If you are looking for employment, you are probably going to be asked to provide professional references. The testimony provided by your references could make a major difference in whether or not you are hired for the position of your dreams. You should make certain to select your references carefully so a hiring manager will end up talking to someone who can truly help enhance the chances you’ll be chosen for the position.
When you are selecting your professional references, you should:
- Choose recent and relevant employers. Ideally, the person you select as a professional reference will be someone who you have worked for, or with, recently so they can attest to your current strengths and abilities. If your professional reference is someone you haven’t worked with for a long time, a hiring manager may wonder why you don’t have any current business associates willing to vouch for you.
- Make sure your references truly know about your abilities. You want to choose professional references who know you well and can actually provide concrete details to an employer about your capabilities. The more specific a reference is in describing your talents, the more likely it is that the hiring manager is going to take his opinion seriously.
- Ensure your references will portray you accurately. You want a professional reference who has seen you in a professional setting and knows what you can actually do for a business.
- Talk with your references first. Don’t list someone as a reference until you have spoken to them and gotten their OK. Otherwise, you could end up listing someone who is unwilling to talk you up or who may even have negative things to say about you.
- Give your references information on the job you’re applying for. Whenever possible, provide some information about the job you’re applying for to the person serving as your reference. This will help the person who is attesting to your abilities to know what core skills and strengths to focus on.
Companies usually ask for references once you’ve had an interview and are pretty far into the hiring process. You need to get your foot in the door with employers who are looking to hire people like you in order to get to the stage where your references can help you close the deal. High Profile can help.
Call our staffing company today to learn more about the ways in which we can assist you in finding employment in Dallas, Fort Worth and surrounding areas. You can reach us at 972-991-7900 or contact us online to talk with staffing professionals about exploring career opportunities that will help you achieve professional success.
