Referencing on the CV

A reference is a short appraisal written by a previous employer, either from a period of work experience or full-time employment, about how you performed whilst working with them. They can be very useful for a job application to show potential employers about your professional background and provide proof of the experience you have gained. However they can also be a hinderance to your CV, where they can take up crucial space in a document where you must be as concise as possible. Below you will find information about getting a reference and whether you should include them on your curriculum vitae.

Is it necessary to get a reference?

Depending on the country, you may or may not be required to include references for any work experience you have done. However, in general it is always sensible to ask any companies with which you have worked for a reference after you finish working with them. Through this, you will have reliable support to back up the information on your CV at your fingertips should an employer ask you for it. Even if you never use the reference, it is worth having it saved onto your computer just in case!

Referencing for the CV

Should you reference on a CV

With regards to putting your references on your CV, it is always advisable to include a sentence along the lines of, ‘references available upon request‘. By doing this you are showing any potential employer that he can trust in the information you have put on your CV, and if there is any shadow of a doubt in his/her mind then they can ask you.

Most of the time, if an employer see’s that you are prepared to give references then they will not ask you for them. An employer will usually only ask if he needs more proof that you have undertaken a particular job or if they want to see how well you performed during the work experience from an external party.

How to reference on a CV

If you believe that referencing on your CV would be greatly beneficial to you personally, then by all means include them. However, you should still try to just pick the keywords from a reference to save space on your curriculum vitae. In order to do this, you can create a section on your CV dedicated to References either below your work experience or at the bottom of the document. Within this section just write one or two sentences with the best words that previous employers have written to describe you.

An example reference on a CV:

‘Deloitte referred to me as a “competent individual”, whilst my manager at Vodafone said I had “great potential”. If you would like to see more references, they are available upon request’.

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