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All About Your Professional References

We all know that you have to have a good bunch of professional references if you want to get hired for a job, but few know what your professional references should be. It just isn’t enough that you have a couple names and phone numbers of people who once may have known you-they have to be solid references. Moreover, if they don’t have the right qualities, professional references could easily be keeping you from getting jobs that you apply to. Let’s take a closer look at the subject of professional references to help you understand all you should know about them if you want to get your next job.

Make Them Professional- The first rule of listing good references to make sure that they are-in fact-professional references. A potential employer is wholely aware that someone listed as a part of your professional references with no relation to you other than friend or nothing at all, means nothing to credit your professional work history. Make sure that all of the references you list are from a job you have held. They can be employers, managers/supervisors, and even coworkers, but they must be from a place of employment.

                                                                  Make Them Count- Another important rule to make sure that the                                                                   people you do choose from previous employment are people that                                                                   you worked closely with, and will be willing to give you a good                                                                   reference. Just because you worked with or for them does not mean                                                                   that they will automatically give you a glowing reference, and in the                                                                   case of professional references- a bad reference is way worse than                                                                   no reference at all. Make sure you know these professional                                                                   references fairly well, and have asked them-either previously or just                                                                   before you most recent job-if being a professional reference is                                                                   something they are comfortable with. Moreover, by doing so, you get                                                                   a good idea by their response how they will fair as one of the people                                                                   to vouch for you.

                                                                  Let Them Know- One of the biggest mistakes that job seekers make                                                                   when applying to jobs is that they do not let their professional                                                                   references know that they will be contacted for a potential                                                                   reference. Two things must be addressed if you are to respect your                                                                   reference and gain a good reference from them. The first is that they must know that they are one of your listed references. In many cases, people just jot down someone they worked for in order to just have a reference, and when these references are called-they either don’t know who the employee is or think of them blandly. Secondly, you should always check in with your professional references while job seeking so that they are prepared to give you a good reference when the time comes. This is particularly helpful in the case of not having used a reference in awhile or not having working with/for your reference for quite some time.

Be Truthful- Lastly, by choosing appropriate references and letting them know they are chosen, you must ensure that you are truthful with both them and the potential employer. For example, if you tell a potential employer that one of your professional references was someone who worked for you instead of them actually working above you- an employer will find out. Moreover, if you list a working relationship with a particular reference as stellar, and it was anything but. Again, the potential employer will find out. In this case-and this is probably why so many job candidates miss out on positions they seek-the truth will always be revealed, because 9.5 times out of ten, your potential employer not only calls your references, but may depend upon them for reason to hire you or not.