I had a promising interview for a job recently, and by the end, they mentioned they would send out references when making an offer. I assumed I would receive a formal follow-up email with onboarding documents if I was selected, so I prepared my references but didn’t send them right away. After a few days of silence, I followed up, only to find out they had given the job to someone else because they thought I wasn’t interested since I hadn’t provided my references. They did say they would reconsider me if the job status changes, which gives me a glimmer of hope. The lesson here is clear: when a company asks for something at the end of an interview, I need to send it promptly, ideally within 24 hours. I won’t make that mistake again.