Guest Author - Kristen Welcome
We all know that it’s important to choose references who think well of you, who will say complimentary things when contacted by a potential employer. Beyond this, however, many job seekers feel lost. If you are struggling over which people in your life would make the best references, here are a few tips to bear in mind.
1. Choose people that have worked with you.
You may feel tempted to list your father’s best friend or a neighborhood friend that has known you since you were a child. With very little exception, however, this can be more detrimental than helpful. Although family friends may indeed say very complimentary things about you to a potential employer, the hiring manager is expecting to hear from people who are intimately acquainted with your work history and can address questions about your performance in the workplace. If they call a reference only to find themselves talking to your next door neighbor, it can send an unprofessional message.
There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. If your next door neighbor happens to work at the company where you hope to get a job or has a good relationship with the hiring manager, it may be worth your while to include this person in your list of references. Also, if you are new to the workforce and can’t include references from a former workplace, it may be necessary to use other references such as teachers or people who know you from volunteer work or from your community.
2. If you can, include at least one reference from your most recent place of employment.
Of course, it is not always possible to include a reference from your most recent place of business, since people often look for new jobs before they have tendered their resignation at their current workplace. If this is the case, it may be difficult to find a reference at your current job and still keep your job search under wraps.
Where possible, however, it’s best to have at least one reference from your most recent job. Hiring managers prefer references who can address your most recent work performance. This also helps to prevent skepticism on the part of a hiring manager, who may otherwise assume that you are not leaving your current job by choice.
3. Include at least one supervisory reference.
If all of your references are people who had job titles similar to yours, a hiring manager will assume that you did not get along well with authority figures. For this reason, your reference list should include at least one past supervisor who can attest to your ability to follow directions and work as a team player.
4. Consider references that were not directly in your chain of command.
Although it’s important to include at least one supervisory reference, there may be others in your place of business who are intimately acquainted with your job performance, even if they did not immediately supervise your work. Consider employees in other areas of the company that can address questions about your work.
Above all, be sure to ask potential references whether they would feel comfortable providing a reference for you. If they respond immediately and positively, it’s a good sign that they will speak highly of you and do their best to help you land the job.
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