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Your Resume Reference Page May Be More Important Than You Think...

Your resume reference page has been thrust to a more prominent place due to recent trends in empoyment practices. Workplace liability issues now mandate that employers check you out more thoroughly than before. You are doubtless familiar with criminal and negligence related crimes committed by employees.

Not only is the focus on safety related issues that have come from murders in the workplace, but now, even day care centers are concerning themselves with negligence issues. One recent daycare incident involved a worker mistaking an automobile fluid for a children's drink, hospitalizing 10 babies in Alabama. The recent peanut butter related deaths, the Tylenol poisonings of the 1990s and other such product liability issues have brought a renewed focus on hiring practices.

Due diligence requirements are forcing employers to check out potential employees with greater detail. Rather than just hiring a skilled employee, companies are now doing background checks with greater frequency.

This is where a properly constructed resume reference page comes into play. You can make the employer's job easier by including a resume reference page that takes some of the work out of the background check process.

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Resume References - Include More Than Names and Contact Information

A resume reference page lists people familiar with you and their contact information. The bare bones variety is a page with just that data on it, separated by extra vertical spacing (carriage returns).

A modern, effective resume reference page will have a bit more sophistication. It is also written in a style, layout and design that is either the same as your resume itself or in a design that is significantly complimentary to the resume.

The content of each entry will include the following items:

• Contact name - BE SURE to spell the name correctly and supply your reference's title the way your reference uses it... Is is Dr. John Smith, John Smith, Ph.D., John Smith, M.D., John Smith Ed.D., John Smith Psy.D., John Smith D.Min., or some other variant?
• Address - Take PAINS to be sure the information is correct and up to date... Has your contact moved since you last spoke? Is the street name spelled correctly? Is the street designation correct - Road, Avenue, Street, Path, Circle, etc.? Is there an apartment or box number? Is the mailing address the same as the physical street address? Do not forget to include the postal code.
• Phone Numbers - Dial what you write to make sure it is correct. Is there more than one? What is the contact's preferred number? Is there a fax number? Is there a reason your contact may not want to release a particular number (particularly if your contact is a public figure)?
• Annotation describing the nature of the relationship - How does this person know you - professional relationship, business associate, co-worker, supervisor, manager, employer, clergy, or friend; How long has this person known you? How well does this person know you? and
• Define what the reference should be able to confirm about you - Character references may not be able to describe your knowledge of the bonding of radioactive isotopes, your ability to identify the 341st element of snail darter DNA, or your banking habits. However, those may be appropriate issues for previous supervisors, professional colleagues or college professors.

This information helps some employers focus their questions better.

A well written annotation can also prompt an employer to ask questions of a reference she would not have otherwise considered. This helps get more of your strenghts into the hiring decision process, while it can reduce the impact of some of your negatives.

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