Fresh Graduates: 4 Best CV Referees Choices Even Without Work Experience

By Mark Namaswa,

“I completed my degree in Information Technology in December last year. I always look at your job adverts and others in the newspapers and apply for them. I have one problem: most of the jobs ask for a list of three professional referees.  Where do I get these referees yet I have not worked anywhere else?” asked one friend.

It is understood that many college and university students only scramble to write their CVs during their last semesters in school. And the result is that names are quickly thrown into the ‘Referees’ section without much thought. Others, like my honest friend above remain at a loss on whom to choose as a referee. Where should fresh graduates turn to for referees?

1. Start from School/College
For starters referee should be carefully chosen; for fresh graduates these could come from your college dean or lecturer.

“My expectations when I look at the CV of a fresh graduate is seeing them start from academics; one of the lecturers they interacted with who, when contacted remembers them very well and can give a good word about them concerning their personality and potential to work,” says Lucy Njimu, HR Manager the Kenyan Alliance Insurance Company.

“Referees don’t necessarily have to be people you have worked for in the past,” says Tabitha Kibe HR Manager Farm Concern International.  “These should mainly be trusted people who can be called upon to give information about you.”

2. Mention Mentors
“Your mentors don’t need to be relatives; they can be people you look up to around you, people who saw you grow up and those you have shared with your career aspirations and know where you are headed to in terms of career and personal development,” says Ms. Njimu.

“You can find referees from your former lecturers, church elders among others. What I do is look for someone who has interacted with the candidate previously and bear general information about you which they are willing to share,” suggests Ms. Kibe.

3. Remember Internship Supervisors
“Though this is not considered a lot of work experience, internships and attachments offer a trace that a fresh graduate has actually worked somewhere. This can then be used to find a referee to verify that so and so worked somewhere at some point,” says Ms. Lucy Njimu.

The rules for getting referees remain the same; people of high moral and professional standing   and of course stay away from those that might malign you. After all, we all look for referees who have our best interests at heart.

4. Resist very prominent referees—unless they know you
Do famous referees give you a boost? Not really, according to both Ms. Njimu and Ms. Kibe. Ms. Njimu says: “It doesn’t make much sense for an applicant to cite a very known personality as his or her referee. In most cases, this does not give the applicant any advantage whatsoever. The important thing here is that we are interested in getting information about the candidate and not the referee he has listed.”

In Ms. Njimu’s opinion, mentioning high profile referees might work against the candidate. “The main focus is looking for referees that can give feedback about you. In most cases, high profile referees don’t add much value to your resume because most of them are difficult to get in touch with,” observes Ms. Njimu. The best way to go is look for someone who knows you and is fairly easy to contact for a comment about you.”

And lack of referees might indicate, which might also be not always be the case, that you either have a bad past record in class or a workplace and are scared that people you mention might spill beans about your previous conduct.