Professional references are people who have watched you work and agree to tell a hiring manager about it, usually two or three former managers, plus a coworker, client or professor when they know the work the new job needs. You need about three. Ask them before you list them, early in your search rather than when an offer is close, and send each one a short brief so they know what to say. Below is who to ask and in what order, a request email and a one page brief you can copy, what employers actually ask when they call, and what to do if your references are abroad or you do not have any professional ones yet.
What a professional reference is
The US Office of Personnel Management's guide for federal hiring managers gives a clean definition: a reference is "a person (e.g., supervisor, coworker, professor) whom the hiring manager or human resources (HR) specialist can talk with about the candidate's past performance." The key word is performance. A professional reference speaks to how you worked, not to whether you are a nice person.
Three related things get confused with references:
| Term | Who | What it does | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional reference | A manager, coworker, client or professor you choose | Describes your work and recommends you | Late in the process, usually near the offer |
| Employment verification | The former employer's HR office | Confirms facts, often only dates and title | During the background check |
| Referral | An employee at the company you are applying to | Gets your application seen | Before or as you apply |
The second row is why personal references matter. Some HR offices say very little. Adelphi University's policy, a typical example, states that its HR office "will only verify dates of employment and the last (current) job title held." Your old company's HR department will confirm you worked there; only a person who managed you can say you were good at it. The third row is a different request entirely, covered in our guide to asking for a job referral.
Who to ask, and how many
Start with managers. MIT Sloan's career office is direct about it: "The most important references are those that come from previous supervisors with whom you have worked closely." Colleagues help too, but their insight is, in MIT's words, "less valuable to an employer than a supervisors' insights." The same page rules out three groups: "Classmates, friends, and relatives are not appropriate references."
Rank your candidates with this table. Pick from the top down, and favor people who saw the kind of work the new job asks for.
| Rank | Who | Why | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your most recent direct manager | Saw your work most closely and most recently | If they are your current manager, see below |
| 2 | An earlier direct manager | Same weight, older evidence | Make sure their contact details are current |
| 3 | A skip-level manager or project lead | Saw your results, if not every day | Only if they actually worked with you |
| 4 | A client or partner you served directly | Can speak to results from the outside | Check your employer's rules on client contact |
| 5 | A senior coworker on a shared project | Good on specific skills and teamwork | Pair with at least one manager |
| 6 | A professor, research lead or internship supervisor | Best option early in a career | Less useful once you have work history |
How many. Three is the working number. MIT suggests you "select three contacts who are familiar with your most relevant experience and skills." The University of New Hampshire recommends a bigger bench: "Create a list of five to seven recent references, with the understanding that you usually need just three." That bench lets you choose the three who fit each job, and spares any one person from five calls a month.
Some employers specify the mix. Washington State University's Workday application, after a November 2024 change, asks faculty applicants for "the current/recent supervisor and three professional references," so a manager plus three. Automated reference services wait on responses: HiringThing's lets the employer finalize a report once at least three references respond, so giving four or five protects you if one is on holiday.
Your current manager. Many job seekers cannot list their current boss without tipping off their employer. WSU dropped its up-front reference request for staff roles partly because applicants worried about employers contacting their current employers. The UK's Acas tells employers that before contacting a current employer they should have "made a conditional job offer to the applicant" and have the applicant's permission. In the US, say plainly in the form or to the recruiter that your current manager can be contacted after an offer, and give a former manager now. Workday even lets employers add a field called "Contact me before reaching out to referee" for this reason; tick it if you see it.
How to ask: a template
Ask early and ask in a way that lets the person say no. A reference who agrees reluctantly is worse than none. UNH calls a phone call "always the gold standard", with email as the fallback. MIT adds a rule that is easy to skip under deadline pressure: "Always ask the reference's permission before sharing their name with a company."
Use the email below to set up the call, or as the request itself if a call is not practical.
Sample request email (invented names; replace every bracket):
Subject: Would you be a reference for me?
Hi Priya,
I hope things are going well at Fernhill. I'm starting a search for senior accountant roles, mostly at fintech and payments companies, and I'd like to list you as a reference. You managed me through the 2024 audit and the vendor payment migration, and you're the person who knows that work best.
Would you be comfortable giving me a strong reference? If the timing is bad or you'd rather not, that's completely fine, and thank you either way.
If yes, I'll send a one page summary of the roles I'm going for and a few things you might mention, and I'll always give you a heads up before an employer reaches out. Calls would most likely come in the next two to three months. Which phone number and email should I give?
Thanks, Jordan
What makes it work:
- "A strong reference," not "a reference." It gives the person an easy way to decline if they would only be lukewarm.
- One shared project named. It reminds them which version of you to describe.
- A time window and a promise to warn them. References say yes more easily when they know the commitment.
- Ask which contact details to share. People often prefer a personal number or email to a work line that might change.
Prepare your references: a one page brief
Once someone agrees, send them a brief before any employer calls. MIT recommends sharing the job description and your resume, plus a short paragraph reminding them of the skills and strengths they saw, and notes that a job posting link may stop working, so include a summary too. Here is a version you can copy.
Sample reference brief (invented details):
Reference brief for Priya Natarajan, from Jordan Avery
Updated: October 2026
WHAT I'M APPLYING FOR
Senior accountant roles at fintech and payments companies (US, hybrid or remote).
Current finalist: Senior Accountant, Northgate Pay. Hiring manager: Sam Ruiz, Controller.
Expect contact: an email survey or a call, in the next two weeks.
WHAT THEY CARE ABOUT (from the posting)
1. Month-end close in under five business days
2. Audit readiness and SOX controls
3. Process improvement in accounts payable
WHAT YOU SAW ME DO (your call, only if it matches your memory)
- Led prep for the 2024 external audit; we closed with no material findings.
- Moved vendor payments to the new AP system with Marcus in Q3 2024.
- Took close from eight days to five over 2023 and 2024.
OUR DATES
You managed me from March 2023 to the present, at Fernhill Payments.
ATTACHED
My current resume and the job description.
Every claim in the "what you saw" section should be something the reference can confirm from memory. Saying "your call, only if it matches" keeps it honest: you are reminding them, not scripting them. A reference who repeats a number they do not recognize sounds coached, and OPM's guidance tells hiring managers to "clarify with the candidate any conflicting information received by references."
After the process ends, close the loop. MIT advises following up "to thank them for being a reference and to share any updates on your search and offer status."
When employers check, and what they ask
Timing. Reference checks sit at the end. OPM tells federal hiring managers to check "once the applicant pool is narrowed down to the top candidate(s)." Acas tells UK employers "It's best to ask for a reference at the final stage of the recruitment process when making a job offer." By then you are a finalist. In Ashby's 2026 Talent Trends data on 54 million applications, pass-through is about 35% at the recruiter screen but 95% after the onsite and 81% at the offer stage. Ashby does not break out reference checks, but the numbers show how far along you are when an employer starts calling. Some systems collect names much earlier (WSU's faculty applications ask in the application itself), so a request for names is not always a sign you are close.
Format. It may be a phone call, or it may be an email. Workday says it "sends the referee request though email", and the referee can accept, decline, or decline and ask to have their contact details removed. Automated services send each reference a link to a short questionnaire. Tell your references which to expect, so an unfamiliar email does not get ignored as spam.
What they ask. OPM publishes the sample questions it gives federal hiring managers. They are a good preview of what any employer asks:
- In what capacity did you work with the candidate (peer, colleague, supervisor)?
- Could you give a brief description of the duties the candidate performed?
- What were the candidate's strengths? What areas could they improve?
- Would you recommend them for this position? Why or why not?
- How well did they know the work, perform on the job and manage the workload?
- How would you describe their relationships with coworkers, subordinates and supervisors?
- Is the candidate eligible for rehire in your organization?
OPM also tells hiring managers to ask every reference the same questions and to "contact additional references, as applicable," so assume an employer may talk to people beyond your list. The weakness question is the one to prepare your references for. A reference who says "she was working on delegating more, and got much better at it" helps you; one caught off guard may hesitate.
Your rights when a screening company calls. If an employer hires a background screening company to interview people about your "character, general reputation, personal characteristics, and lifestyle," the FTC classes that as an investigative consumer report. The FTC's guidance for employers says they need your written permission, given after a stand-alone written notice, plus a further notice that they may request an investigative report and that you can ask for more detail about it. Our guide to how long a background check takes covers the rest of that stage.
References from outside the US
If your best references are abroad, plan for three problems: reach, time zones and format.
Reach. Give an email address and a phone number with the country code, and tell the reference which company will contact them. Email based requests, such as Workday's, work across time zones better than a cold call at 3 a.m. their time. Confirm that each reference's email works today; former work addresses at a company they left will bounce.
Different rules on giving references. Not every country expects employers to give one. In the UK, Acas notes that "An employer does not have to give a reference by law" except in specific cases, such as a written promise in a contract, certain regulated financial services roles, or a settlement agreement. A UK manager may be told by their own HR to say little, so ask early and have a backup.
Germany's written reference. German employees have a legal right to a written reference when a job ends. Section 109 of the Gewerbeordnung says the employee is entitled to a written Zeugnis covering at least the type and duration of the work, and can ask for one that also covers performance and conduct. It must be clear and may not contain wording meant to say something other than what it appears to say, and with the employee's consent it can be issued electronically. Saarland University's career center explains that these letters "form a central part of your job application" in Germany, recommends asking for the comprehensive version if you worked somewhere more than eight weeks, and warns that they are written in standardized, euphemistic phrases whose real meaning depends on the exact wording. If you have one, a US employer may read it literally. Keep the letter, add a certified English translation if you will use it, and still line up a manager from that job who can talk to a US hiring manager directly.
A US contact for context. If you can, pair a reference abroad with one in the US, even a professor or internship supervisor, so the employer has at least one call that is easy to make.
If you have no professional references yet
Everyone starts here. OPM's own definition includes a professor, so you are not limited to managers. In rough order of strength for a first job:
- An internship or co-op supervisor. This is the closest thing to a manager.
- A manager from a part-time or summer job, even in an unrelated field. Reliability, customer handling and learning speed transfer.
- A professor or research lead who saw your work in a project, lab or small seminar, not just a large lecture.
- A volunteer coordinator who gave you responsibility and saw the result.
- A freelance client who paid you for work you delivered.
MIT's rule still holds: no classmates, friends or relatives.
If a form demands three references and you have two strong ones, give the two strong ones and a third from the list above, rather than a friend. If you have fewer than the form allows and it will not let you continue, it is better to tell the recruiter directly than to enter someone who has not agreed. A references field sends real emails to real people.
To build references for next time, ask a manager on your way out of every job whether they would be a reference later, and save their personal contact details. People are much easier to find while you still work together.
Where ApplyEze fits
ApplyEze writes a resume for every posting, and a cover letter when the form asks for one, and completes applications on 12 platforms, including Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby (Workday and Oracle Recruiting Cloud need a connected application inbox). It runs in a visible browser on your own machine, and dry run mode fills a form without clicking Submit, so you can see whether an employer's form asks for references before anything is sent. The references themselves are yours to line up: ask first, brief them, and warn them before every call. For where references go on paper, see our guide to references on a resume.