You’re going for a new job, so you’ve dusted off your resume, written a great cover letter, and pulled out your list of references. But before you send your prospective new employer to your go-to list of cheerleaders, ask yourself one question: Am I sure my references are helping me?
你要去找一份新的工作，所以你將擱置一旁的簡歷備好待用，寫好一封求職信，并且把推薦人也羅列出來。但是，在將這些文件發(fā)給你的新雇主之前，請問一下自己，這些推薦人真的能幫到我嗎？

“I can’t tell you the number of times over 43 years I’ve been doing that, that I’ve had someone’s references screw the candidate’s chances to get the job,” says Anthony W. Beshara, PhD, president of Babich & Associates, a Dallas recruitment and placement firm.
Babich是達(dá)拉斯一家負(fù)責(zé)安置和招聘的公司，這個(gè)公司的總裁Anthony W. Beshara博士說：“我不會(huì)告訴你43年來我一直在做一件事，就是與某些應(yīng)聘者的推薦人接觸后，大大降低了他被錄用的可能性?！?/div>
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Get your references interview-ready with these nine tips.
借著下面這9個(gè)提示，看看你給出的推薦人是不是已經(jīng)可以應(yīng)對面試了呢？
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1. BUILD A POOL
1. 建一個(gè)“推薦人”庫
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Typically, you may be asked for two or three references, but you should have a much deeper pool than that, Beshara says. Pick and choose your references depending on the type of job you’re going for, he says. Some references will be able to discuss your effectiveness in certain roles, while others may be able to discuss your leadership or team-building skills. Choose the right people to talk about the skills you need to highlight to get the job at hand, he says.
通常情況下，你可能會(huì)被要求提供兩或三個(gè)推薦人，但是比起這，你應(yīng)該儲(chǔ)備更多的推薦人，Beshara說。他還表示，要根據(jù)你即將從事的工作類型選擇你的推薦人。一些推薦人能夠表現(xiàn)出你在某個(gè)崗位上工作高效率，其他的可以表現(xiàn)出你的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才干或者你的團(tuán)隊(duì)建設(shè)能力。他說，選擇合適的人來談?wù)撃阈枰怀龅募寄?，這樣才可以獲得這份新的工作。
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2. TOUCH BASE BEFOREHAND
2. 事先聯(lián)系推薦人
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Always ask your references for permission before sending a prospective hiring manager to them, even if they’ve agreed previously, says career expert Vicky Oliver, author of 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions. Let them know who will be contacting them and whether it will be by phone or email. If you have a sense of when the hiring manager will be contacting them, that’s useful too, and helps avoid delays due to your reference being out of the office or not prioritizing a return call, because he or she doesn’t know who the hiring manager is, Beshara adds.
職場專家Vicky Oliver，《301個(gè)面試難題妙答》一書的作者，這樣說道：在潛在的招聘經(jīng)理登門拜訪之前，請務(wù)必征詢推薦人的意見，即使之前他們已經(jīng)表示同意。讓他們知道誰將聯(lián)系他們，以及是通過電話還是郵件進(jìn)行交流。如果你感覺招聘經(jīng)理差不多要與他們聯(lián)系時(shí)，這也非常有用，并且可以避免因?yàn)槟愕耐扑]人不在辦公室或者沒重視回電而導(dǎo)致推遲你的應(yīng)聘結(jié)果，因?yàn)樗蛩⒉恢肋@個(gè)雇傭經(jīng)理是誰，Beshara補(bǔ)充說。
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3. ASK WHAT THEY’LL SAY
3. 詢問他們將會(huì)說些什么
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If you’ve got a good rapport with your references, it might be a good idea to ask them what they will say about you, says Jill Jacinto, associate director of WORKS, a career-focused media company.
如果你和你的推薦人關(guān)系很好，那么詢問一下他們將會(huì)如何評價(jià)你，這是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的做法，職業(yè)型媒體公司W(wǎng)ORKS的副總監(jiān)Jill Jacinto說。
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That does two things: First, it gives you insight into whether the reference intends to discuss areas that will be important for the hiring manager to hear. Second, it gives you a sense of whether the reference is a persuasive advocate on your behalf. Both pieces of information are important to be sure you’re connecting hiring managers with people who will make the case that you’re the right person for the job, she says.
這樣可以達(dá)到兩個(gè)目的：首先，你可以深入了解到這個(gè)推薦人是否會(huì)提及一些招聘經(jīng)理認(rèn)為很重要的內(nèi)容。第二，這可以讓你了解這個(gè)推薦人是否是一個(gè)有說服力的“擁護(hù)者”。Jill還說，這兩方面的信息能確保你牽線搭橋的這個(gè)推薦人會(huì)促成你的工作機(jī)會(huì)，因?yàn)樗麄儠?huì)幫助說服招聘經(jīng)理你就是這個(gè)工作最合適的人選。

4. SUGGEST HIGHLIGHTS
4. 向推薦人建議一些要點(diǎn)
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Oliver says it’s a good idea to remind your references of some of your key accomplishments and even suggest some of the areas they might highlight. It may have been a while since you worked for or with your reference, and he or she may appreciate the reminder, which can be as simple as writing an email message with a few bullet points of your accomplishments, she says.
Oliver說，提醒推薦人一些你的主要成就，甚至也可以建議他們突出強(qiáng)調(diào)一些方面，這也是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的想法?？赡芫嚯x你和推薦人一起工作已經(jīng)過了一段時(shí)間了，他或她或許會(huì)感謝你的提醒，簡單的比如可以寫一封郵件，用小黑點(diǎn)標(biāo)注出你在工作中的成就。
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“You want people to say something substantive. You don’t want your references saying, ‘Yeah. She’s a great person,” Oliver says. Vague endorsements do nothing for you.
“你也想讓別人說點(diǎn)實(shí)質(zhì)性的內(nèi)容，你肯定不想讓你的推薦人說，‘對啊，她是個(gè)很好的人’”，Oliver說。這種模糊的認(rèn)可對你一點(diǎn)好處也沒有。
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Beshara once had a client whose references raved about his ability to sell to big customers. Since the job was focused on regional and not national accounts, the reference wasn’t relevant and the client wasn’t hired, he says.
Beshara曾經(jīng)有一個(gè)客戶，他的推薦人狂熱稱贊他銷售產(chǎn)品給大客戶的能力。而這份工作主要做的是區(qū)域性而非全國性的客戶，這個(gè)推薦人提的都不大相關(guān)，最后這個(gè)客戶也沒被聘用，他說。
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5. FOCUS ON RESULTS
5. 聚焦工作結(jié)果
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Ask your references to focus on outcomes rather than attributes, Oliver says. You may need to help them remember specifics about what you did, depending on how long it’s been since you worked with them. Discussing the impact you had on the organization will be more impressive than the tasks you performed, she says. It’s more impressive to say that you turned around a crisis situation or met several key performance metrics than it is to say that you’re a dependable team player.
奧利弗說，請你的推薦人注重工作的結(jié)果而非特性。也許你需要提醒他們你具體做了些什么，當(dāng)然這取決于你與他們工作了多長時(shí)間。她指出，討論你對組織的影響將比討論你所執(zhí)行的任務(wù)更加令人印象深刻。比起說你是一個(gè)可靠的合作伙伴，談?wù)勀闶侨绾闻まD(zhuǎn)了公司的危急情況或者達(dá)成了數(shù)個(gè)關(guān)鍵績效指標(biāo)更能讓面試官對你留有印象。
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6. REQUEST A LINKEDIN REVIEW
6.請求推薦人寫領(lǐng)英評價(jià)
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While you’re in touch with the reference, it might be a good idea to ask for a LinkedIn review too, Jacinto says. Tread carefully to be sure you’re not asking for too much. However, if the reference is happy to hear from you and enthusiastic about your success, scoring a LinkedIn reference captures his or her feedback for you to use as long as you wish, she says.
Jacinto說，既然你已經(jīng)在和推薦人交涉了，那么不妨請求他們幫忙寫一下領(lǐng)英評價(jià)。而且一定要確保你沒有對推薦人要求地太多了。不過，如果推薦人很高興收到你的消息，并且對于你的成功表示熱切的祝福，只要你愿意你可以保留他們對你的評價(jià)以備將來之需。
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7. FOLLOW UP AFTERWARD
7. 跟蹤了解情況
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Oliver says it can also be a good idea to follow up with the reference after he or she is contacted and ask how the exchange went. You may get important clues about what the hiring manager is looking for by the questions he or she asks, and follow up accordingly with additional information about yourself.
奧利弗說，在招聘經(jīng)理與推薦人聯(lián)系過后跟蹤了解一下情況是一個(gè)很好的做法，可以詢問一下交流進(jìn)行地如何。你可以從招聘經(jīng)理詢問的問題中獲得重要的線索，知道他們尋找何種人才，隨后也可以補(bǔ)充自己在對應(yīng)方面的信息。
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8. ASK FOR FEEDBACK ABOUT REFERENCES
8.請求有關(guān)推薦人的反饋
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If you didn’t get the job, it’s common practice to discuss why with the prospective employer. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about how influential your references were. This type of feedback can help you know whether your favored references are helping you, need more coaching, or should be taken out of your reference rotation entirely, Oliver says.
如果你沒有得到這份工作，和潛在雇主討論一下原因也無可厚非。大膽詢問你的推薦人是否影響了錄用結(jié)果。Oliver說，這種反饋可以幫助你了解你喜歡的推薦人是否真的幫助到你，又或者他是否應(yīng)該從你的推薦人名單里完全剔除。
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9. STAY IN TOUCH
9.保持聯(lián)系
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Don’t just contact your references when you need them to vouch for you for your next job or gig, Beshara says. Like all good relationships, you need to show them that you appreciate what they’ve done for you, and try to help them, too. If you’re only in touch when you need something, your references might not be so eager to vouch for you in the future. Plus, keeping in touch with them might lead to being considered for openings at their companies, too.
Beshara說，不要只在你需要推薦人為你下一份工作做擔(dān)保時(shí)才聯(lián)系他們。就像所有好的關(guān)系需要維系一樣，你需要向他們展示出你對他們所做的一切的感激，并且也在盡力幫助他們。如果你只在有事時(shí)才與推薦人聯(lián)系，那他們可能就沒那么愿意給你做擔(dān)保人了。另外，與他們保持聯(lián)系也可能會(huì)讓你被列為進(jìn)入他們公司的考慮之中。
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