How Attestation Works
A Layover reference is not a recommendation. It is a structured attestation by a named, identity-verified former manager — recorded element by element, sealed into the credential, and attributable to a real person.
The manager is identity-verified
Before anything they say enters the record, the manager verifies their identity through LinkedIn or verified-email authentication and confirms the working relationship. Their name, title, and verified identity are bound into the credential’s seal. There is no anonymous input anywhere in the protocol.
The manager rules — they don't rate
Layover does not ask a manager to score a former report on a 1-to-5 scale. Scores from a single uncalibrated rater aren’t comparable across records, so the protocol asks for something stronger: factual rulings on specific claims. The manager verifies milestones, answers the rehire question, and confirms tools — each a concrete judgment they are personally accountable for.
What the manager signs
The vouch concludes with a signed ignition switch carrying this literal statement, recorded verbatim into the audit ledger:
“The milestones, rehire assessment, and any commentary on this clearance reflect this candidate's actual work under my direct supervision.”
The full standard — credential classes, the Inspector protocol, and every party’s attestation — is documented in the Layover Audit Standard.
Milestone Verification
The candidate authors the claims; the manager rules on each one. Nothing publishes on the candidate’s say-so alone.
Candidate-authored, deliberately constrained
During onboarding the candidate writes up to three milestones — each a single 50-to-100-character statement of something they actually did, with a date. The length constraint is the point: a milestone must be specific enough to be falsifiable, because a real person is about to be asked to put their name on it.
Three rulings, per milestone
The manager rules on each milestone individually:
- Verify as written — the candidate’s exact wording publishes, manager-attested.
- Verify with an edit — the manager rewrites the milestone to what they can personally confirm; the manager’s wording publishes, marked as verified with a manager edit.
- Decline — the milestone never publishes, on any surface.
At least one, or no reference
A reference cannot complete with every milestone declined. At least one milestone must be verified — as written or with an edit — for the vouch to submit. A reference with nothing the manager would stand behind is not a reference.
Provenance is preserved
Each published milestone carries its ruling. A milestone the manager edited is labeled as such — the record never presents a manager’s correction as the candidate’s original claim, or the reverse.
The Rehire Assessment
Every reference call ever placed is circling one question. The protocol asks it directly: would you hire this person again?
Three answers, recorded verbatim
The manager answers Yes, Yes, with reservations, or No. The answer is required — a reference cannot be filed without it — and it is recorded into the sealed record exactly as given. Any nuance lives in the manager’s own words, delivered with the full credential a recruiter unlocks.
Why this is the question
A rehire answer is a falsifiable commitment by a named person, not a vibe on a scale. It is the single highest-signal output of a reference — and because the manager is identity-verified and on record, it cannot be manufactured, inflated, or attributed to someone who never managed the candidate.
Tools & Commentary
The remaining elements follow the same rule as everything else in the protocol: proposed by the candidate or offered by the manager, but only ever published under the manager’s confirmation.
Manager-confirmed tools
The candidate proposes up to five tools or technologies they used in the role. The manager confirms each one at a stated proficiency — Familiar, Proficient, Advanced, or Expert. Unconfirmed proposals don’t publish. The result answers the question recruiters actually ask of a reference: what can this person genuinely use?
Commentary — optional, never required
The manager may add a short note in their own words — at most 140 characters. It is optional and never gates completion: the protocol’s signal comes from the rulings, not from prose a busy manager might pad to satisfy a form.