EXPLORE CAREERS
References
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF REFERENCES
CHARACTER REFERENCE
Also known as a personal reference, a character reference is a person who will vouch for your personal character. This person is usually someone you know outside work, who is not a relative or a social friend. This reference could be someone you’ve helped or someone who knows you very well, like a teacher, religious leader, coach, or club leader.
PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE/EMPLOYER
A professional reference is someone who will vouch for your professional work ethic and workplace experience. This is someone you have known in a professional context, like a former boss or supervisor at a place you worked or volunteered.
TOP TIPS WHEN CHOOSING REFERENCES
Think ahead. Although reference checks typically happen during the final stages of the hiring process, it’s a good idea to be proactive. Employers usually ask for two or three references. If employers want more or fewer references, they usually say so.
Seek their permission. Think about who your references could be, ask if they would be willing to be a reference for you and let them know that you’re applying for jobs.
Pick someone who knows you well. This will allow the employer to get an accurate, honest, and realistic description of your personality and work ethic. You want a reference who can easily speak about your strengths and abilities.
Update your reference list often. Make sure your references are as current as possible, and link them to your most recent job, volunteer, or community experience.
Presentation counts. The employer will be contacting your references, so you’ll need to provide the employer with a reference list. This usually includes their full name, address, and phone number. This can be their personal information or business information, whatever the reference is comfortable with providing.
Your reference list should be on a clean sheet of plain paper. Use an easy-to-read, 12 point font like Arial or Times New Roman to match your resume.
Say “thank you”. Your reference is doing you a favour by speaking to an employer to help you land a job. Be sure to thank them for helping you out.
Sub Heading – CV Ground Rules
It is useful to start with the ground rules for a good CV, based on research with large and small, regional, national and multi-national employers and what they say they want.
Format rules
- Two pages A4 (third page only if absolutely necessary, but try to avoid this).
- Perfectly word-processed document in fairly standard font and size (not italic), justified (both margins straight) and well laid out.
- Logical, easy-to-read layout with lots of white space between sections for definition.
- Block heading with essential personal information and contact details. Avoid putting age, marital status and other none relevant details.
- Bold or highlighted headings for all sections.
Content and substance rules
- Place a career objective (sometimes given the heading ‘profile’) or self-marketing statement underneath the central heading. Essentially this is who you are and what you want.
- Analyse your skills and achievements.
- Write an interesting, human ‘personal’ section for the end of the CV.
- Use positive, dynamic, concise, precise language.
- Give evidence for skills and abilities where possible.
- Juggle sections around within the main body of the CV to emphasise or de-emphasis certain areas. For example, on younger people’s CVs the education section often precedes the employment section, but for more experienced, less qualified applicants work history might be better placed first to de-emphasise a less impressive education history.
- Decide on chronological or reverse chronological (starting at the present and working backwards date-wise is most usual) for the CV, according to particular needs.
