As a job seeker, you can use referees to really sell yourself to prospective employers.  But before you just throw referees into your resume and selection criteria, it is important to understand the key principles relating to the use of referees, as referees, can really make or break your application

The most important thing to keep in mind, is that employing people is an expensive exercise for employer’s, so it is important that they hire people that already have what people call ‘social proof”, namely evidence that you are good and can deliver the results, before they hire you.

The reason a referee can make or break your application, is that whether consciously, or subconsciously, seeing or hearing glowing references, can make the employer feel safe about hiring you, and could potentially secure you the role.  Likewise, if you have lousy or indifferent references, then it is unlikely that you will be hired.  Yet in spite of this, most job seekers forget to strategically use referees to their advantage.

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I want you to image two parallel planets.  The first one I will call the employers planet and the second planet is full of job seekers like you.

The employer’s planet is receiving on a frequency called WIFM, or what’s in it for me?  The job seekers planet is broadcasting on the frequency called WID what I do.  Now the problem is that the broadcaster, namely YOU, is not really getting through to the receiver.  You are doing your best, but your efforts are resulting in more rejection letters than interviews and you seem to be missing out on roles that you are well and truly qualified for.

Why is this?  It’s simply because you are not broadcasting on the WIFM frequency, as potential employers simply don’t understand what’s in it for them. What you need is a signal decoder and that decoder is called your personal marketing message, which is clear, focussed, and speaks to the needs of your prospective employer.

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