The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior is a statement attributed to Phil McGraw. Now, as a Christian, I understand but also disagree with this sentiment. It makes sense on the surface but I also know with God lives are changed. Drunks don’t drink anymore, Addicts live clean again, Sin is washed away.

With that in mind, how do you go through life knowing you are at some point going to need references from your past to vouch for your future even if that past looks uglier than you would prefer?

Here’s the Deal: The Key To The Perfect Reference In Context.

Example - If I use to work in car sales and now I’m working in aquatics management it can seem like a reference from your car sales job is unlikely to invite or help your aquatics one. Unless you actually begin applying skills of car sales like customer service, simplifying Jargon, and educating others on pathways to success.

Suddenly the job becomes a lot more relatable to so many industries. The obvious idea here is to coach your references prior, but I feel that is a strategy designed to fail.

So when I build my reference sheet, it looks more like this.

Operations
[Reference Name]: [Current Job Title] | [Phone Number] [(Your Relationship)] (Max 2 Words)

This works out to something like this:
Brian Brown: Stage Coordinator | 210-568-1410 (Co-Worker)

Then I do that for every department / use case that makes sense to me even if that means I have multiple operations contacts. But this also frames the conversation for the reference check by categorizing it. Eventually my document looks something like this:

A couple of things to help you here.

1. Explain the sheet in a paragraph up top.

2. When asking someone to be a reference, simply ask them for blanket permission and offer to do the same for them in any circumstance. (It will save you a lot of time down the road trying to ask for references for every job)

3. By giving so many options, not everyone is getting called. If they do call, the people will be able to speak to their niche. or they’ll look at it and see so many names and take for granted you have solid references because you provided so much context in your document.
   
   If you’re interested in adopting this methodology, feel free to use the button below.

   Download The Free Template

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told - The Entire Bible
In case you need a reminder today of your worth and who truly loves you, check out this quick clip from Billy Graham.

Every week, we share somewhere between 6-10 job postings from companies united in the mission of faith focused work. Sponsored listings (If any) are denoted by an asterisk.

You can access our growing database of legitimate Faith Based companies here.
Interested in sponsoring a listing? Please email [email protected]