Career Movers Series: Selecting your reference and letter of recommendation providers

In a market where there are more candidates than jobs, it is critical to set yourself apart. One way to do that is to include impactful letters of recommendation (LOR) with your application. Let former colleagues and employers speak for you rather than, like everyone else, being the sole voice for your candidacy. Even in good times, however, references and letters of recommendation can make a difference for you so it is important to ensure you are providing the best ones possible.

Before asking for references or LOR’s, consider your options. Look at all the people who could provide one and then divide them in to two categories.

For the reference category, select people who really know you and your work, will not hesitate to give a glowing reference, are good oral communicators (don’t go with people who come off as gruff or aloof), and are available on a regular basis. When working with attorneys I regularly remind candidates that some attorneys view all work with a heightened degree of scrutiny and find it hard to give glowing reviews of work. Those attorneys should not fall in the reference category. Also, if you know someone who would give a great reference, but they are horrible about returning calls and they have a very busy schedule or travel a lot, do not use them as a reference.

Any person who knows your work and can provide solid and flattering reviews, but does not rise to the level of a person who can provide a reference, should be in the LOR category. We all have someone from a previous job that knows our work, but has reservations about some of our work or our work style/personality. It is a shame to leave them out of the reference process because of those reservations so a LOR allows you to see what the person writes rather than not hearing what they provide in a reference. You can also direct them to focus their letter on certain items that you know are without reservation.

When selecting people to provide references and LOR’s think broadly and then narrow your list. Although your reference list only needs 4 to 10 names, you can ask for an unlimited number of letters of recommendation to test out who provides the best one and to have options when you need them.