Character Referencing

You see it all the time: "references available upon request". This is a combination of both professional and personal names, emails and phone numbers of the trusted "others" who will back up our credentials, assuring the potential employer we are who we say we are.

The personal names have different expectations from the work-related names. These are the people who know us after hours; these are those who know our troubles and our joys, the friends who've been through thick and thin with us.

Believe it or not, employers do contact these friends. What we don't actually know is what they say about us, but we assume it's good.

The character resume is, for some purposes, a short, second page accompanying the "work" resume that covers the subtler issues an employer might wish to learn about us: our genuineness, our respect for authority, our innate ability to behave with humility,our uncompromising willingness to admit mistakes and clean them up, our courage to take risks.

A time-saver? What if your references let themselves be quoted as going on record vouching for your character? It's a way to open a conversation about your character that could be helpful to both you and the employer.