Who to ask for a reference, recommendation, or referral

- When it comes to asking folks in your network to help you with a reference, referral, or recommendation, you'll want to carefully consider who in your world will work best. Keep these three characteristics in mind. First, familiarity with your work. While your company's CEO might have the power to open bigger doors, if they're not close to your work product it's hard for them to vouch for you. So make sure the folks you're asking for support from are familiar with who you are, what you do, and how you do it. To provide a truly compelling and authentic endorsement, they need to know and know how you perform, so they're able to honestly share their take on your skills and your character. Second, satisfaction with your work. You never want to be caught in a position where you're sharing glowing words from a past boss or client if your relationship with them has since soured and if someone who's serving as your reference has only tepid feelings about your performance, it may be better to leave them out altogether. Make sure to have an honest conversation with the folks you're asking to serve in this capacity. If you have any doubt about what they might say, ask them, "Would you be able to honestly recommend me "for a future job opportunity?" And "Do you have any concerns about doing so?" It's better for any disagreements to surface ahead of time, rather than behind your back. And third is strong, reliable communication. If you do have the luxury of choosing between many great options for referrals, recommendations, and references, take into consideration who among them are the strongest communicators. Sometimes the most senior folks who seem like they'd be the most impressive to list are actually the most slammed and they might not be great at answering emails or returning calls. Or if you're deciding between colleagues and know that one of them tends to be extremely introverted and not the most adept at communicating, you might want to reconsider. You want to make sure that the folks you're relying on are reliable enough to return calls and emails and well versed with you and your work to share strong stories about your work ethic. While nobody's perfect and you don't want to be too choosy when you're asking a colleague or boss to do a favor for you, you'll want to think through who you want to vouch for you and prep them to feel comfortable and prepared when it matters most.