I reached out for referrals based on advice I received, but so far, I've had no luck at all. I got three referrals from colleagues I trust, but none of them have led to any responses. For the first position, I found out through my referral that they had already offered the job to someone else without even reviewing my resume. The second position was taken down for editing, and I haven't heard anything since; I suspect they might relist it with a lower salary. The third referral has been pending for two weeks, and HR hasn't even looked at it yet. I'm starting to wonder if this is typical, as I thought networking and referrals would be more effective.