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REFERENCES – THE SECRET WEAPON TO CAREER SUCCESS
By Jodi Standke
References – please submit your references. Do you have any references? How many times have you been asked for references – proposing to a new client, bidding on an RFP, interviewing for a new job, applying for
membership or a board seat. We all get the same question, but our reaction to the question makes all the difference.
References can make you, break you or keep you in neutral. In this hypercompetitive, constantly evolving environment, find out how to make references your secret weapon in achieving career success.
What a Difference a Reference Can Make. There are three kinds of references: Make You, Break You and Keeping You in Neutral.
REFERENCES THAT MAKE YOU
This reference happily reports his or her experience working with you and provides detailed examples which also meet the requirements of the new position or project you are seeking.
It is not enough for a positive reference to simply know who you are when someone calls on your behalf. Make You references are those that can speak to specific examples
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of performance, the difference you made or a success you contributed to. They are the references that can share a story demonstrating who you are in the workplace. They create the confirmation that your interview process has already established and give the extra push employers need to want to hire you.
REFERENCES THAT BREAK YOU
This reference either merely confirms your dates of employment, title and compensation, or worse, this reference remembers working with you for all of the wrong reasons – and boy, do they remember every detail of working with you!
OK, everyone thinks: “Who would give out a reference that wouldn’t say good things about you?” Guess what – it happens, especially in the Midwest where passive aggressive communication is common. To your face someone may say, “Sure, I will be a reference for you,” but then when the call comes, and pressed with “Off the record, tell me how it really was working with them,” they do tell, a with selective memory. Our perceptions are powerful and while good experiences become better, bad experiences become worse. Much worse.