Job References - Are yours effective?

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Job seekers often put little or no consideration into their chosen job references, instead preferring to focus on their resume or cover letter. It’s a simple oversight to make—after all, few employers will carry out an extensive reference check. Nevertheless, most will make contact with at least a few past employers, so it’s valuable spending some time ensuring that your references will work for you.

“Good job references can make a successful job search so much easier, trust me.”

Verbal references are best

Employers prefer not to see letters, they much rather speak with a past employer. If you are suppling letters make sure they are recent and have contact details of the reference on the letter. This gives the employer the chance to still contact the reference verbally. Most recruiters these days will not accept written references without a phone number as they could of been written by the applicant.

Choose your job references

Obviously choose the references that you know will say good things about you. There is little point to risk finding employment if you are unsure what they are going to say about you. Choose references based on their role to you as most employers will want those that held a direct management role to you not co-workers.

Ensure that you references are the relevant to the position you are applying for, e.g. you would not use a sales reference for a medical position. Supply as many references as possible but remember to keep them current and relevant.

Inform your references

Fairly obvious, keep your references up to date with your job seeking activity and advise them that they maybe contacted and you are happy for them to provide a reference. This is also a great way to ensure their position and contact details are still correct.

Make sure your job references have up-to-date information

Make sure all your references have a current copy of your current resume, and are familiar with your recent training and achievements.

If you follow the above advice this will be one part of your job search that you won’t have to worry about.

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