A big problem today is getting recommendations, especially when the company you have worked for is no longer in business or the person you worked for has moved on. In high-tech towns this is a particularly critical problem, because so many companies have disappeared and so many layers of supervisors have collapsed like a house of cards, leaving no one around to give a referral. Even when companies and personnel are stable, getting recommendations can still be like prying information out of a locked vault, because so many employers have become recommendation shy, so they will say little more than dates of employment, job title, and possible salary. Why? Because if they say anything negative, even if true, they fear they could be sued by the employee who is looking for a job. Or if they don’t say anything negative and the employee messes up on the new job, they could be sued by the new employer for giving a recommendation that contributed to hiring the employee who caused the damage.
Well, you get the picture. In our lawsuit-happy society, people fear to say anything, even when they are still around to say something— which isn’t that often.
Unfortunately, this "no recommendation" stance can create many problems for the person trying to get a job, since many prospective employers still insist on references. As one reader—let’s call her Susan—who had been running into difficulties for five years explained in an e-mail: "The most recent written job reference I have is from five years ago. I’ve asked supervisors since then to write references, but they declined, citing company policy." Then, Susan went on to explain that when she gave out the name, address, and phone number of her last supervisor, he would only give out the barest of information about her job title and the dates she worked there. She struck out with several other previous employers, too—her next most recent employer had left the state; another one had retired; and a third who had given her a letter had left the company and no one knew where he had gone.
Now Susan’s dilemma was that a potential employer wanted to chat personally with one of her former supervisors about her job performance, but she had no one to do this, and she felt she was repeatedly losing out for jobs she was qualified for, because she lacked the right references. So what should Susan do? Or what should you do if you are having trouble getting the references you need?
What Should Susan Do?
Here are some possibilities. In Susan’s place, what would you do and why? What do you think the outcomes of these different options would be?
- Make such a good impression with your resume and other references that a recommendation from this elusive employer doesn’t matter.
- Find someone else other than your supervisor on your previous job who can give you a reference.
- In lieu of a reference, offer to work on probation for a day or two so your prospective employer can see how good you are.
- Get general letters of reference before you leave a job—and even offer to write up a letter for your boss’s review.
- Take some stationery before you leave the job and write up your own reference if your former boss is gone, since he can’t be found and this is what he would have said anyway.
- Collect together anything you can—from reference letters on previous jobs to awards and citations—that show what a great job you have done for others, even if you can’t get this particular reference.
- Other?
Given the realities of the current jobs market—companies disappearing or downsizing, supervisors and managers moving on, employers fearful of saying the wrong thing—the reality might be that you just can’t get these references. If so, look for alternative solutions, so a prospective employer feels comfortable using other information about you to feel confident making the hire.
A good way to start is by doing everything you can to make a bangup impression with everything else you have to offer, so the references become less important when they do come up. For example, take extra care to have a super-good resume; get references from community leaders or volunteer program supervisors who know you (and get to be known by them if they don’t); prepare to do an extra good interview, so you can appear to have great confidence and expertise. If appropriate, get a reference from a supervisor in another division who knows your work or a colleague still with the company, though such references aren’t always possible. Incidentally, while one of the listed possibilities was to take some stationery and write your own reference on office stationery, this is very definitely not something to do. Besides being dishonest and unethical, your fraud could be discovered later, such as after you do find a job based on your misrepresentations, and you could quickly be out of another job, with even worse prospects of finding another one.
To help with your preparation, say affirmations to yourself, such as: "I don’t need my references to get hired," "I will get the job I want without any references," so you let go of the feeling and belief that you need the references.
Whenever a request for references does come up, be immediately up front about why you don’t have them. If you are talking about one or two jobs you have held for a long period of time, you might easily explain this verbally. Or if you have had a number of jobs where this is a problem, create a written bullet-point list for each job, along with the name of the company, supervisor, and what happened, to explain why you don’t have a written reference letter or why your previous supervisor can’t be contacted. Certainly, a prospective employer should be able to understand and accept why his or her request for references can’t be fulfilled, if you present it clearly and confidently.
The next step is to offer some alternatives that a prospective employer might accept as a substitute if he or she wants some further performance evaluation of how you do on the job. For instance, offer a recommendation from a community leader or volunteer program leader who has seen you in action. Also, prepare for providing this additional information by keeping files of materials you might use, such as copies of performance reviews or memos praising your work. Preferably keep your collection of kudos and support at home in organized files, so you can readily access this information when you need to—and don’t have to worry about not being able to get it from your workplace, say if you are suddenly fired or laid off.
Still another possibility in lieu of strong references is to make a-hard- to-refuse proposal to show your keen interest in the job and to show the prospective employer how you perform first hand. How? You might say something like: "Let me work for you for (a day, two days, a week, whatever seems reasonable) to show you what I can do. If you like my work, hire me; if not, you have no obligation to so. But I’m so sure you’ll like what I do, that I’m willing to take the chance and work for you on this no-obligation basis."
In short, if you can’t come up with references, come up with alternatives. Use these to show you’ll be great in the job, and why your prospective employer doesn’t need any references—either written or verbal—to show how great you will be."
Today’s Take-Aways:
- If you come up against one closed door, look for another doorthat will open. If references won’t work, find an alternative that will.
- Getting references is like getting sodas from a vending machine. If you can’t get one soda, try another—and maybe it’ll taste just fine or even better.
- Don’t let getting no references get you "NOs." Instead, findother types of references to turns all these "NOs" into "YESs."
- Keep an organized file or library of files of anything you might use to show your credentials. Then, you’re always ready when you need to do an office show and tell.