At a minimum, your references should confirm information employer has about you and that you are a competent employee. However, you should strive to provide references who can be as enthusiastic about you and you would be about yourself. A great reference makes hiring manager feel good about their decision to hire you and sets a positive tone for your first few days on job. As saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression and your references can help you do that.

Getting Your Ducks In a Row

It's a good idea to get a reference letter from your manager as soon after leaving a position as possible. Getting a reference letter right away makes it easier for your manager to recall specific contributions you made to team. Even if you don't end up needing a reference right away, having reference letter provides you with something to fall back on in event you are unable to contact your former manager at a later time. Plus, if you decide to go back to manager a year or more later to ask them to provide a phone reference, you can remind them about reference letter they wrote for you.

Before asking someone to take time to write a reference letter or provide a phone reference, it's a good idea to get a feel for what they would say about you. One way to do this is to say "Do you feel you know me well enough to write a good reference letter?" instead of just "Could you write a reference letter?" This way, if person doesn't feel they could say something positive, they have an easy way to decline your request.

QUESTION FROM A SUBSCRIBER:

I've enjoyed your articles very much and have used some of information in my job search successfully. However, I have two pressing questions I want to ask. What is a job seeker to do when they are told repeatedly in interviews they are allegedly over-qualified? I have been on interviews for positions that are almost exactly like one I was laid-off from recently. However, interviewers flat out tell me that although I have impressive and desirable credentials, they feel I'm over-qualified. My second concern pertains to compensation. In rare events that I haven't been "over-qualified", I have managed to avoid discussing this taboo, yet all-important topic since this is what really drives companies to hire a particular candidate. In unfortunate event topic comes up before getting an offer, I have given a "range" as to what I'd expect based on area living standards, what such a position fetches for in industry as a whole, and obviously my credentials. I have tried various tactics from selling myself extremely short all way up to "no way in hell" for pay ranges, but regardless, I get form letter saying thanks for interviewing, but keep looking for a job. It's a catch-22 here it seems. On one hand I'm over-qualified, but when I'm not, I apparently ask for too much money even if I just state a reasonable range and justify my given range. Am I over-simplifying this or is there something else going on here that I'm unaware of? -J.H.

J.H., Thanks for your email and for compliments!

It sounds like when employers say you're overqualified, they're looking at your qualifications and realizing that they'd have to pay you a salary that's on high-end of salary range. And it sounds like you're expecting that high-end salary yourself.

I think in a good economy, employers can afford to hire "overqualified" individuals. Sometimes, if job market is tight - as it was a few years ago - employers might have no choice because less expensive and less qualified people are all working elsewhere.

I'm not sure what kind of work you do so it's difficult to get into particulars..

One option would be to go for a job with a lower salary. By now, you probably know types of companies and positions that are not willing to pay for your qualifications. You could go into interviews with these companies and explain before they even start asking you questions that you really want to work for their firm and you're willing to work for a salary on low end of range. By preemptively addressing salary question, you make it clear that you're not expecting a higher salary. This will make employer more comfortable with idea of offering you position and help alleviate their concerns that you would jump ship as soon as a sweeter offer comes along. Another approach to getting a job with a lower salary would be to remove some of qualifications from your resume. You don't want to lie on your resume, but you can legitimately omit certain facts. For example, if you graduated Phi Beta Kappa or Magna Cum Laude, you are not obligated to list that on your resume.