During the job search your biggest concern is the quality of these employment references from your past employers.

Sample Employment Reference Letter

It is important to start planning and preparing your employment references in advance of your job interview and not leave it until the interviewer asks you for a list of references.

Choosing the Right Job References

First off you need to strategically consider who you will ask to serve as employment references and will be best able to answer the reference check questions that a prospective employer asks.

Go here to view the Job Reference Questions an employer will commonly ask of your employment reference.

Ideally you want to organize about three to five references that meet the following selection criteria:

• People who know your strengths and abilities and who you can rely on to be positive about you. They also need to know you well enough to be prepared and able to answer any questions the prospective employer asks and to confirm your resume information.



• For candidates with previous work experience most references should come from former managers or supervisors or even co-workers who you have worked closely with. They are suitable if you feel they know you well enough to provide an accurate assessment of your work responsibilities and performance. Interns or students can call on College Professors, Teachers, Administrators, Extracurricular Advisors, Coaches and any professional people that they have had reasonable contact with such as part-time employers




• Select a good mix of people that can provide information on you from different perspectives. This helps the potential employer to get a full picture. It is quite acceptable to include references other than your previous employers. Business associates, customers and clients are also appropriate references if they have sufficient knowledge of your skills and accomplishments to answer typical reference questions. If you do community or volunteer work, members of these organizations can also be used as references.



• Avoid listing personal friends or family members as possible reference checks. Employers consider these sources of information to be unreliable for good reason! Don't list references who only know you in a social capacity, stick to people who have worked with or who can discuss your work-related qualities.



• They must be easily contactable. A potential employer will only get frustrated if they are unable to get hold of your employment references because they are out of the country, always in meetings or are just unavailable.



• References should be as current as possible. Employers generally check with your most recent jobs first and regard this as the most reliable information.