in writing can speak to that.
• Ask for the reference while the work is fresh. A client is happiest the week you deliver.

For a fuller plan, including internships and open-source work, read how to build experience before applying for remote jobs.

Nigeria-specific practicalities for references

International reference checks can fail on small local details. Fix these before the employer reaches your referees.

• Time zones. A US recruiter may call at 9am Eastern, which is 2pm in Lagos in summer and 3pm from 1 November 2026, when US clocks change. A UK recruiter on GMT in winter is one hour behind Lagos. Tell your referees roughly when to expect contact.
• Email beats phone calls. International calls to Nigerian numbers often fail or ring at odd hours. Give each referee's email address first and phone number second, and ask referees to watch their spam folder.
• Professional email addresses. A university or company address is easier to verify than a personal Gmail. If a client only uses Gmail, that's fine, but also give their business website or page.
• Power and network. If a referee may be asked to join a short video call, mention it in advance so they can plan around outages.
• Ask permission before sharing contacts. Sharing someone's number with a foreign company without asking damages the relationship, even if they would have said yes.

Mistakes that turn "no references" into "no offer"

Using fake referees

Some applicants pay "reference services" or ask a friend to pose as a manager. Recruiters check email domains, look up the company and the referee on LinkedIn, and compare stories across referees. A false reference discovered after you start can still lead to dismissal. It also lies about the one thing references exist to confirm: your honesty.

Paying for reference letters or "verification"

If a recruiter says you must pay for a reference letter, a background check or "employment verification" before an offer, stop. Legitimate employers pay for their own checks. Read our guide on how to spot remote job scams in Nigeria for the other patterns, and what to know before sending your passport to a recruiter before you share ID documents.

Listing referees who weren't warned

An unprepared referee gives vague answers. Brief them in a short message with the role, the company and two or three things you'd like them to mention.

Over-explaining

One sentence about why you lack a reference is enough. A long story makes a normal situation look like a problem.

Waiting until you "have references" to apply

References come last. Apply now, build your substitutes in parallel, and you'll have them ready by the time an offer arrives.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a remote job with no references at all?

Yes, especially for entry-level and contractor roles where employers rely on tests and trial tasks. You'll need something to offer at the reference stage, though: work samples, a client, a lecturer or documents. The aim is to give the employer some way to confirm you're who you say you are.

Who can I use as a reference if I've never worked?

Use a lecturer, project supervisor, SIWES or NYSC PPA supervisor, volunteer coordinator, course instructor or anyone who has paid you for work. Choose someone who has directly seen how you work and will reply to an email within a few days. Avoid family members.

Is it okay to use a friend as a reference?

Only as a character reference, and only if you describe the relationship honestly. A friend who claims to have been your manager is a fake reference. Recruiters often ask how the referee knows you, so the relationship has to be real and described accurately.

Do remote companies actually check references?

Many do, usually near the offer stage, often by email or a short online form. Some also run formal background checks, which in the US need your written consent when a reporting company is used. Others rely mainly on trial projects. Expect to be checked and prepare as if you will be.

My old company shut down. What do I do?

Contact a former manager or senior colleague directly, as they can still confirm your role. Support that with your offer letter, payslips or pension statement showing employer contributions. Explain in one sentence that the company has closed.

Should I give my current boss as a reference?

Only after you have a conditional offer, and only if you're comfortable with them knowing. Until then, give other referees and say your current manager can be contacted at offer stage. This is a normal request that recruiters understand.

Can LinkedIn recommendations replace references?

Not fully, but they help. They show recruiters, before any formal check, that real people vouch for your work. When an employer runs a formal reference check, they usually still want to contact someone directly, so ask your recommenders whether they'd also answer an email.

Will a reference from a Nigerian company be accepted by a foreign employer?

Generally yes, if the referee is reachable and credible. A company website, a work email address and a LinkedIn profile that matches your CV make the reference easy to verify. Language and location rarely matter. Reachability and consistency do.

Key takeaways

• Missing references rarely stop a remote application on their own. References usually come up at the offer stage, after tests and interviews.
• Referees don't have to be former bosses. Lecturers, NYSC supervisors, clients and volunteer leads who have seen your work are legitimate.
• Work samples, paid trials, LinkedIn recommendations, platform reviews and employment documents can stand in for a reference.
• Answer the reference question in one honest sentence and offer a substitute. Never use fake referees, and never pay for "reference letters".
• If you have no referees, you can build two or three in 60 to 90 days through small paid gigs and defined volunteer tasks.

Next steps

Start with your list: write down every person who has seen your work in the last three years and message the best two this week. While you build your substitutes, browse remote jobs open to applicants in Nigeria. Each listing shows the company, its website and where applicants may live. After a search, you can save it to get a free daily email of new matching jobs. If you're applying with little or no formal experience, our guide to remote jobs for Nigerians with no experience shows which roles hire beginners. If you'd like a person on our team to rewrite your CV and LinkedIn profile so your projects and clients do the work a reference would, see what our CV and LinkedIn review covers, which is part of Premium.

Sources

• When an employer must give a reference / Job references, Acas
• What employers can say in a reference, Acas
• Employer background checks and your rights, US Federal Trade Commission
• Request a recommendation, LinkedIn Help
• How we hire, Automattic