Choosing who to ask to be a reference for you is important. It is important to select your references carefully so that you get a good recommendation. When choosing references, think of people who know you fairly well and are knowledgeable about your work skills. Your references should be people who will have positive things to say about you.
WHO are references?
Your references could be a:
- Teacher or professor
- Assistant principal or principal of your high school
- Mentor
- Job coach
- Past or current supervisor
- Past or current co-worker
- Someone who you did volunteer work for
Typically, references are not family members because potential employers may see them as favoring you because you are related to them. However, if you would like to include one family member as a reference, that is OK as long as you also include one or two references who are not family members.
HOW MANY references do you need?
You should be prepared to provide between 2 - 4 references. If references are required as part of the hiring process, your potential employer will let you know how many they want. However, you should count on asking more than one person to be a reference for you.
Before you give your potential employer any reference information make sure you contact your reference person(s) to let them know that your applied for a job and that they might be contacted by phone or via email by a person from that company. |
