On your CV or on an application form you fill in when applying for a new job, it is most often necessary and often required to have references of people who can vouch for you for your potential new employer to speak to, for them to find out if you are a trustworthy and valuable person to hire.
You should get references from people who genuinely know you (or knew you) through a place of study, previous or current employment, volunteering or any other experiences such as helping out a club or organisation you were involved in or with.
Establish some good places you have worked at, studied at or had experience with for your references. You need to make sure you write details that are accurate as your future potential employee will likely be contacting your references.
If you are going to use a new person to be a reference, make contact with them to ask if they are willing to be a reference for you. That way they can keep a look out for expecting a telephone call and will be prepared to give your potential new employer a good recommendation of hiring you.
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It is worth keeping reference details up-to-date, check your reference contact person’s phone number is still accurate and they are still happy to be a reference for you. Keep as many ways to contact the person on your reference as possible.
Obtain a reference from somewhere that will be flattering of your skills and show off your positive attributes rather than a workplace you got made redundant from unfairly or that you did not work for at the place for that long. You could be asked for more than one reference so collecting a few different people to use as references will be a good move – Good Luck!
