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Good references can make or break your bid for a job. It's important to select them carefully and ask for their permission to list them. But don’t stop there. You need to do more to maximize the chance they'll do a great job for you.

Kerry was applying for a job that requested a reference from a supervisor. She couldn’t ask her current boss because she hadn’t told her she was looking. She didn’t want to ask her prior boss, because they hadn't gotten along well. So she decided to email her boss from two jobs earlier to ask if he would serve as a reference. He emailed back that he’d be delighted.

Kerry was pleased and listed him as a reference on the job application. What she didn’t do was coach him about the position she'd applied for, what they were looking for, or why she was qualified.

She'd had some significant responsibilities since she'd worked for him that prepared her for the position she was applying for. But her former boss didn’t know that. When the prospective employer asked him about her skills and background in that area, there wasn’t much he could say. The informal feedback she got from a friend was that she wasn’t selected for the job because she lacked enough experience in that area.

The moral of the story is this: you need to coach your references politely and appropriately about the job you are applying for and why you are a good match for it, so they can make a good case for you. It’s best to do this by phone or in person, because it allows more in-depth discussion than email.

(The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of St. Louis Public Radio.)

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