staying clear of junk referrals

i have been searching for an administrative assistant for some time .....now in a start up such jobs are one of the most important ones since the concerned person lands up doing almost every thing. In brief he is expected to be a star . Obviously i wanted someone who came recommended -
I did know a couple of people who did something similar and did a great job of the same (but obviously was too expensive for me).
I called up one of them and told her about my requirement emphasising the fact that the person should be good...
My friend assured me that she would give me references of some good people....
And within 2 weeks i had my administrative cum office in charge...I had to interview not more than 2 people .....

that's one of big insights of references ...always get references from people who are themselves very good at their job and are in a similar job....(or themselves come referred)....
good people will always have a higher benchmark than the mediocre average guy...and hence the chances of going wrong is relatively limited ...
also getting references from people who understand the job that you are trying to fill also decrease the chances of bad references ....

If a Finance person refers a person for a SAP position - you can be assured that the finance person has in most probability merely forwarded the resume and would not have too much of a clue about the SAP person's competence (unless the resume was referred to him by a competent person... highly improbable- I would say)

This kind of approach is important for jobs which are crucial,critical and require skills which are not too easy to decipher in an interview situation