References?

SniperGuy

I have an interview on thursday, and I'm supposed to bring two references. My work experience is REALLY slim, but can I ask for references from professors i've had in the past, or people that know me well? Is it ok to bring these printed out as if they had been emailed to me?

Should these be letters, or just names and numbers? I am panicky, and REALLY need this job!

Blake T

SniperGuy wrote:

I have an interview on thursday, and I'm supposed to bring two references. My work experience is REALLY slim, but can I ask for references from professors i've had in the past, or people that know me well? Is it ok to bring these printed out as if they had been emailed to me?

Should these be letters, or just names and numbers? I am panicky, and REALLY need this job!

Name:
Occupation:
Contact Details:
Relation to applicant:

I'd say go with a personal (not you best friend but your best friend's parent) and a professor. Otherwise you should go with work one obviously.

For the personal the best reference is a friends parent who is a teacher (or possibly king of the world) people seem to think teacher references are worth their salt and chances are they may know someone who went to that school. I reckon the only reason I got my apartment was because one of the people that worked at the real estate agents was taught by my reference.

SniperGuy

Putting two of those on a sheet of paper seem ok?

DaySleeper

I'd say go for three, work if available, professor and perhaps a personal or a second professor in the format suggested above. Print them on a sheet of paper with a similar header to your resumé (your name, phone number, email address, etc.) and give it to them. Before you do that, call the people you want to use and ask their permission. Perhaps tell them a little about the job for which you're applying so they will have something topical to say.

supabeast

Just get friends to lie for you. That's been the generally accepted method of providing references since the invention of language.

Cycophant

supabeast wrote:

Just get friends to lie for you. That's been the generally accepted method of providing references since the invention of language.

Although this is a horrible idea, there's a grain of truth to it.

I know last year I was looking for a summer job while still in school. I wasn't having much luck, so I ended up trying a few staffing agency. One of them (ironically, the one that ended up finding me a job) required two work references. They wouldn't accept any personal references at all. I was ok with that, until I tried calling all my previous employers back. Not one of them remembered me. Such is the joy of working retail; you can work somewhere for over a year, and still just be another face, even to managers you work directly under.

I ended up getting my girlfriend's father to pretend I worked for him for a bit. I wasn't happy doing it, but it wasn't about to get screwed out of a job because my previous employers couldn't remember me.

But by all means, try to fish up old work references first. Getting personal references from people like Professors is almost as good. Only resort to using friends and/or lying as a last ditch attempt, because starting off with your new employer by lying is never really a great idea.

nexuscrawler

Remember it's always polite to let people know you're using them as a reference beforehand.