I have been consulting for over 25 years for flexibility in raising my kids. When the assignment ended it was mentioned that if I need a reference to reach out. My current assignment is coming to an end. I worked with a coach and she taught me to reach out for references. There are some I have no interest to contact it was not a good relationship and the others it has been a long time since I have been in touch. I took the template I received and started to send via LinkedIn. I kept it simple and reached out to previous colleagues and managers to asking if I can use them as a a reference and/or letter of reference. It has been a dead end. I am asking friends to be my professional reference but now I am finding it uncomfortable to ask. In the last few weeks I been depressed and saddened of this is how my career got to this point that I can’t even get anyone to respond back to me. As of now I doubt my professionalism in the workplace. . I didn't think I performed poorly and always took the critique to improve myself.