Here’s a roundup of answers to five questions from readers. 1. Should I give a negative reference for a nightmare employee? I used to serve on the board of a small nonprofit, which I left a year ...

The short answer to your question is that you shouldn't give anyone a reference unless you feel 100% comfortable with it. You don't want to be put in a position where your credibility is sullied ...

We all become forgetful as we age, but we still want others to give us a good job reference. If you give potential references a short list of accomplishments and talking points, you'll make their ...

"The best references are ones that have worked with the person most recently. If it's been more than 10 years, for instance, it's very difficult to be a quality reference," McDonald says.

Always give your references a heads-up that someone might call, and send them a copy of your most up-to-date résumé.

And there is no rule that says a reference checker can’t contact anyone they want to. Remember, you want your references to be your best advocates. Be worthy of their praise.

Editors should not call references — listed or not — until they get serious and have told the job-seeker they are going to do that. There are lots of reasons for that: ...

The post The best references to give on a job application appeared first on TheJobNetwork. The Job Network is a USA TODAY NETWORK content partner, providing career and job-hunting advice.

In many cases, a reference will contain negative things about its subject. This is part of a reference’s design: the referee should give a full and frank assessment.

Correspondence Published: 23 November 2000 Revolution in references: give readers a chance by putting page numbers Steve Wise Nature 408, 402 (2000) Cite this article ...