References are gold

Posted by
Paym Bergson
Oct 24, 2006

I am always amazed at how many references accompany resumes sent into a company - especially unsolicited. Your references are your golden eggs in the job market, sort of your last "ace in the hole". Sending these in, be it letters or a list of contacts, invites abuse of your last resort in your career search. Remember - your references support your work and reliability. By sending these out to ANY job will diminish their worth. How many times do you think your references want to be contacted? As you should be always letting your references know when you have used their letter or contact, you need to be specific about the job and who might call them. When you send a resume to a company via Human Resources - how can you tell your contact what the job is about, or what they might be asked about you?

References should be taken with you to the interview, BUT only handed over IF YOU think you'd like that job. Generally, I take mine to the interview but have only once handed them over; I normally say I will fax or email them the required documents when asked at the interview - this allows me to decide if I do want to pursue the potential contract or not.

So take control! These are YOUR references, and you should decide when and where to send them.

Please note - some types of careers do need to check on your character and reliability first - such as police work or courtroom procedures - send in one or two, and say more to follow at interview.

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