Do You Need References To Get a Job?

One of the most important parts of finding a new job is making sure you have your references in order. Many job applications will require you to list job references.

The level of job and even the industry that you are working in does not necessarily matter. Recruiters and hiring managers frequently ask for references for jobs both blue color and white color.

In fact, having a refernce is almost as important as having an id when applying for a job.

In fact, in certain industries, references are even more important. When a firm is hiring on a c-level executive, reference checks are an absolute.

Likewise, when an Executive Assistant or Compliance Officer is hired, the same sort of due diligence will be performed.

However, it’s not just white color workers who need references. Medical professionals will need to supply reference letters as part of their package to the credentialing department along with bloodwork and drug tests.

As you can see, it’s very important to have your references lined up and ready to go.

Let’s take a look at the different types of references you will need as well as how to handle references on your job search.

What Kind of References Should You have?

The first thing to clear up is the definition of reference. There are two types of references you can have. Professional references and personal references.

When it comes time to apply for a job, the majority of recruiters and hiring managers are looking for professional references.

Professional references will be references from people who you have worked with. In most cases it’s preferable that those people be people who were your supervisor. Many people will discount references from co-workers, even though that’s oftentimes the only type of reference that people can get.

Personal references are normally not accepted when applying for a job. For that reason, you need to know which professional references you will use and how you will inform them that you choose to list them as people employers can contact.

Personal vs Professional References: What’s the Difference

Personal references are friends, family, or other people who you might know outside of work. They can be used as references in many situations, but are not often used for work.

Face it, the person who is hiring someone for a human resource assistant role doesn’t care how good of a neighbor you are, or how nice of a parent you are. Those questions might come into play when you’re working on an application

Professional references, on the other hand, are more in line with what potential employers want. They are not people who are friends, they are work associates. Their commentary on your performance is going to hold more weight to a potential employer.

How Important Are References When Applying for a Job

It depends on the type of job. Blue collar workers and medical workers often have to have references. However, c-level executives and white collar workers references tend to be looked at with more scrutiny.

If you look at staffing agencies that recruiter and place for nurses or social service agencies, you will find endless employees who work in credential departments. These employees are designed to do background checks, employment verification checks, and conduct refence checks.

Part of this is due to the nature of the work. Nurses and other medical personnel, and social workers and case managers often come from non-professional environments. Sadly, there is a need to make sure that these case workers or nurses are not either lying on their resumes or in the case of drug tests and background checks, to make sure they are not unfit to work.

Nurses and other medical professionals tend to keep letters of reference on hand. It’s well known in the field that references are required, so most nurses exchange references for each other. Likewise with case managers.

Because of the difficulty in obtaining references from a supervisor when working with nurses, case workers, and other employees, it is often required to run extensive background checks, obtain employment verifications, and other proofs of competency.

For normal administrative roles, it’s not essential that a person undergo background checks, drug testing, and other strict measures. That is something that is reserved for blue color work such as nursing, case managers, laborers and social workers.

Should You Give References to a Temp Agency or Staffing Firm?

As a rule, you should only supply professional references, and ideally you should provide references from supervisors.

That said, you do not need to give references up front to recruiters or hiring managers. Most people understand that it’s not appropriate to provide references contact info to anyone who inquires.

This information is sensitive and that’s why people often write: references available upon request.

References, either personal or professional, do not need to be handed over to recruiters or temp agencies unless there is a viable job option on the table.

In fact, many staffing agencies and temp agencies often ask for references from people. This is poor practice and one that intelligent people avoid doing.

Why?

Well, there are an number of reasons.

Frist, you do not want recruiters and staffing agencies to have access to people’s contact info. Staffing agencies are notoriously dirty when it comes to business ethics. Once they have the contact info for someone, that person is entered into their internal database and then might be forever contacted and solicited about jobs.

Second, you don’t want your references burned out by being contacted over and over again. That can annoy your reference. You only want your references contacted when there is a legitimate need. The reference checkers should only reach out to them when the job is a real possibility.

What you don’t want is someone to reach out to your reference just as a preliminary step. That can burn them out and sour them on wanting to communicate with you.
The fact is that most staffing agencies are not honest. Recruiters might be honest, but the owners of staffing agencies, especially those that deal with medical staffing or temporary work, do not operate on a high level of expertise.

What To Do If You Don’t have Any References for the Job Application

So, if you don’t have any references for your job application, you might be panicked. Well, don’t be.

First, odds are that you are seeking an entry level job. Most people who have some work experiences are able to find a reference.

If you have been working for several years and are unable to provide a reference, then that’s an issue.

Why? If you have only been able to find temporary assignments over and over, then you should make it a point to try and ask someone at your next assignment to be a reference. Of course, don’t ask them right away, ask them after a few days working there.

You could also ask a nice recruiter to be a reference. Now, recruiters at staffing agencies are going to be hard to get a reference from. The reason being that most staffing agencies are run by individuals who make it a mandate to never give a reference.

This sounds harsh, and it is. The reason most recruiters are told to never give a reference is that the staffing agency doesn’t want to be responsible for negative feedback. But in most instances, especially in staffing agencies that fill temp roles, the reason the people who run staffing and temp agencies won’t give references is that they do not want their temps to work elsewhere.

That’s the ugly truth that most recruiters find out when working for staffing agencies that fill temporary roles. The goal is to always keep the person on as a temporary worker.

Staffing agencies that place people as temporary workers only make money if a person works through them as a temporary worker. They never want the person to become a permanent person.

More than a few naive recruiters have learned that if you want to place people in direct hire roles, stay clear of staffing agencies. By nature, staffing agencies only want to have long term temporary workers. They make less money when a person becomes a permanent employee.

This is different from executive search firms. These firms do not work with temporary placements. They are headhunters who work with higher level roles.

It’s important to determine if you’re dealing with a staffing firm or a executive search firm. They are two different beats and cater to much different cliental.

If you really don’t have a refernce, then use a friend or associate and coach them on the idea that you did some persoanl work for them in some capacity. Most people, by the way, have very shakey references. Friends and family are always providing references for people claiming that the person worked with them.

Unless the company runs an official employment verification through the governnent, they will have no way to tell. And the only types of companies that run emploemeny verifications tend to be non-profits, government busineeses, and medical facilities.

If you’re just trying to get a stable job and need a refernce, and your friend or family memember is willing to say you worked with them, then you can list that. The ideal situation is if they own a small business or are the manager for a small business and can say with authority that you worked there for a short time.

Normally I advise people not to lie on their resume, but there are situations where it’s necessary.