Reference Tips: Managing the Process

Most poor references are not hostile. They are vague, because a willing person was asked a specific question about work they half remember. The fix is a brief.

The brief that prevents a vague reference

Once someone has agreed, send them this. Half a page.

• The role and organisation, with a link to the posting.
• The two or three things you would most like them to be able to confirm. Not a script; a focus.
• A four-line reminder of what you worked on together, with dates and outcomes.
• Your current resume, so their version of your history matches yours.
• Who will contact them and roughly when.

Hi Bruno,

Thanks again for agreeing to be a reference. The role is Operations Manager at Kestrel Distribution and the posting is here.

What they are likely to ask about is the supplier consolidation and how I handled the vendor side. As a reminder, that ran from March to November 2023, took us from 40 vendors to 12, and the tricky part was keeping the overlapping suppliers running on the categories where a gap would have stopped a line.

Their recruiter, Marcus Adeyemi, is likely to call in the next week or so. My resume is attached.

Thanks, Adaeze

That takes five minutes and it converts a general endorsement into a specific one.

Tell them when the call is coming

The single highest-return thing on this page.

An unexpected reference call gets a cautious answer, because the person is being asked to recall detail on the spot with no preparation. A referee who knew it was coming answers fluently.

Send a short message when you know a reference is being taken. One line is enough.

The dates-and-titles policy

Very common, and frequently misread as a bad sign.

Many employers, particularly large ones, restrict what HR will confirm to employment dates and job title, on legal advice. It is a corporate policy and says nothing about you.

Handle it by disclosing it before it becomes a surprise:

Halstead’s HR policy is to confirm dates and title only. My former manager Bruno Salvatierra has agreed to speak personally, and his details are on the reference sheet.

That gives the new employer both the formal confirmation and the substantive reference. Silence on the point, followed by a bare confirmation of dates, reads worse than it should.

Reference checks are not background checks

Two different processes with different rules, and knowing which is happening tells you what to expect.

A reference check is an informal conversation with someone who worked with you.

A background check producing a report from a third-party screening company is a consumer report. The FTC’s guidance on using consumer reports requires the employer to disclose it, get your written authorisation, and give you notice and a copy before taking adverse action on the basis of it.

That pre-adverse-action step is your window to correct an error, and errors in employment records are not rare. Read anything they send rather than assuming the offer has gone. See the Work Number.

Keeping references warm

The maintenance nobody does and everybody wishes they had.

Keep three names with current personal contact details, refreshed each time you change jobs. Send an occasional message, once or twice a year, with something substantive rather than a request.

The reason is practical: asking someone cold, three years after you last spoke, is a much bigger favour than asking someone who has heard from you recently, and it produces a worse reference.

Note who has been contacted for what in the application tracker, so nobody gets called three times in a month.

Difficult situations

A manager you cannot use. Offer a skip-level, a project lead, a senior colleague from another team, or a client. Employers care about someone credible who observed your work, not strictly about your reporting line.

A role that ended badly. Do not omit the job, since verification will surface it. Provide a different referee from that period if you can, and be ready to describe the situation briefly and without blame if asked.

A reference relating to a complaint you raised. Take care and get advice. The EEOC treats retaliation for protected activity as a distinct issue, and how references are handled in that context is a conversation for someone qualified rather than a template.

A gap with no employer to reference. A client, a volunteer coordinator, or a course tutor from that period all work.

After the reference

Two things worth doing.

Thank the person, and tell them the outcome either way. People who never hear the result are noticeably less enthusiastic the second time.

And ask, if you are comfortable, whether the employer asked anything unexpected. It is useful intelligence for the next process and referees are usually happy to say.

Related

For whether to include them at all, see references on a resume. For the document itself, see resume reference formatting. For the initial ask, see how to ask for a reference.

Or get the resume ready first at Kazifi.