If you plan ahead its easy to get a former employer to help you get an offer of employment. Usually the reference check is one of the last steps in a hiring process so its important to make sure this step goes smoothly. Here’s just a few suggestions on how to make sure a reference check gives a future employer one more reason to hire you!

• Let your reference provider know you’ve given their name as a reference. Never let them be surprised by a call or an email coming out of the blue. Let them know the type of job you are applying for, where you are in the hiring process, and what areas of your work they are likely to get questions on. Most reference providers are more than happy to help, provided you prepare them for the conversation.      
• Choose your reference providers strategically. Your best references will always be people who have supervised your work directly. If they are not available, consider asking their boss for help in commenting about those pieces of work they know about. Co-workers are often used as references but strategically they are not a good option unless your prospective employer specifically wants to talk to someone who you’ve work with not for.
• Make it easy for your future employer to talk to the right people. Make sure you provide a list of references paying attention to provide their names, phone numbers, email addresses and information about why you have chosen them as a reference. If you know there are limits to what a former supervisor is authorized to provide in a reference check, be sure to let your prospective employer know about those limits so they won’t be surprised. 
• Oh….one last thing – make sure that during the hiring process you only provide truthful information that you know your reference provider can and will affirm. Many people check references by asking a former employer to simply confirm information you’ve provided during the interview. It’s never a good thing to mispresent the facts relevant to a previous job.