How To Handle References

Reference Checks Serve Three Primary Purposes:

• 1. Substantiate information provided by the interviewee.
• 2. Obtain additional information about the interviewee.
• 3. Determine interviewee’s potential for success in the role.

Any person interviewing should have a ready list of references with names, titles, email addresses and phone numbers to provide to a potential employer. Prior to preparing the list of references, it is important to ask each reference if they would be willing to provide one. This means that each reference on your list should be called in advance of anyone calling them for a reference. Never give the names and contact information of a reference until you have asked the person if they are willing to talk to a prospective employer. Expect the prospective employer to call and substantiate all of the information you provided them.

A prospective employer will ask references for additional information about you. One of the things you will want to have an awareness of is that a previous employer may have perceived you as doing a stand up job while you were employed by a company. However, people often do not realize that someone may come in after leaving and did a better job for the employer. The result may be that the reference is not as good as you expected. The way to prevent this type of weakening impression of your contributions to a former employer is to document written recommendations from previous employers. They come in very handy when you have documented several people all having consistent opinions of your work, productivity, reliability and overall positive experience working with you.

Building a library of recommendations throughout your tax career is a very good business practice. You will get the best references when you have done a great job for a client or boss and ask them if they would be willing to write a recommendation at the time they tell you how happy they are with your individual contributions. Ask them to write a recommendation for public view so you do not need to keep asking them over the years for the same reference.

References are a great tool to market yourself and what you have to offer an organization. They are also a very good way to identify your strengths and overall fit for a specific role in a company. Great references are what you earn when you have done a standup job for an employer! Give every employer your very best and they will reward you with the recommendations you need to continue to succeed throughout your professional career.

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