Professional references: get them, keep them, share them
A professional reference is the account of someone who worked with you, a client, a manager or a colleague, about what you did and how you did it. It is best requested at the end of a collaboration, takes a few minutes to give, and derives its value from context: who is speaking, in what role, over which period. This page covers how to get one, with a request template, and how to keep references usable over the years.
Reference, recommendation, testimonial: what's the difference?
The three words sound alike and describe different things. A recommendation letter is written freely by its author, often reviewed by the person it praises. A testimonial is selected and laid out by whoever displays it. A reference answers the questions of the person checking: it is the least comfortable of the three, and the most credible, precisely because the beneficiary doesn't control it.
Who should you ask?
The person closest to the actual work, not the most impressive title. A good referee can answer “what did they do, and how” with details: the client who followed the engagement, the manager who watched you hold a difficult project together, a colleague who shared the day-to-day. An executive who met you twice makes a fine signature and a hollow reference.
When should you ask?
At the end of the collaboration. Memories are precise, work addresses still function, and no application is at stake, which changes the nature of the answer: a reference given cold wasn't written to win you the job at hand. Two years later, the same request lands as a favour asked from memory, often at an address that no longer answers.
How should you phrase the request?
Three principles. Say why now: the end of an engagement or a departure is reason enough. Bound the effort: the person should know before accepting that it takes a few minutes. And leave an explicit way out, because a reference given reluctantly reads that way.
A template that fits in six lines:
Subject: keeping a record of our work together
Hi Claire,
The Arvatis engagement is wrapping up and I'd like to keep a record of what we did together. Would you act as a reference for me? Concretely: a five-minute questionnaire, no account to create, and you can edit or delete your answer whenever you want. And if you'd rather not, just say so, it changes nothing between us.
Thanks,
Thomas
More variants, for a former manager or a colleague, arrive in the guide as it is published.
How many references do you need?
Two or three per significant collaboration, and regularity matters more than volume. A history that documents collaborations over the years says something no burst of testimonials gathered the night before an application ever will. Gaps speak too: that's why starting early beats starting big.
How do you keep them usable?
This is where almost everyone fails. Phone-based reference checks leave nothing behind. Glowing emails sleep in an inbox. LinkedIn recommendations belong to the platform and commit to very little. To stay usable for years, a reference has to meet three conditions: you know who wrote it, when and in what role; nobody can suspect you of editing it; and you can share it without calling its author every time.
That is what FEIR does: collect your references from the people you've worked with, have them verified, and let you decide who sees them. Collecting is free.