What are personal and professional references?
A professional reference—such as a manager or team leader—shares information about who you are at work, including your work ethic and performance. A personal reference is someone you know outside of work who can share information about your character and skills you’ve used in your non-work life.
How do you list professional and personal references?
The best way to list your references would be to use the following format:
- The reference’s first and last name.
- The reference’s professional title/position.
- The name of the reference’s company.
- The reference’s phone number.
- The reference’s email address.
- The reference’s relationship to you.
What are personal references?
The personal reference, sometimes known as the character reference, is a brief assessment of you as an individual provided by someone who knows you outside of work. This should not be confused with the professional reference which is provided by a former or current employer.
Can a family member be a professional reference?
Family Members Aside from making you look infantile, your family can’t give an objective view of the kind of things employers are interested in—namely your work history, work ethic, and your moral character, or how you’ll behave as an employee—so don’t put them down as professional references.
Who should I list as a professional reference?
Who Should I List (or Not List) as a Reference?
- Your current manager or supervisor.
- Your prior managers or supervisors.
- Your current peers or clients (if you’re interviewing for a client-facing role)
- Your prior peers or clients.
- Your personal references or friends who will vouch for you.
Can I use a friend as a professional reference?
A good reference can make all the difference, offering insight into your skills, accomplishments, and character that a hiring manager can’t get from your resume and application materials alone. Friends can make excellent professional and personal references for your job search.
Can I use friends as professional references?
What if I have no professional references?
As long as you can find a trusted contact who will speak positively about your character, you can supply a reference. Even if you’ve only interacted with someone a few times, they can still act as a reference. Make a list of people you’ve interacted with besides family.
Can a coworker be a professional reference?
A professional reference is someone who has worked closely with you for at least six months within the past seven years. They are usually a coworker or immediate supervisor, but can also be a department head, higher-level manager or client if they interacted with you regularly.
Can I use a family member as a reference?
Family Members Bad move all around. Aside from making you look infantile, your family can’t give an objective view of the kind of things employers are interested in—namely your work history, work ethic, and your moral character, or how you’ll behave as an employee—so don’t put them down as professional references.