References Archives - The Voice of Job Seekers

LinkedIn Recommendations Are The Ultimate References in 2025

Up to ten references showing on your LinkedIn profile will be very valuable. Right now, it’s good enough for transactions and contracts, and doggone it, good enough for permanent hiring. Five well-written, detailed recommendations or more will increase your interest and visibility if you don’t have that many now.

Hiring could be quicker.

Hiring would be efficient.

Hiring would take a common-sense approach. Well, maybe.

We can debate what permanent hiring will look like later. Let’s say employment with benefits.

Consider the person who wrote the recommendation:
The reference credentials as a direct boss
Maybe they wrote it as a mentor or sponsor.
If they worked closely as a teammate
If they can speak to skill, character, or were providing fluff

If they are exchanging recommendations (there are good and not-so-good)
The employer interested in interviewing and hiring you may have standard connections with your reference(s). Forget six degrees of separation as relevant for employment’s sake. Second connections and weak ties will be more significant than ever. They’ve been notable for a while, but a deeper dive will occur once employers realize recommendations don’t grow on trees.

It will be worth going back and connecting with your reference long before needing them or realizing they no longer have relevance as a reference. In other words, the supervisor who permitted you to do projects on Lotus in 1992 is not helpful to the employer who needs an Excel ninja. The social media director who allowed you to master Google Plus in 2014 will not serve you in 2025.

I was not arguing about Oxford Commas in 2024. I’m claiming a refresh on your references from the last five years will matter more than 15 or more years ago. We can argue that there are no broad strokes depending on the position’s market, C-Suite or mid-professional. What you’ve accomplished in the last year to three years will matter more.

Your references should change. Relationship building is a necessary strategy as a job search is a lifestyle. Your knowledge and skills applied with various degrees of difficulty matter. Your ability to demonstrate them in front of employers and embody the articulation of their value shines more as someone witnesses them rather than you bragging about them.

A good example is how you have repositioned your skills to increase their value during the pandemic and work remotely. If you have bosses and former bosses who can positively speak to how quickly and adeptly you adapted to the completion of work in this time of a worldwide crisis, it is something employers will want to see. Resilience and perseverance always have value, no matter the job.

An employer or recruiter may also check the validity or substance of the person recommending you. In fact, with the current reference check process, they could do that. I told a story about a former client who was disqualified as a job candidate during a reference check.

Although this happens more often than most people think, this should give you more reasons to keep relevant references as part of your tools to close the deal, secure your reputation, and give employers great reasons to hire you as a valuable asset.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

References Must Speak to Your Current Skills

Your job search should be a lifestyle. But, unfortunately, there are too many components to ignore in 2021 and beyond.

I bet your references and mentors are perpetually in motion.

References can be that landmine if you didn’t vet them, what they will speak to, and share the value you are adding to the inquiring company. Employers want to be assured you can solve their problem, and your reference needs to speak to how you effectively solved past ones.

Some of your references are mentors who will have progressed in their careers in similar ways you would like to. But I bet you call them to mentor, and you’re unaware of how they successfully navigate their career.

You can learn from them, so it’s a good idea to keep them engaged. But if it’s been more than 10 years since they worked with you, find five to seven references you’ve worked with more recently who can also vouch for you.

Simply, references if not vetted or relevant to the problem you’ll solve for the employer is hazardous to your job search.

Think about it:

How many of your references have worked with you in the last 5 years? The last 10 years?

Think of the technology, what you’ve learned, and the life changes in the last two years?

I’ll let that simmer with you. It’s time to get new references if you are convincing employers and recruiters of your value. Your references need to match your relevance no matter your age.

Remove the landmines

On #JobSeekerNation this past week, we talked about landmines in your job search and during the interview process. You can see the entire show here.

Here are other landmines that can entrap you and make your job search more difficult:

Background checks

I tell a story about a client who once lied to her potential employer. But, first, let’s say that a “white lie” is still a lie if it misrepresents you and your integrity.

Afraid of Potential Consequences of Being Fired

The most successful CEO has been let go due to performance. It’s not because they didn’t work hard. I offer some suggestions here that should help you overcome the antiquated narrative about being fired.

Sharing accomplishments that help your potential employer

What sells you sharing expected results and strategies used to get the job done. The more you offer showing how thoughtful you are, increasing the chances of continued conversations. Using words like “great” or “excellent” matters less if the stories you share demonstrate elements an employer needs.

Being unteachable and unflexible

Nobody wants to hire someone who stays stuck in their own mud. But, that’s how a good leader or manager will see someone who doesn’t absorb new information and doesn’t customize a current strategy to fit the situation.

You don’t listen

Most people try to listen for words that seem wrong. You have to listen for what people don’t say because there’s much intel to gather from silence or omission. You can actually listen for the intent of an omission through your silence and being present in the moment.

There are opportunities left on the table because job candidates are not as thoughtful and reflective of what an employer says. And it often shows through the lack of engagement and discernment from the application process to the reference checks. It is possible to defuse the mines before they go off by investing time into what the employer wants and needs.