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Everything Social Workers Need To Know About Professional References

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by Valerie Arendt, MSW, MPP

   The job search process has so many important steps: networking, résumés, cover letters, interviews, salary negotiation, and thank-you notes, to name a few. One of the most crucial steps to landing your social work job is lining up references who can recommend you for employment and are able to speak about your skills and abilities as a professional social worker. In general, employers have already interviewed you and want to hire you by the time they get around to contacting your references. Speaking with someone who actually knows your work helps verify the information you have provided on paper and in your interviews. It is guaranteed that hiring managers will contact your references, so be prepared.

Choosing Your References

    Social workers should be thoughtful about who to ask to be their professional references. A reference should be a person who has worked directly with you and can vouch for your work ethic, skills, competence, and character. You should have at least three references to provide to employers and a few more for back-up, in case someone cannot be reached in a timely manner.

    Choose professional references you are confident will have positive things to say about you. If you had a bad experience with someone, or if you are unsure of what they would say about you if contacted by a potential employer, it is not a good idea to use him or her as a reference. Acceptable references can include:

    Former supervisor. The person hiring you wants to be able to speak to someone who supervised you directly, so they can ask about your professional skills, work habits, and reliability as an employee. It can be a red flag if you don’t list at least one person who has supervised you in a past position.

    Field/task supervisor. If you are a recent graduate, your internship field supervisor should be able to articulate how you were able to learn and grow into a competent social work professional.

    Colleague/co-worker. Someone who worked closely with you and can articulate your work abilities and how well you work on a team is definitely someone you want on your reference list. Co-workers may know details of your performance that your supervisor may not be aware of, which can make their feedback even more convincing.

    Professor/faculty member. If you don’t have much paid work experience, using a professor is perfectly acceptable. However, faculty members are asked to be references by dozens of students every year. Be sure only to ask a faculty member who is familiar with your academic abilities and possible leadership outside of the classroom.

    Subordinate/supervisee. If you have supervised employees or interns, or provided clinical supervision, including someone who is able to positively speak about your abilities as a manager and a leader can be a beneficial addition to your reference line up.

    Members of professional organizations/committees. If you served on your chapter NASW Board of Directors or Ethics Committee, for example, the amount of time and commitment to the profession or cause can be articulated by the staff or volunteers of the organization you worked with. Volunteer positions can be just as rich an experience as a paid experience.

    Who not to ask:

    Clients. Who knows you are a good social worker better than your clients, right? It may be tempting to ask a client to be a reference and provide a testimonial of your skills. However, this opens up a whole trove of ethical issues, including breach of confidentiality, dual relationships, and boundary issues. Clients can be vulnerable to undue influence, manipulation, or coercion. According to the NASW Code of Ethics, Standard 1.06 (b), “Social workers should not take unfair advantage of any professional relationship or exploit others to further their personal, religious, political, or business interests.” A hiring manager will definitely see this as a red flag and will most likely end pursuing you to fill open positions if you list a client as a reference.

    Friends or family. Employers want to hear from references who are objective and honest. Hiring managers might find it hard to believe personal connections can be either.

    The CEO or Executive Director of the organization where you have worked. You may think it looks good on your list of references to have a high-level staff member serve as a reference, but unless they supervised you directly, they may not be able to answer specific questions about your abilities as an employee. It can look bad when this reference is called and can say nothing about you other than that you worked at the organization.

    Classmates. If you recently graduated, it can be tempting to use classmates as references. They may be able to speak about your ability to write and do group work, but they are probably not suited to speak about your work as an employee.

    Current supervisor. Unless you are confident your current boss will not be concerned that you are looking for another job, it may be best to keep your job search confidential. Don’t do anything to jeopardize your current employment in the process of searching for a new position.

    Employers/colleagues from years or decades ago. It is best to have fairly recent references. Listing someone you worked with five or ten years ago who doesn’t know what you have been up to professionally is not advisable. Keep your references recent, unless you are including someone from the past who is very familiar with your recent work and can provide a solid account of your skills.

Asking for and Keeping Up With Your References

    Always ask first! It is a professional courtesy to always formally ask someone first before listing them as a reference. It reflects poorly on you if a hiring manager contacts someone, and he or she has no idea that you have listed them as a reference. Unfortunately, this happens a lot and can actually cost you the job. You should have a conversation with these individuals, asking them to provide a reference for you and what their reference might include.

    What you are asking them to do. You are asking for a favor. You are asking your references to speak about your skills, experience, accomplishments, and character so you can land a job. Make sure you provide as much information as possible about when they worked with you, and make sure you both agree about why you left the job.

    When to ask. Students often forget to ask their field supervisors or faculty members to serve as references before they leave their internship or before they graduate. Don’t make this mistake. If at all possible, ask someone to be a reference before you leave the organization.

    Keep in contact. It is not uncommon to keep individuals on your list of references for years. It is crucial for you to keep in contact with your references on a regular basis, even after you have landed a job. You will likely need to use them again in the future. Again, employers can tell when a person’s references aren’t expecting the call and haven’t heard from them in a long time. Remove references when you haven’t communicated with them in a while or have more recent and relevant references to add.

    Give your references a heads up. If you have handed over your reference list to a hiring manager and know they will be contacting them, always give your references a heads up. Email or call them immediately to let them know they will be contacted, who might contact them, the name of the organization, and always give them the job description and your updated résumé. This will allow your references to be prepared and know what they will say about you.

How To Present Your References to Employers

    Do not include your references on your résumé. You should have a separate document listing your references. This document will have the same contact information header as your résumé and will list three to five references. Even if the hiring manager has only asked for three references, it is best to have a few extra, in case they can’t get in contact with one or two of your references and are on a tight deadline. Choose the most appropriate references based on the job you are applying for. Only hand over your references when asked. This way, you won’t need to worry about whether the hiring manager will contact your references too early in the hiring process, before you are even sure you want the job.

    Each reference should be listed accordingly: name and credentials, job title, organization, contact information (including phone number and email address), a few sentences about how the references know you, how long they have known you, and what they may know about you. For example:

Jessica Rogers, MSW, LICSW

Director of Family Programs, Affordable Housing Authority, Chicago, IL

Relationship: Former Supervisor, 2009-2014

Phone: 555-321-1234, rogers@email.org

Jessica was my direct supervisor and is familiar with my clinical social work skills, my ability to work with diverse communities, and my aptitude for managing relationships with partner organizations. Jessica recognized my success in client outcomes and supervision skills and promoted me within six months of my hire date, from Case Manager to Clinical Team Lead.

Questions Your References Might Be Asked

    Another way to help choose who might provide you with a solid reference is to anticipate what questions a hiring manager will ask about you. Here are some possible questions employers might ask:

    Some of these questions are pretty standard, but depending on the employer and the position you are applying for, try to anticipate questions your references might be asked. If you have any doubt about how they would answer these types of questions, you should not include them as references.

Thank Your References

    Your references are giving you their time to help you land a job. It is imperative to send your references a thank-you note, even if you didn’t get the job! Email thank-yous are nice, but a hand-written thank-you note goes a long way to show your professional references you are grateful for the time they took to answer all those questions about you. Show your appreciation even if they never had to serve as a reference for you. Don’t forget to let them know when you have landed a job! Nothing feels better than to know you have helped someone advance in their social work career.

Valerie Arendt, MSW, MPP, is the Associate Executive Director for the National Association of Social Workers, North Carolina Chapter (NASW-NC). She received her dual degree in social work and public policy from the University of Minnesota and currently provides membership support, including résumé review, to the members of NASW-NC.

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