Include references in a resume by attaching a separate sheet of paper with the individuals' contact information. Pick a variety of references, such as friends, former co-workers or civic organizations, and add them to a resume with the help of a management executive in this free video about writing job resumes.

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Almost every resume I receive has “References available upon request” at the bottom of the second page. Everyone knows that you will provide references so you don’t need to include it on your resume.

However, you do need to prepare to provide references – and good ones. You are normally expected to provide approximately three references. However, you will be better served to have agreement from at least double that number of willing references. This gives you the opportunity to select those for any given opportunity that will do the best job for you. Perhaps they know about some specific skill you have that is in demand on the job you are being considered for. But it could equally be that you discovered that both the reference and the interviewer graduated from the same college or come from the same hometown.

If the company you are interviewing with believes in 360 degree evaluations (from supervisors, peers, subordinates and, sometimes wither customers or vendors) they probably will want the same configuration of references.

Well before you give out someone’s name as a reference, be sure to contact them and discuss the possibility of using them. In this conversation, let them know what being a reference entails (answering questions probably on the phone) and what you are going to tell the potential employer about how you know each other.

When you give out their name, let them know you have done so, what the job entails and why you are excited about it. That will give them a frame of reference to use when they answer questions. Ask them to let you know when they have been called. And be sure to thank them.

The information you will want to provide the potential employer is name, title and company, physical address (so they will know what time zone the person is in), phone and email (if they prefer one over the other, make a note of that), and a short description of how you know this person. If you worked together for a number of years, if there is a specific skill of yours that they know about, if they were your supervisor, etc. that is what you want to tell the potential employer. And, yes, in most cases your references should all be professional acquaintances.

Now, get on the phone – or on email – and get your reference list set up so that you will have names and information to send when it is requested.

If you would like to hear more about resumes and the other tools you need to conduct a successful job search visit http://www.acatalystinyoursuccess.com/Career_Home_Page.html

From Jane Trevaskis and Success-Catalyst.com.

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