I think people should be aware that this goes on, in the form of hiring managers saying "this candidate worked at X, my buddy/coworker/neighbor worked at X, I wonder what their opinion of this candidate is".
I would hope that people who do this only call people they know well and trust to keep the discussion confidential (or at worst, tell the candidate "hey, your prospective employer asked what I thought of you, they must be getting serious about hiring you").
On the other hand, I agree that doing this kind of reference-seeking with total strangers is really creepy, and stupid. If someone I didn't know called me out of the blue this way, I'd definitely tell my friend "your prospective employer called me, did you give my name as a reference?".
Still, the first kind of reference-checking is a good reason to do your best to leave every job on good terms (not just with your boss, but with coworkers as well), if at all possible. You never know who might talk to whom down the road.
I would hope that people who do this only call people they know well and trust to keep the discussion confidential (or at worst, tell the candidate "hey, your prospective employer asked what I thought of you, they must be getting serious about hiring you").
On the other hand, I agree that doing this kind of reference-seeking with total strangers is really creepy, and stupid. If someone I didn't know called me out of the blue this way, I'd definitely tell my friend "your prospective employer called me, did you give my name as a reference?".
Still, the first kind of reference-checking is a good reason to do your best to leave every job on good terms (not just with your boss, but with coworkers as well), if at all possible. You never know who might talk to whom down the road.