Asking for a Letter of Recommendation and Finding References During Your Job Hunt In this day and age, people are constantly switching jobs, looking to trade up and always networking to find the best job for their passions and with a company that understands what they are good at doing. The job search process is a trying and difficult one, as there are the matter of writing and rewriting cover letters, revising resumes and formatting them, filling out tricky applications online, or mailing in your materials, going through interviews, and on top of it all, you have to figure out who is going to be your references and who you can ask for letters of recommendation. So now that an employer who may want to hire you is asking for references and letters of recommendation, what do you do to make sure you do not screw it up? We will talk about references first of all. Even if you have a coworker or superior whom you trust immensely, it is a bad idea to ask him or her to be your reference, as they may accidentally tell someone at your company that you are looking and applying to jobs, and you never want your current employer to know when you are looking, so as not to put your current job in jeopardy. You want to reach out to former supervisors and employers in your life who you can ask to be a professional reference, and hopefully you have stayed in touch so it does not feel awkward to do so. When it comes to getting personal references, choose someone who you know outside of work but not someone who is your family member. Now we will talk about just how you can go about asking for a letter of recommendation, if that is something that your job application requires. Many people feel comfortable just asking through email, but if you feel you need to call, as that might seem a little more formal, feel free to do that as well. You want to ask someone for a letter of recommendation who knows you very well, not someone who you think may just have a prestigious or well known name in your industry but who you only had passing contact with, as it will show in their letter of recommendation that they did not really know you. Obviously, you do not want to just write the letter of recommendation for the writer, but you should make it as easy as possible for him or her by telling them what the job is you are applying for, why you think you would be a good match, what skills you hope they will highlight in the letter of recommendation, and to remind them what projects or achievements you did while they while supervising you.5 Uses For References

5 Takeaways That I Learned About References