5 Actions To Treat Your References Like Royalty

5 actions to treat your references like royalty This is not your ordinary career site. I help the corporate worker who toils away in the company cubicle make career transitions. You want to do your job well, following all the rules -- . The career transitions where I can help you center on three critical career areas: How to land a job, succeed in a job, and build employment security. Top 10 Posts on Categories Quality job references are gold. So why do we treat our job references so poorly? I’ve given a lot of job references in my career â€" and no one has a process down outside of, “Can I use you as a reference?”. Since companies now rarely give references (outside of dates of employment and job titles), the references from your coworkers and former managers are that much more important to solicit and maintain. While the (incredibly) intrusive background checks get you to even in getting the job, the job references can kill your opportunity before the background check is even done. Let’s build a process for treating your references like royalty â€" you will be so outside the norm of how it is done, you’ll produce a standard for everyone else who asks for a job reference from yours. You have two objectives in treating your reference like royalty: Prepare them for the possible reference call, and, keep them informed about the position so they get closure to what they did. You DO ask people to be a reference, don’t you? Most people do. But then I had a person meekly ask me again after submitting me as a job reference…three years after asking. At least I didn’t get a call out of the blue… I might know what you did when you worked for me…but be clueless as to what experience came before â€" or after. But the rest of your resume is important for your reference to know because it gives that person context…how you progress in your career so you can show that to the person calling. It also gives them time to look at your reference and then ask you any questions about what is on it so, if asked, you can explain it to the caller. Why people don’t provide this is beyond me. The job description is the key document that will help your reference relate your skills, results, and experience to meeting what the company wants to see in a person. When all you do is say the position you are applying for to your reference, it provides zero information about what the job is about, what the company does, and how you think you fit into it. But a resume â€" and a job description â€" allows your reference to understand how your resume compares to the job description and helps that person better relate their answers to what is being asked about by the caller. So this requires â€" wait for it â€" a conversation with your references. I know, I know, we don’t have conversations anymore, but this is a good one to have. You see, every position and candidate has strengths and weaknesses going into a new job. The job interviews usually bring those out.  And if you do good job interviews and ask good questions, you will have a good idea of the big need that needs filling in the new position. That kind of information is vital to your reference. It allows that person to focus on how you best fit the position from the reference’s viewpoint and allows that person to demonstrate your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses. But without the interview information, your reference won’t understand the context of the questions being asked and could very well give the wrong kind of answer to the question because he or she didn’t understand what went on in the interviews. You’ve gotten this far along the job search path…and then don’t tell the person advocating for you for the position what went on during the interview? It’s almost a crime. I’m trying hard to remember, but I believe not one person has ever followed up with me to let me know whether or not they got the job. Now, I’ve let the candidate know whether or not the company called me for a reference. If they did, I give the candidate the low down on questions asked and what I said â€" hey, communications is a two-way street. But I don’t think any candidate ever let me know the outcome of getting the job or not. You know the other reason providing follow-up is important? Here is a person in your business network who went out on a limb with their time and reputation to help you out. With no followthrough, did your reference’s level of commitment to your career and your well being go up? Or go down? Ummm…down. I helped you and you did…nothing. Not even a thanks. Cubicle Warriors do the hard work of maintaining and supporting their business networks. A great way to do that is make your reference’s job easy to do to  help advocate for you. And then follow-up so they know that what you did was important for you. It makes all the difference. Have you ever been a job reference? What was the experience like? This is not your ordinary career site. I help the corporate worker who toils away in the company cubicle make career transitions. You want to do your job well, following all the rules â€" . The career transitions where I can help you center on three critical career areas: How to land a job, succeed in a job, and build employment security. policies The content on this website is my opinion and will probably not reflect the views of my various employers. Apple, the Apple logo, iPad, Apple Watch and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. I’m a big fan.