Do You Need References on your Resume?

Without references, many companies will refuse to hire you. The reason that hiring managers are so obsessed with references is that so often resumes are fake and filled with make believe jobs.

The problem is that many people write complete lies on their resumes, and employers and hiring managers know this.

For that reason, most jobs require references. It doesn’t matter if the role is for a porter in a high rise building or a marketing director. Employers want to know that the information on the resume is legitimate.

So, when applying to jobs or speaking with recruiters, you are often going to come across the topics of references. The question is how to handle that. Do you need references on your resume? If so, how do you incorporate them into the final document.

That’s what we’re going to dive into and discuss today.

Do You Need Personal References on your Resume?

First let’s discuss the difference between professional references and personal references. These are two very different things. And while some employers might be interested in personal references, the majority only care about professional references.

Here’s the thing, anyone can find a friend or acquaintance to vouch for them. It’s not that hard. But how well does that friend or acquaintance know the individuals work ethic?

On the other hand, professional references are seen as more valuable because they are from people who actually work with the person. They should have a better sense of the persons actual work ability.

A personal reference can testify that the individual is a good friend or possess some other attribute, but it can’t really comment on their work experience.

Therefore most employers are not interested in personal references and instead want a professional reference. If you are interviewing for a job, then it’s more than likely that your potential employer will ask for a set of professional references.

It can’t hurt to advertise personal references available upon request, but as a rule I advise people to leave these off of their resume except in very unique situations (such as high level Personal Assistant roles).

Do You Need Two References on a CV?

Generally speaking, yes you need to have two references on your CV. It’s just a standard number that people have decided to use.

There are several reasons why you need two references on your CV (resume).

The first is that it helps reference checkers with their job. They want to make sure that the person is not lying on their resume.

What happens with references is that the contact info will be given to reference checkers. They might be on the credentialing team, or they might be recruiters assistants or the recruiters themselves.

If you only have one reference on your resume, then the reference checker only has one person to contact. If that person does not respond, then you will never get your reference. That’s why it’s always good to list two.

The other reason that you really need two references on your resume is that is just looks better. The optics on a single reference can be a bit awkward. It’s as if you can only find a single person to vouch for you. In that case, it’s better to leave it off and have the phrase “references available upon request”…which is actually what I advise in all situations.

In some cases, the employer will want to check references before an interview. If that is the case, the you’re going to want to have your references on alert. Also, it’s a good idea

How To List References on a Resume

My first approach would be to not list references. I think it is better to simply state that you have references available upon request. There’s a few reasons for this.

First, many employers won’t bother with references until second and third round interviews.

When an employer posts an ad online (be it Indeed or Craigslist or one of the better job boards) they are flooded with applications. And most of the people applying either are not qualified or else are not responsive. So, references are never checked until after an interview and in many cases after a second or third follow up interview.

For that reason, and also for privacy, it makes sense to not list reference contact info on your resume. Besides being a waste of space, it also gives out your references contact info.

Most recruiters will attest that the only types of resumes where this is common is in manual labor, social service case work, and medical professionals including Nurses. Part of the reason that these individuals include references is that there is such a high incident of negligence, workplace misbehavior, and all around lack of professionalism, that it’s standard to check references.

Also, all of these types of works move from job to job. Nurses job hop, so it’s not uncommon for them to have ten employers in the last five years. Therefore it’s important to know if they were fired or are simply moving around for the highest pay. In professional roles, job hopping is frowned upon—but it’s standard fair in the medical field.

How To Format References on a Resume

The obvious question then is how to format references on a resume. Well, there are two ways and I’ll speak about both of them:

How to Format References When You Say: Available Upon Request

For most people, I suggest that you do not list your references. Instead, what I suggest you do is to write: “References Available Upon Request”.

That’s it. That is enough to put on your resume. It indicates that you understand that should you be requested, you will provide references for your potential employer to call.

However, it also doesn’t cause potential problems for your references. And this is especially appropriate in non-medical and non-governmental roles. If you are a professional, you should never blast out the contact info of people you have worked with.

In the medical and non-profit field, it’s a different story. Their contact info will always be their public contact (emails at Hospital domains, or .gov emails or non profit emails…all publicly available).

However, if you are an account executive and you are listing a C-Level executive that you worked under, it would be highly inappropriate to list their contact info on a resume. That resume, remember, gets blasted all over place.

Once it’s been posted on Indeed or any of the other huge job databases, then recruiters can rip it and upload it to an ATS and that info will forever after be in the systems. And those people can expect to be called for jobs, references, and business development—a nightmare situation that you should avoid.

How To Format References on a Resume When You List Contact Info

Alright, so sometimes it is important to list references with contact info on your resume. As I mentioned, if you’re working in healthcare or social services, it is more common. Simply because the population working in those fields tends to have a higher incidence of unprofessional behavior (one reason that so many healthcare and social service roles are though temp agencies, by the way).

So, it is vital that if you are a solid candidate and you are applying to be a RN or a Case Manager, that you list references…and good ones.

As any experienced nurse recruiter can tell you, all bad nurses have good references. It’s just the way that they operate.  Typically, travel RNs work together and use each other as reference. This goes the same for any medical professional that bounces from job to job. Every role from PCT and CNA to LPN and RN is filled with a network of friends and colleagues who refer each other.

As a rule, if a nurse or other medical professional cannot provide two references they are considered a liability. It’s extremely easy for nurses to get references from other medical professionals that those that cannot provide them are seen as unusable.

Likewise, in the social service sector, there is a great deal of people engaged in questionable behavior (clocking in to work then leaving to work elsewhere, identity theft of the people they case manage, etc…) that if a case manager cannot provide bona fide references then they are basically considered a do not place.

As you can tell, it is therefore very important for medical and non-profit workers to not just say that they have references available upon request, but to list them on the resume.

Where should these resumes be listed? Right at the bottom. Underneath job experience. It should be the last thing on the page. If your resume is too large to fit all of the contact info, then it is fine to shrink the font. What you want to avoid is making the resume double sided or two pages. Just keep it to one page. You don’t want your resume to be too long. If your resume is too long then you risk the problem of people not reading it.

Should You List Contact Infor For References

I tend to strongly advise against that. Even if you are listing the references by name and title.

So, let’s break it down.

If you are working in the white collar space as a professional, then it is enough to simply state that you have references.

However, if you’re in the medical or non-profit space, it might be beneficial to list your references. Again, it’s not vital, but it is more common.

However, I would advise against listing out their full contact info in any case. You can list their emails if they use public emails. But I would advise against using private emails.

You can list their names and titles and then write that contact info is available upon request.

That eliminates any of the headaches you might have when your references complain about getting called at all hours and by multiple people.