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[bojangles]

Why is this taboo?  I thought it was part of the networking process and could only work in one's favor.  Can someone clarify this for me?

[helpful]

Can you first clarify what you mean by the subject line?

[bojangles]

Sorry for the confusion.  What I am asking is how do you make sure you are not asking a former colleague to serve as a reference for you that could be seen as favoritism if it got out.  If you were given a campus meeting for a job at Sunshine state and you know someone who works for that University and the same department for the job that you applied for, would you ask them to serve as a reference for you?  I was told that this is dangerous and its taboo

[helpful]

It could be seen as favoritism or it could be you are stepping into a departmental culture you know little about by asking one person there to provide a letter of reference. Who knows where in the power hiearchy that person is? Even if the department has no inter-personal or political issues among the faculty, you would be putting your referee into a difficult position as others would see you as 'his/her guy/gal". And even if you get hired, you will also be tied, fairly or unfairly, in perception as allied with that person in any future disputes.

There are a million other difficulties in getting a faculty position. Why do something that complicates things not only for the hiring process, but also for future relations within the department, unneccesarily?

OP, can you point out a reason (other than the fact that this potential referee would write you a good letter of reference) to use them as reference? I frankly can see no upside to doing it.

PS Rest assured, your 'ally' in the department will probably speak up informally on your behalf in hiring discussions. But that would be their choice, not yours, and it wouldn't be in the form of a 'formal' letter of reference which has all sorts of implications.

[bojangles]

Thank you for your advice.  I will refrain from doing this.

[username2]

It is also a bad idea because if this is someone that could have theoretically voted for making you an offer, if they write you a reference letter, they might have to recuse themselves from voting. In other words, you lose an inside ally in exchange for a reference letter you could have gotten from elsewhere.