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March 20, 2008
References and Recommendations
At some point in the job search process, you are certain to be asked for references or letters of recommendation. (Letters of recommendation are most common for judicial clerkships and for fellowships.) The request for a reference or a letter may happen early in the application process or just prior to receiving an offer. In either case, you need to be prepared to provide a potential employer with the requested information and you need to make sure the people you use as references or letter writers are prepared to receive a call or write a letter. Some tips from the CSO:
1. Don’t wait until the last minute to ask people to be references or to write a letter of recommendation. Waiting until the last minute is always unfair to the person who you are asking, and it is particularly unfair if you are asking someone to write a letter of recommendation. Writing these letters takes time and you want to make sure you give your recommender plenty of time. If you’re not sure whether you will need a letter of recommendation, contact potential recommenders ahead of time anyway to see if they would be willing to write letter should you need them. Do the same for potential references, making sure to ask people to be references before providing their name as a reference. This will give you time to provide your references with the information they need to speak accurately about your skills. (See number 3, below.)
2. Use people who are familiar with your work and your skills. Yes, this specifically includes law school professors. Keep in mind that many legal employers are particularly interested in your performance in law school and, therefore, establishing a good relationship with your professors and using these professors as references is important. Past or current employers are also a source of potential references, as long as the person you use is specifically familiar with you and the work you’ve done.
3. Make sure your recommenders and references have accurate information. Give recommenders and references a copy of your current resume so that they can speak accurately about you. And make sure they have information about the specific jobs for which you’ve used their name as a reference so they can speak to the skills you have that might be most relevant to the position.
4. Stay in touch. Stay in touch with the people who have agreed to be your references so they know where you are applying, when they might be receiving a call, and who might be calling them.
5. Express your appreciation. No one is obligated to serve as a recommender or a reference for you so remember to thank your recommenders and references for assisting you with your job search.
Posted by kcc17 at March 20, 2008 05:26 PM