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Discussion

References

Hello everyone,

I recently graduated. I just started applying more seriously to jobs recently and thought I needed to formulate a reference list and so I went and emailed my old professors and clinical instructors if they were able to. I asked their permission as polite as I could but I got rejected from my theory professors and none of my clinical instructors have replied yet. I did not bother to contact CIs that were 1st or 2nd yr but when I think about it most of my instructors were not full time staff and I even heard that most of them taught another school and worked in other hospitals so it's very possible that they might have quit. Out of the 8 instructors I've had for the 4 years I know for sure 4 quit because they went back to hospital nursing one of them retired, the other went to get her PhD. The other 2 were from community and mental health which I had in my 1st and 2nd year and I know one of them went on maternity leave and possibly quit as well and i highly doubt they'd remember me. So I was left with the 2 instructors that Ive had the most recent but so far no replies so I guess they ignored me or followed suit and quit. So far I only have 1 professional reference. What am I suppose to do? Can some employers overlook the reference part or at least take credit that I have one? I've also never worked before so I can't even include a non nursing employer that can refer me.

In summary, most of my teacher quit/retired or is on temp leave, the remaining either declined for their on reasons, and others have not replied. What to do? And no I was NOT a horrid student I got a decent GPA in the end but certainly not Summa Cum Laude I was an average student and maybe that's what the problem I was, I didn't stand out so they couldn't say anything aides from very generic stuff? But I needed the reference regardless though. I heard even agency nursing required 3 processional references.

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    Don't panic. Wait until you are faced with an actual employment application to address this. Many times, employers do not place a lot of emphasis on professional references for new grads because you don't actually have any relevant professional experience yet. Instead, they use proxy measures of your ability such as GPA, scores on exit tests, and so on. If you're asked for professional references and don't really have any, just provide an explanation to the HR folks.

    BTW, it is common practice to just state "References provided upon request" on your resume rather than trying to include contact information for specific people.

    It's going to be fine.

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    Just go ahead and list your references who you feel will give you a decent reference. I constantly get reference check requests for past workmates whom I have not heard from. I am honest about the references and if I have trouble remembering the person I just say that I am no longer working with that person and can the reference checker please refresh my memory. Only once did the requestor get huffy. They have (finally) gotten hold of an actual person and they would really like to get the reference. Most of the time just finding out where we were supposed to have had professional contact is enough to stir up the old brain cells enough to give a decent reference. Good luck.

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    At my school, it is against policy to give a reference to a student (favoritism, putting instructor in a weird place when it was a bad student, ect). Most new grads have no professional references, no worries. And no need to put anything about reference on resume. They know they can request references so it is just wasted space on there.

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    Most instructors have kept your evaluations, or at least the school should have copies, so the teachers can kind of remember things about you. Also, if you still have the instructors' emails that don't work there anymore it doesn't hurt to ask, they could still write you a letter. And honestly I got mine from my first and second semester clinical instructors, they wrote them the quickest for me. Probably because most people don't go back and ask them. So it doesn't matter what level you get them from! And like others said some places don't even ask for references.

    Good luck!!

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