By Patrick Rowan, Partner, Executive Search
Congratulations! You have a job offer. You have invested hours of your valuable time researching, preparing for and attending interviews, losing sleep, second-guessing everything you said, and agonizingly waiting for feedback. But it’s not over yet – now it’s time to provide references that will tell the recruiter how wonderful you are.
Hopefully, you have chosen your references wisely – these individuals can make or break you. It’s possible that the person calling the references will be your future boss, so your references should be able to recall and describe your accomplishments and personality in detail and outline exactly what your responsibilities were, how long you worked for them, how many people you managed, how you dealt with major decisions, conflict, and highlight competencies that might be critical in your potential new job.
Here’s some advice to ensure you’re making the best choices for your references.
Choose Wisely
The best references are individuals who directly supervised you for over a year within the past five to seven years. They know you well, and they will be more inclined to provide honest, concise feedback. As managers, they were responsible for you every day and were expected to report back to their own managers on your performance. They set objectives for you and know if you achieved them along with your strengths and weaknesses.
They also may have hired you and conducted your performance evaluations, and they understand your business and what you accomplished for them. References that supervised you in the past five to seven years will have fresher memories of you, and this will show. You may be tempted to provide a reference from a person at a high level in the organization, your manager’s people leader perhaps, someone who liked you. But their comments will be vague, and you may be asked for another reference.
Build a list of at least five references (you can use different references for various scenarios) and have backups if a reference is not available. Make sure that their LinkedIn profiles reflect what you provide as background information on them, such as dates, titles, and employers.
Ask each reference if there is anything that would cause them to provide a negative reference to ensure that your potential employer is getting only the most positive impression. If they are not comfortable, it’s better to know before you put them forward than after.
Alternatives
Sometimes a previous supervisor will not be a good reference, due to a personality conflict, or a bad experience of some sort. Explain that you are not comfortable providing a reference from that employer but be prepared with an alternate – a peer or direct report that you trust.
You should provide a reference from your current or last employer, especially if you have been there for several years and/or if you are in between jobs. Peers and former direct reports are good options, and most employers will accept them as references. If this is not accepted, say that the employer will provide dates of employment only, and push back.
There is no reason for you to provide a reference from anyone that you feel will not say positive things, or that you do not trust.
Prep Your References Early
Call or meet your references from time to time, so they know that you are actively looking for a job, and they are ready when the call comes. When you receive the offer, call them to let them know what’s happening, and send them the job description. Confirm that it is still OK for them to be called.
Be sure their email address and phone number are correct, and that they are not going on vacation. Tell them what the employer is looking for, what your strengths are, and how well you fit the role, so they can support this in the reference call.
Be Prompt
Once you receive the offer, send your list of references to the employer immediately. If you really want to impress, in addition to name, title, employer, email address, and cell number, add a description of what your relationship was with the person, when/where you worked together, and when the best time is to contact them.
This will make you appear well organized and proactive and will pre-answer questions that the reference-checker will be asking. And it will speed the process to conclusion.
Timing
You should provide references only when you know you are receiving an offer. Your reference’s time is valuable, and their contact information should be held in strict confidence.
You should have the opportunity to interview for the position and sell your strengths and know that you are the finalist before allowing a confidential conversation to happen with the people who know you best.
After the reference check is completed, call your references to thank them. Ask them what questions were asked, and what their impression was of the call. Sometimes the reference will have noticed something about the call that will help you position yourself in the offer negotiation or may help you to better understand the employer or the job. Treat your references with respect and courtesy, and they will stand with you all the way to that great next job. You might even be asked to return the favour and be a reference for them one day!