Thank you for hanging in with me this far! It’s been a journey!  And one that most likely, you never wanted to be on in the first place. Assuming you undertook the various tasks I’ve covered in prior posts, you have a CV, you have a LinkedIn profile and you may even have a polished cover letter ready to go. You even have some endorsements, as per last week.

But who is going to actually vouch for you? These are your references.

So, this week, we are talking about both creating your professional reference list, and asking those people for permission to use them as references before you give out their names.

I know this sounds basic but candidates routinely get it wrong.

Of course you know what a reference is. Academia relies on them. A good reference is someone who can speak specifically and positively about your work. They can describe what you did, how you did it, and why it mattered. Ideally, they can give concrete examples rather than vague assurances that you are “hardworking” or “a pleasure to work with.”

And of course, if you are going for academic jobs, your academic references (we hope) know what to do, and how to do it.

But if you are trying to leave academia, it does get harder. And you need to take a lot more care in who you ask, and also what you provide for them in terms of information and prompts.

So first, depending on your career stage and the positions you are pursuing, potential references might include a current or former supervisor, principal investigator, department chair, senior colleague, project lead, collaborator, mentor, or another professional who has directly observed your work. Needless to say if you have collaborated reasonably closely with people outside academia, those people should be prioritized.

Now, here is the rub. Your academic references, for jobs outside academia, cannot speak narrowly about your academic achievements, because those do not translate. Rather, they will need to be able to speak to transferable strengths, ie the areas employers are likely to care about: your broad expertise, teaching/training skills, research proficiencies, project management abilities etc, and perhaps even more, the soft skills of reliability, judgment, communication, leadership, collaboration and so on.

If the jobs you are targeting name specific hard or soft skills in the ad (and of course they always do), gently but clearly inform your references of this fact, and help them understand the conventions of non-academic reference writing. To help you help them, I did a quick search on Google, and  – UGH – AI generated a summary of advice that I did not ask for that – UGH – I have to admit is pretty decent. So here it is:

Notice first of all how short it is! Notice also that it uses quantifiable evidence. Your academic reference letter writers will need to know these conventions.

Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself! Sorry!  Your task this week starts with a long list of names. Write down six to eight people who could potentially serve as professional references. Do not worry yet about whether you will actually use all of them.

Next to each name, write down:

• Your relationship to the person and how recently you worked together.
• What that person has directly observed about your work.
• The two or three strengths they could credibly discuss.
• The kinds of positions for which they would be a particularly useful reference.
• Whether you believe they would give you a strong recommendation.

That final question matters, you want someone who can advocate for your application with specificity and enthusiasm. If you are uncertain whether a person would be strongly supportive, do not automatically put them at the top of your list.

You can keep the list of 6-8, or perhaps whittle it down to a more manageable 3-5 names. The choice is up to you and probably depends on how widely you are applying across different fields, competencies, and skill sets.

Next, do the ask. Do not put someone’s contact information into an application without asking.

Keep the request short and professional; remind them of your connection if some time has passed, briefly explain the kinds of roles you are pursuing, and ask whether they would feel comfortable serving as a strong professional reference for you for non-academic positions. The word strong is useful, it gives someone who has reservations an opportunity to decline.You don’t want to be cornering someone saying yes, you are trying to identify the people who can genuinely support your candidacy.

Once someone agrees, give them what they need; an updated résumé, a short description of the positions you are targeting, and information about references like I shared above.

If and when you know that a particular employer may contact them, send the job description and remind them of any projects or accomplishments that are especially relevant. Your job is to make their job easy. So your short note might say:

Thank you for agreeing to serve as a reference. I’m applying primarily for roles in X, with an emphasis on Y and Z. I’ve attached my current CV. The projects we worked on together involving A and B are particularly relevant to the positions I’m pursuing.

That gives your reference something to work with.

Create your reference database now rather than waiting until an application asks for references because sometimes it takes time to call to mind all of the possible candidates for your list.

Prepare a clean, separate document containing each reference’s name, title, organization, professional email address, phone number if appropriate, and your professional relationship to them. It is important that you check every detail as titles change and people move institutions. This also reminds me: references are relationships. That means you need to stay in touch. Not badgering, mind you! Just a check in email maybe once or twice a year or so, to both confirm that you still have correct contact information, and to keep them apprised of your progress. Especially if you get the job, tell them! And if you don’t, thank them anyway. It isn’t a good look to disappear for five years only to reappear with an urgent request due tomorrow morning. Professional networks require maintenance, so behave like a colleague: occasionally share an update, congratulate someone on an accomplishment,  express appreciation when someone has helped you.

By the end of this week, you should have a working list of strong professional references, permission from each person you intend to use, and a polished reference sheet ready to send. You should also have a simple system for tracking when each reference was contacted and which applications have received their information. When the employer calls to tell you “We’d like to contact your references,”  you want to be able to say, immediately and confidently: Absolutely. I’ll send the list today.