Get a Great Recommendation from a Job Reference

Author: Marlo Lyons

Companies usually call your references when you’re a finalist for a role. But you may not be the only finalist, and the reference check could determine whether you get the job.

When hiring managers call a reference, they’re looking to gain deeper insight into your strengths, development areas, work style, and whether you’d fit into the company culture and team you’re trying to join. Here are three steps to ensure that you pick the right references and that they’re prepared to discuss why you’re the perfect person for the job.

Step 1: Choose the Right References

The most important thing to consider when choosing references is who can be the most enthusiastic about you as a candidate. You might select your former manager who can describe your work in detail, or colleagues from other departments who can speak to your ability to work across a global, matrixed organization. You could even ask external clients who can attest to your ability to influence without authority. Enthusiasm matters as much as what they say about you (if not more).

Hesitation on the part of your reference can ruin your chances of closing the job. When you ask someone to be a reference, ask if they can be an enthusiastic one. If you hear any hesitation, don’t list that person. When I was hiring for a role and had two stellar candidates, I called two references for each. The references for one candidate were clearly more enthusiastic and swayed me to hire that person.

Step 2: Prepare Your References

This is your opportunity to prepare your references to focus on the right areas to help you secure the job. At a minimum, you should make sure your references know two things.

First, provide them with the job title and description. Second, they should know what information you want them to convey to the hiring manager. During your interview, did you forget or otherwise omit anything that would be helpful for them to know? For example, maybe you’re comfortable working in an ambiguous environment, you’re an adaptive learner, or you’re good at digging deep to understand a problem before offering solutions.

Be sure to provide examples for whatever information you want your reference to incorporate into their dialogue. If you’re not sure what to include, consider the following questions:

• What skill set is critical for the role, and which of your specific skills transfer directly to the role you’re applying to?

• Which qualities make you a great candidate for the role? Your ability to align stakeholders? To think strategically and execute? To remain calm under intense deadlines?

• Which qualities make you unique among the other candidates? Would a perspective from your specific background be beneficial to the company?

• Are there any areas of improvement your reference should be able to address? Ensure they have a way to answer a question about your weaknesses or areas for development that you’ve worked hard to overcome. For example, if you had trouble handing off projects as the company scaled, provide your reference with examples of how you’ve since overcome that development area and can now quickly adapt to change.

Finally, if you were terminated from a role for performance and gave the recruiter or hiring manager an alternate perspective to explain your departure, make sure your reference is aware of it. Hiring managers and recruiters are searching for one thing that gives them pause. Don’t let it be that your reference couldn’t answer a question positively with conviction and enthusiasm.

Step 3: Manage Backdoor References

Many employers will seek backdoor references, meaning someone who has worked with you but who isn’t on your reference list. Those types of references can be more genuine in their characterization of you—or less genuine if they had a direct conflict with you. Unfortunately, the hiring manager may contact such a person, and if you left a company in an unprofessional way and the hiring manager knows someone who works there, it could sink your candidacy. Even if you’ve grown or learned from the experience since then, your previous behavior may haunt you.

Look on LinkedIn to see if there are mutual connections who may not provide a positive backdoor reference. Perhaps a former colleague is now at the new company where you want to work. If you find mutual connections who know you and your work, determine if it’s worth contacting them to discuss their perception of you. Even if you find no connections, recognize that the world is small, and people know people.

When a colleague of mine was in the final stages of interviewing for a new job, the hiring manager asked him delicately if he was still actively working at his current company—the interviewer had heard conflicting information about whether he had departed the company. It was clear the hiring manager knew that my colleague was on a leave of absence, which he had taken to remain employed moments before he would have been fired in a political shake-up. He answered that although he was on payroll, he wasn’t working because he was on leave for some short-term medical issues, but he planned to return shortly.

He could hear the skepticism and concern in the hiring manager’s voice and knew his candidacy was floundering. He offered to connect the hiring manager to someone who could confirm the leave wasn’t more nefarious. The manager called me and dug in deep without asking exactly why the applicant was on a leave of absence. Without revealing my colleague’s personal situation or mentioning that, through no fault of his own, he was going to be fired on his return, my enthusiasm and conviction for his work, character, and integrity persuaded the hiring manager to take the final leap and offer him the role. He is now in the C-suite.

The best way to ensure that everyone you work with has something positive to say about you is to build solid working relationships. In every job, find your champions who know your value. If you notice relationships suffering because you may have offended someone or didn’t show your best side, consider mending that relationship with a reflection meeting. Discuss your recollection of your work at the time, and explain what you learned or could have done better, even if you believe the other person contributed to the strife. Showing self-awareness and growth may change the perspective of a future backdoor reference. Would you rather be right or employed in your dream job? You can’t stop someone from saying something bad about you, but you can grow from every experience and show your growth in the next opportunity.

Marlo Lyons is a certified career, executive, and team coach; an HR executive; and the award-winning author of Wanted—A New Career: The Definitive Playbook for Transitioning to a New Career or Finding Your Dream Job.