Resume – Referees

QuestionWhat if you get to the reference check in the process and your referees let you down? What happens if your referees don’t position things as you would want them to? How can you ensure that their feedback is consistent with yours and relevant to the role that you are close to securing? 

Referees are critical to closing out the opportunity, so choose referees that will enhance your prospects for success. But, that’s not enough, we need to learn how to prep our referees to ensure consistency of messaging and we need to leverage our recommendations on LinkedIn, as an initial reference check process.

Chose Carefully

So your amazing cover letter, your gift loaded resume, and well prepared story telling of your achievements got you to this stage…the referee check.  Well done. Now you are handing you’re your future opportunity to get THAT job to people you know well and have worked well with, in the past. 

Therefore, this decision to choose your referees and prime them, is critical to your success.

Remember, the decision to hire you is an economic decision…if an organisation or person is going to spend money on you and invest in your services, they need to make sure they get the decision right. More than money is on the line if they get it wrong!

• You wouldn’t pre purchase accommodation or a trip without checking trip advisor, would you?
• You wouldn’t buy a car without checking its safety record, would you?
• When you look for a job in an organisation, you find out about them, their culture and their values, don’t you? You may even use a website like – Glass Door Review, to check them out.

So therefore, it would only make sense and be of service to you, that you have 3 great referees you can trust and call upon, and of course have had regular and recent, positive contact with.

PodcastIn the Recruiters Perspective, James will discuss the role of referees and the impact that they can have on your prospects. My best referees

Control the Process

Ultimately, your referees are there to support the decision that the employer company is about to make. It would be rare that a disgruntled former employer would find their way onto the reference list, so the assumption is that the referee will be your checkered flag waver. So use the referencing process to your advantage. There are a number of reasons as to why it is important to control the access to referees:

• Process confirmation – If someone rings me for my references, it gives me a pretty good indication as to where the process is at and the degree to which I am being considered as a serious contender for the role.
• Fit for purpose – Controlling the process and the information of referee’s means that I can hand select the referees, depending on the nature of the role, my relationship with the referee and the role they currently perform.  
• Prior warning – Knowing that the referencing process is about to start, means that I can give the referee a heads up to expect the call. This gives them the time to think about the discussion and to be appropriately prepared.
• Content of the discussion – Knowing the nature of the role and hand selecting the referees, means that I can control (to a degree) the nature of the discussion. Being able to phone/email your referees and ask them to emphasise certain points about you that may be important to the role, means you add weight to the feedback the referee is likely to give.You may have a close friend, manager or employee as your best 3 referees.

What to Do

Think the magic 3’s.  Three golden rules / processes you must take when sharing your referees with that potential employer:

1. Send the position description, job ad to your referees;
2. Tell them what strengths and skills / gifts aligned to the potential role, you would like them to share about you; and
3. Make sure you follow up the email with a phone call prior to them being contacted by the recruiter, and that they are available to speak about you during the designated timeframe.  Have you got the best contact info for them?

Finally, thank you referees for time pre and post, regardless if you are successful or not at this opportunity.TargetDon’t forget that the LinkedIn profile has the digital referee system in place too.  Make sure yours is updated and adds value to your brand.

ActionAs per the tips above, think the magic 3’s.  Three golden rules / processes you must take when sharing your referees with that potential employer.  Write a list down of who are your best referees and follow up / connect in with them ASAP. Have you got a mentor? Maybe think about this as further development in your career positioning. 

Referees play a crucial role in helping you to get across the employment line. You have role to play in the selection, preparation and follow up of referees to ensure you maximise their potential impact. Helping them to understand what you need, will ensure that you get consistency of messages and focus on the areas of competency and character that are relevant to the role. 

Cool Stuff

How to navigate references – https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/article/8-tips-for-navigating-references

What’s next?

In the next section, we are going to gift you a few templates that you might like to use, to implement everything that we have been talking about. Remember, style is important, but more important is the content and the degree to which it has an impact on the reader. Substance over style every time.