So you've applied for a new role gone through the interview process.
And an employer asks you for a reference check.
What do you do?
Reference checks are key parts in the hiring process.
Usually an employer will ask you within the last step of the interview, whether or not
they could check your references.
And it's important to know what to do when you get to that stage.
Are you ready?
Let's get started.
My name is Cindy Makita - Dodd career, strategist, and coach.
And in this video, I want to talk about why employers ask for reference checks and ultimately
the steps that you can take to prepare yourself for those references.
When they get asked, let's start by getting clear on what exactly is a reference check
and why employers ask for them a reference check is what an employer does.
Usually within the final stages of the interviewing or hiring process to check the validity of
things like employment, history, qualifications, to check your character based on what other
people say ultimately to see whether or not you would be a good fit for the role that
they are hiring for.
This is all based on third party validation.
And what this means is that instead of just what you tell the employer, you are great
at like your skills, your career accomplishments, and the likes they want to hear from other
people that have worked with you.
Whether these facts and traits and qualities are true or not do all employers conduct reference
checks.
Well, according to the society for human resource management, about 87% of companies will conduct
a reference check prior to submitting the final offer.
So as a job seeker, you need to be prepared.
Here are the exact steps you need in order to prepare for references ahead of time.
Number one, prepare both professional and personal references in advance.
This means before you even apply for a job, or as you are starting to submit applications,
you want to have your references all ready in place.
I like to recommend to my clients having three references for professional and three references
for personal let's look at the difference between the two professional references, which
you all most likely to get asked for are references from people that have worked directly with
you.
This could be from a manager or supervisor, an HR leader within your organization, or
even any leader that's a higher up.
They will usually be asked to speak a little bit more on the skills of your work employment
dates and how you performed the job.
Overall personal references could be people like business, acquaintances, volunteer leaders,
leaders of religious organizations, coaches, mentors, et cetera.
For personal references.
You want to avoid asking direct family members or significant others, personal references.
We'll usually get asked to speak a little bit more on your character and who you are
as a person.
Number two, ask these people directly full permission to list them as a reference.
It's so important that you let these people know ahead of time.
If you are going to list them as a reference so they can be prepared.
Imagine somebody calling up a past employer, asking you for a reference when you haven't
let them know that you've listed them.
It's not such a good look.
So make sure that you ask for permission ahead of time in order to list somebody as a reference,
some companies do not easily give out references.
So it's important to know from your past employers, if they are okay with you, listing them as
a reference, number three, if you've applied for a role and they've asked you for reference,
make sure that you let the person know that they might be receiving call or email.
It's super important to give that person a heads up when you've applied for a role, but
more importantly, to provide them some information about the role that you applied for.
This will allow them to speak further on why you would be a great candidate for the position.
And so they are better prepared.
I like to tell my clients to let the person that you are receiving a reference from, let
them know the job title, even send them the job description and try to highlight three
to four skills or things that you want them to speak about you.
This is key letting your referee know ahead of time.
We'll also give them an opportunity to prepare, but they can also keep an eye out or an ear
out for when they receive that phone call and they know what to expect.
And, number four as a courtesy, thank your referee for when they provide that reference.
It's super important that you take the time to say thank you because this person took
time out of their day, out of their busy schedule to provide a reference for you.
And you want to keep them in good graces.
So that in case you have another reference check, they will be willing to give it to
you again.
And a bonus tip because you stayed right until the end do not include references available
upon request on your resume.
Any employer will ask if they need a reference and in a modern resume, you do not need to
include this.
I hope that you found this video useful on job reference checks.
If you did give it a like comment any questions you have about reference checks below this
video, make sure that you subscribe to my channel for more job seeker and career related
tips.
And as usual I have free downloads and resources right below this video.
So make sure that you click and I'll see you on the other side.
Bye for now.