Most hiring mangers like to see that you have references available on your resume. Seeing that you have references that you trust to give a good word about you can speak volumes considering the hiring manager has notmet you or has only just met you. Including previous coworkers, teachers, andotherprofessional connections on your resume is a must. Here’s a few tips and considerations that you should be aware of when choosing and adding references to your resume.
Choose References That You Have a Professional Background With
The main goal of your resume is to give a sense of your professional background and ability to the hiring manger. Using references that know you well in a professional standing will ensure that the feedback that the hiring manager receives from them will be helpful in making the decision to hire you. For this reason, your best friend/hype man is not going to be a good addition to your resume references.
Choose References That Will Be Honest About You
This one is important because the hiring manger will be able to tell via their communication with your references whether or not they are just blowing smoke about you. Your references need to be people that will be honest and assuring about your abilities, but also your weaknesses. Your references need to be able to outline your strong suits but at the same time not praise you to the point of perfection.
Choose References That You Know Will Speak Well of You
You shouldn’t choose a previous coworker that you never got along with as a reference to help you land a new job, obviously. You want people who know you well in a professional sense and who can honestly speak highly of you. The last thing that you need when potentially landing a new job is being turned down because of an overwhelmingly bad word from one of your own references.
Give Your References a Heads Up
When the hiring manager gives one of your references a call, they don’t need to be completely caught off guard. Giving your referencesa heads up that you will be adding them to your resume will ensure that they know to be prepared to give their good opinion of you.It will not look good to the hiring managerif your reference is not prepared to speak on you and has to wrack their brain to remember how well of a person you are.
Your references need to be the icing on the cake of your resume. Use these 4 tips when choosing and adding your references to ensure that they will be nothing but helpful toyou andthe hiring manager. Although hiring managers might sometimes choose not to contact your references based on either the seniority of the job or their confidence in their impression of you, you should always assume that every hiring manager that reviews your resume will be contacting all of your references.
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