Reference request is misleading and jeopardizing - Anonymous employee EvergreenHealth Employee Review

When I was asked to submit references, I thought this meant that I could expect a job offer shortly after that. Instead, I got a non-personalized email stating that a different candidate had been hired. I have no reason to believe that my references reported unfavorably about me. What I think happened is that EvergreenHealth uses an outside company called SkillSurvey.com to generate reports from each applicant's references, and then used those reports to help them to decide whom to hire. In the past, it was time-consuming for an employer to find out what others say, but with this new technology, it requires no investment by the employer and yet they get a wealth of information. My complaint is that this is misleading and also potentially jeopardizes applicants' current employment when he or she requests a reference from the current employer. My opinion of this organization has dropped because of this practice.