Professional references: how to get them, keep them and share them
A professional reference is the account of someone who worked directly with you — a client, manager or colleague — about your contribution and how you carried out your role. Its value rests largely on its context: the referee's identity, role, the nature of the collaboration and the period concerned.
This guide covers good practice for asking for references, keeping them and making them usable over time.
Reference, recommendation, testimonial: what's the difference?
These three formats follow different logics. A recommendation letter is usually written freely by its author. A client testimonial is selected and presented by the company or professional who wants to showcase it. A reference check is meant more to let a third party confirm an experience, a role or a contribution.
The more control the beneficiary has over the content presented, the more the reader has to factor that control into their assessment. That is why FEIR clearly separates the referee's answer from the person who receives it.
Who should you ask for a reference?
Favour people who directly observed your work over the most prestigious job titles.
A good referee should be able to describe your role, your achievements and the way you worked precisely. That could be a client who followed your engagement, a manager who supervised your work, or a colleague who worked directly with you.
Closeness to the work done is generally more informative than seniority.
When should you ask for a reference?
Ideally at the end of a collaboration, a project or an engagement. At that point the facts are still precise, work contact details are up to date, and the request is not necessarily tied to an immediate application or business opportunity.
Collecting your references regularly also spares you from reconstructing several years of experience at the moment you need them.
How should you phrase the request?
An effective request rests on three principles:
- explain the context, for example the end of an engagement or a change of job;
- state the effort involved, so the referee knows how much time their answer will take;
- leave the option to decline, without creating an implicit obligation.
An example request:
Subject: a reference for our work together
Hi Claire,
The Arvatis engagement is wrapping up and I'd like to ask you for a reference. Would you be willing to answer a short questionnaire about it? It takes five minutes and there is no account to create. You remain free to edit or delete your answer afterwards.
Of course, please don't hesitate to decline if you'd rather not take part.
Many thanks in advance,
Thomas
More variants, for a former manager or a colleague, arrive in the guide as it is published.
How many references do you need?
There is no universal number. Two or three relevant references for a significant collaboration can tell a reader more than a large number of testimonials with little context.
The main point is to build a coherent history gradually, rather than approaching many contacts at the very moment a reference becomes necessary.
How do you keep references usable over time?
A reference check by phone is hard to reuse. Emails stay scattered across inboxes, and recommendations published on third-party platforms depend on their format and availability.
To remain usable over time, a reference should in particular make it possible to identify:
- its author;
- their role at the time of the collaboration;
- the period and context concerned;
- the integrity of its content.
It should also be shareable without asking the referee to be contacted again for each new opportunity.
That is FEIR's aim: to collect structured professional references, verify where they come from when possible, and let their beneficiary control how they are shared.
That is what FEIR does: collect your references from the people you have worked with, verify them, and let you decide whether to share them. Collecting is free.