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7 Tips to Build a Professional Reference List

Navy border. White background. Magenta accent circle. Insight Global logo. Circle crop of a female job seeker compiling her professional references list.

Many employers check candidate references as a part of their standard hiring process. This allows them to gain additional insight into your character, skills, and professional abilities.

A professional reference list is exactly as it seems: a list of people who know you in an educational or professional capacity.

It’s important to select quality references who can vouch for your skills, support your overall application, and increase your chances of securing a position. Ensure that you provide potential employers with the best possible references by carefully considering your options and planning ahead as you compile your list.

7 Best Practices for Picking References

Who should you list as a reference? Who should you NOT choose as a job reference? If you’ve never compiled a professional reference list before, it can seem intimidating. However, you just need to answer a simple question: who will best represent you to employers?

Here are a few tips to guide your brainstorming and preparation process:

1. Prepare a Full List

Employers often ask for multiple references to get a well-rounded perspective on your professional behavior. Each hiring manager may request a different number of references, so it’s a good idea to compile a longer list that you can edit for each application. Aim to create a list of three to five quality references who can confidently discuss your skills. If an employer only asks for one or two references, pick out the most relevant options.

2. Use Professional Contacts

When picking out references, choose people whom you’ve worked with in a professional context. Managers, colleagues, employees, or professional mentors are all great choices. If you have limited professional experience, you can also list professors or academic advisors.

3. Don’t List Personal Connections

Avoid including friends or family on your references list. Even though these people can provide an inside perspective on your personality and character, they don’t have insight into your professional skills. Employers may also consider them to be biased because of their personal relationships with you. Focus on people with whom you’ve worked in a professional or academic context.

4. Consider Your Professional Relationship

Select references with whom you have the best possible professional relationships. If you were fired from a previous position or have a negative experience with a former boss, they may not provide you with a good reference.

Who has complimented your work before? Who have you impacted in the workplace? These professional connections are good options for your reference list.

5. Focus on Relevance

If you have multiple references to choose from, select the ones who are most relevant to the position you’re seeking. For example, you might decide to pick a former coworker who works in your current industry rather than a leader from an unrelated summer job. An industry reference may be able to provide more applicable answers to the hiring manager’s reference check questions. When you have highly relevant references on your resume, they can better strengthen your application.

6. Ask Permission Ahead of Time

Once you have a preliminary list, reach out and ask each person if they’re willing to be a reference. Explain that you’re currently in the job search process and ask if you can use them as a reference. Some people may not be available to talk with potential employers, so it’s polite to confirm their participation.

You can also briefly summarize your professional relationship to explain why you want to use them as a reference, especially if they’re a reference from earlier in your career.

7. Collect Up-to-Date Contact Information

Ensure that you have accurate contact information for each reference you provide. This avoids any awkward situations where an employer may not be able to contact the people on your list. Ask your reference to provide you with their current phone number and email to include on your reference sheet.

How to Format a Professional Reference List

If an employer asks you to submit references along with your application materials, start by creating a separate reference sheet. You can submit this sheet alongside your resume to feature your references without distracting from your main application.

Use a basic title such as “Professional References” as the header, then add a section for each reference that includes this key information:

  • Name
  • Title
  • Current Employer
  • Email Address
  • Phone Number
  • Professional Relationship

Add a space in between each reference to keep the list organized and easy to read. You can add the sheet as a second page to your resume or save it as a separate file, depending on the employer’s preferences.

Example Reference List

Here’s a basic reference list that you can use as a model when building your own:

1. Olivia Parish

Social Media Coordinator

InnoTech

[email protected]

555-555-4462

Current coworker at InnoTech

2. Caitlyn Rodgers

Marketing Manager

Blue Ridge Analytics

[email protected]

555-555-9835

Former manager at Blue Ridge Analytics

3. Dr. Jordan Gonzales

Business Professor

Dupree University

[email protected]

555-555-1832

Former professor

Getting the Best References

Building positive professional relationships lays the groundwork for positive references in the future. By carefully curating your references and approaching them respectfully with your request, you can develop a quality reference list to use throughout your job search.

Looking for additional job search resources? Insight Global offers multiple free trainings and guides for job seekers, including IG Career Academy.

Need to write a recommendation letter for an employee? We have a detailed guide on that too!