List 6-8 people who would agree to be a reference for you. Use previous supervisors, professional acquaintances, teachers, etc. You may be asked to include both personal and professional references. If you use a personal reference, make sure they are employed, and preferably in a responsible position. Personal references should not be members of your family. Supervisors, coworkers and teachers are persons to consider when assembling references.

For people who will not be physically available (on deployment, moving to another location, overseas, retired) ask them to write a letter of reference for you. Make certain letters are written on letterhead from a company. Employers prefer being able to contact a person by telephone as opposed to a letter.

Never relinquish an original letter of reference, always supply a copy.

Always ask permission to use a person as a reference. Give a copy of your resume to each reference. Make sure you know how each person wants to be contacted. Have current phone numbers. Recycle the list if you send it out several times.

Remember to add your list of references to your career catalog. Type your list in advance so you can mail it out upon request. See following page for an example.