I recently applied for two positions at a natural gas supplier and a garbage company, both in customer support and bookkeeping roles. To my surprise, the application process required me to provide three professional references right from the start. I've been job hunting on and off for the past year, and this is the first time I've encountered this requirement in the initial application stage. Previously, I had only given references when I was offered a job. A friend mentioned that this is common for government positions, but he hadn't seen it in the private sector. I feel a bit uneasy about giving out my references' contact information without even having an interview yet. I didn't fill out the references section because it felt too premature, and now I'm worried that I might be disqualified for not completing the application. Am I overthinking this?