How to Handle References on Your Resume [Full Guide]

When applying for jobs, it’s essential to have references on your resume.

People who can vouch for you can help you win a job? By speaking to your skills and character, they’ll let your potential employer know that you’re a worthwhile hire.

If you’re curious about how to handle resume references, look no further. We’ll tell you everything you need to know, and we’ll explain what you should and shouldn’t do.

Let’s get started!

1. Carefully Select Your References

If you want to land your dream job, choose your references carefully.

The people you ask should be able to vouch for your skills as an employee. So, it’s better to ask people with whom you have a professional relationship.

That means you shouldn’t ask a family member or friend. Instead, ask a boss, co-worker, or a professor from your university to recommend you for a position.

You should also choose your references based on the job you’re applying for. It's best not to ask a boss in an industry that doesn’t line up with the kind of work you'd like to do.

But if you don’t have a lot of job experience, asking a boss in an unrelated the industry is your best option.

2. Get Accurate Contact Information

If a person agrees to be a reference, make sure you have the correct contact information.

They won’t be much help if you can’t provide a way for the hiring manager to contact them!

Here’s a list of contact info you should include on your resume:

• Their full name
• The name of the company they work for
• Their current job title
• Their business address
• Accurate contact information such as a phone number and email
• Their relationship to you.

If you haven’t spoken to a reference in a while, reach out to them. Make sure that their address and phone number haven’t changed.

It wouldn’t hurt to catch up with them, either. A past co-worker or boss might be curious about how your career is going. A quick update can give them some things to discuss when they talk to your hiring manager.

3. List References Correctly

Believe it or not, there’s actually a correct way to list references on your resume.

The the hiring manager is likely to call the person at the top of the list first. So, you should list your references in the order that you want the manager to call them.

You should also make a list specifically for private job searches (more on this below).

Put References With Outstanding Reviews on Top

At the top of your list, you should put down a few people who you know would give you a fantastic review.

Of course, if someone has already agreed to be a reference, they’re going to say good things about you. But some references may provide better reviews than others.

It’s likely a hiring manager won’t contact everyone on your list. That’s why you should list the people who will give you glowing reviews first.

Have a List of References for Private Job Searches

It’s hard to ask your boss for a reference when you’re still working at the company. If you’re uncomfortable asking your current boss, use people from past jobs.

If your boss finds out you are thinking about quitting, that could be bad news! So it’s best to keep your job search discreet by leaving your current employer out of it.

4. Send Your Resume to Your References

Even if someone agrees to be a reference, they may not know everything about you. Give them a copy of your resume to let them know about all of your accomplishments.

Yes, they can probably attest to your skills as an employee. But if they want to reference your other skills, your resume will help them to do so.

If you’ve written a strong resume, it should outline your talents, skills, and experiences. Your references can refer to it while they’re talking to your hiring manager.

In order to highlight all of your skills and accomplishments, your references need to have a copy.

Side note: If you know if a company will contact your reference soon, give them a heads up.

5. Only Provide References if Necessary

Don’t send references unless a job description asks for them. The manager won’t call them until the very end of the hiring process, so they don’t need them right now.

Once you are invited to interview for the position, then you should bring your list. If the hiring manager requests it via email, be sure to send it over in a timely fashion.

Keep in mind that a hiring manager might not ask for them during your interview. Or, they might wait until they've narrowed down their list of candidates to a few people before they reach out to references.

Regardless of the scenario, it doesn’t hurt to go into the interview prepared. But, it’s best not to offer up your references unless they ask.

In Summary

When you apply for jobs, you need to have a list of people who can vouch for you. This is how your future employer will verify that you’re a strong candidate.

Put careful thought into your choices. Based on who you select, make sure you have their correct contact information.

Strong references can help you stand out from the rest of the applicants when you’re applying for work. Even though not all companies ask for them, it never hurts to have some people lined up just in case.

Now, it’s time to get to work. Start jotting down the names of some people who are aware of your value. You’re a talented, hard-working professional, so they’ll have no problem putting in a good word for you!

Author Bio:

Angus Flynn has five years of Property Management experience. His ability to consistently deliver white-glove service to his residents and prospects has propelled him into a successful career that now finds him leading the team at 837 Harvard.

7 Resume Formatting Tips to Double Your Chances of Being Noticed

Hate your boss? Looking to make a career change? Moving to a new city?

Whatever your reason, if you’re looking for a new job, there’s one thing you’ll need:

A strong resume.

Whether you have an old resume that needs polishing or wants to create a brand-new one, keep reading. Here are seven resume formatting tips to double your chances of being noticed!

1. Keep It Clean

While resume formats vary slightly from industry to industry, there’s one rule that holds true for all:

It must be easy to read.

Don’t get fancy with your fonts or styling. Stick to one or two professional, easy-to-read fonts like Calibri, Cambria, Garamond, or Book Antiqua.

Keep your headers simple as well: Education, Experience, Summary, and Skills. You want the person reading it to be able to identify each section with ease.

If you’re starting from scratch or if your resume is a bit outdated, choose a modern template. Just make sure that it’s appropriate for your field or profession.

2. Focus on the Top Third of Page One

The top third of the first page is going to get the most attention. So, make sure it is clear, concise, and inclusive of all of your most important information.

This part of your resume should include your contact info, career summary, and the details of your most recent job. Be sure to include some bold, attention-grabbing phrases!

If you have a resume from ten years ago that you’re looking to polish, there’s a good chance it includes an “objective” portion at the top. It goes without saying that your objective is to get the job, so ditch that in favor of a career summary.

3. Add a Skills Section

The more resumes an employer receives, the more likely it is that they will scan them looking for relevant information.

Highlighting your skills allows them to do exactly that.

Without having to read through all of your previous job experiences, a skills section lets the employer know exactly what you bring to the table.

You can detail your skills in a bulleted list or create subsections with specific skills listed in different categories.

For example, if you’re a marketing manager, you may want a subsection that looks like this:

Digital Marketing (SEO, affiliate marketing, PPC advertising)

An IT professional might have one that looks like this:

Software Development (CSS, HTML, Javascript)

The trick to creating a powerful skills section is to make it specific. List both hard and soft skills, and mention any software programs or systems that you know. (Just don’t include the obvious, such as Microsoft Word.)

4. Show Your Accomplishments

If you’ve received awards or special recognition at previous jobs, mention them. Including specific accomplishments is a great way to show that you have been a valued employee in the past (and that you’re likely to be one in the future).

Whenever possible, back up your claims and accolades with numbers and metrics.

For example, don’t just say you were recognized as the top salesperson in your territory. Instead, say that you were recognized as the top salesperson in your territory for doing $10 million in sales last quarter.

5. Use Page Two

There’s nothing wrong with including a second page, as long as your experience warrants it.

A second page is perfectly acceptable if you have an extensive work history. And if you are applying for a managerial or executive-level position, it’s actually expected.

Just as you shouldn’t pad your resume with useless info, you also shouldn’t omit relevant information because it doesn’t fit on the first page.

And don’t use a super small font in the hopes of saving space, either.

To make your resume easy to read, use a font that's no smaller than 10 points and leave some white space between sections. These elements are much more important than cramming all of your information onto one hard-to-read page.

6. Include Links

Adding links to your resume offers your potential employer a chance to learn more about you. Include a link to your LinkedIn profile and a link to your personal website if you have one.

If you’re applying for a creative position, include a link to your online portfolio as well.

You can make your resume stands out even more by including a video link. Just make sure that the video is brief (one to two minutes long), professional, and focuses on why you are the best candidate for the job.

Any links that you include should be in the header section of your resume.

7. Add Some Color

While it’s best to print your resume in black ink on white paper, there’s nothing wrong with adding a little color. In fact, a small touch of color is a great way to make your resume stand out and get noticed.

We’re not talking about adding bold, bright colors or multicolored text. We’re talking about the addition of subtle colors such as light blue, light green, or pale yellow. You can use these colors to highlight certain sections of your resume or create header boxes for each subsection.

Don’t feel comfortable adding color to your resume? Something as simple as a light grey header box can help your resume stand out in a large pile.

In Summary

Regardless of the job you’re applying for, you can be sure that you’ll have plenty of competition. So make sure your resume is formatted to attract attention (in the right way, of course).

• Keep the fonts simple and easy to read
• Make sure the top third of the first page includes all of your most important information
• Add a skills section to highlight your experience
• Mention any special accomplishments or awards you’ve received from previous employers
• Include a second page if you can’t fit your relevant experience on page one
• Include links to your personal website, online portfolio, and LinkedIn account
• Add some color by highlighting header boxes or specific sections

Apply these formatting tips to your resume and you’ll have a much better chance of securing an interview. And that’s where you’ll really be able to impress!  

Author bio:

Working with Broadstone Market Station, Angus Flynn has more than five years of experience in the multifamily housing industry. In his free time, you will find him enjoying life on the Lake and spending time with friends.

Resume Summary Tips That Will Change your Writing

AccuroResumes is the best resume writing service that can make any employer hire you fast and easy! If you want to know how to compose and write a resume summary correctly, then you have come to the right place!

The resume summary is a brief but comprehensive section at the beginning of your resume, which states the entirety of your previous work experience. It will give the necessary information needed for the evaluation of your level of expertise and competence to your future employers.

This summary is usually placed at the top of your resume, right after your name and contact information. It can negate any possible intentions of the hiring manager to read through your resume further if your writing was of poor quality or the section was incorrectly formatted in general. We cannot stress enough how valuable is the correctness of every single letter to the contents of your resume or any other job-related document for that matter.

Thus, we wish to assist you in this undeniably tough journey to the job position of your dreams and decided to give you some extremely beneficial, clear and easy to follow pieces of advice regarding the matter of the writing completion of your resume summary section. These suggestions and top tips will be immensely helpful to someone who does not have a lot of experience in this particular kind of writing or does not have the required writing skills to compose this section on their own.

1. To properly represent and describe your previous professional experience and its worth to the potential employer, you need to gather all the necessary information first. You need to describe the location of the premises of your previous workplace, the position you had there, and the duration of your employment correctly and without any mistakes. Of course, the information must be truthful, and up to date in case your future employer decides to perform a check-up of your data, or ask your last supervisor about your work performance and other related information.

2. Due to the positioning of this section, you not only have the need to make it look as professional as possible but also to stimulate the hiring manager into the reading of your resume while thoroughly analyzing its contents. Thus we encourage you to keep the contents of this section very brief but informative and easy to understand from the first glance. Do not try to stretch the contents more than it requires and keep in mind the formatting requirements for the specific kind of resume you are writing in order to support your job application.

You must place everything related to your work experience into a chronological order to be sure that the message behind this section is appropriately delivered to the hiring manager. These people check through numerous documentary entries every day, and after a quick glance over the front page of your resume, they usually can conclude how interested in the candidate the company will be and will he or she be invited to the job interview in the near future.

3. Many business owners are using professional digital software to filter the resumes through it in order to help the hiring managers filter the documents which have some kind of formatting or grammatical mistakes. In addition, such systems are usually keyword-based, so do not try to shorten the contents of your resume summary more than it is already required. Thus we strongly advise you to check all the acronyms you are going to use beforehand to avoid any possible mistakes or confusion later.

4. Plan your writing before you are going to start it. This will give your resume a solid feel, and the meaning behind its contents would be transparent enough to be understood by everyone who is going to check your document. Carefully proofread your resume multiple times to be sure that everything you have written is in order.

These hints will help you to write your resume summary correctly and make it look polished enough to be noticed by your future employer. However, if you want to completely eliminate the risk of receiving the letter of rejection from any company that you have sent your resumes to, you need to use the services of the AccuroResumes professional online resume writing platform! We can perfectly cover the resume writing of any type and complexity for an affordable price!

Resume writing services that work wonders!

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You surely can try to compose your CV on your own, but without much experience in this type of writing, there is a huge chance that in the end, all your efforts will be futile and you will receive the letter of rejection almost immediately. Sadly, it is near impossible to get hired anywhere if your resume is not up to the required standards.

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