The reality of the medical recruitment lifecycle is that you are always on the hunt for recent, high-quality referees.  So, it is never too early in the year to source referees.  The earlier you can get onto this, the better. 

• So, who should you ask and when? 
• Some terms are harder than others to access referees so how do you manage this? 
• What do I say when you ask them and what happens if they say no?

As with most aspects of successful career management there is no one singular or perfect way to approach this and what works for one individual may not work for another.  However, there are steps you can take to manage this process effectively, professionally and with confidence that will assist you to not only obtain referees but to also help the referee give you a great reference.
 

Sourcing a quality reference

Navigating your career in medicine and successfully obtaining the positions you seek requires you to curate a selection of high-quality referees that are relevant to your career stage and goals. 

These referees need to:

• Be in the right role, career stage and speciality
• Be current and up to date
• Know you well in a professional setting
• Provide a favourable assessment your performance in role
• Support job and training program applications 

Some pathways and roles require two or three referees, others 8 - 10.  Knowing what is required is the first step in the process and will guide your strategy in sourcing referees.
 

In selecting a referee there are a few things you should consider:

• When commencing a rotation/term quickly assess who the consultants / fellows / senior registrars are that you can potentially ask to be your referee(s)?
  • Start noting your options and use the first 2 - 3 weeks of the rotation to assess who might be the best referee(s) for you.
  • Does your preferred referee know who you are? If not, how do you get to know them? 
    • Be sure to put a plan in place to action this.
    • Make sure you introduce yourself to them and that they get to know who you are as early in the rotation as is possible.
    • Most seniors like to share advice, information and their own career journey with their juniors, so be ready to ask them questions if you get the chance.
       
• Do your shifts overlap with your selected referee’s workdays, so that they there is enough opportunity for them to supervise you and assess your performance in role?
  • It is good to understand this and to choose referees who you will overlap with throughout the rotation. 
  • Be sure to have a conversation about this as you engage them. 
  • Also make sure to ask them if they have planned leave coming up. There is no point asking them to be a referee if they won’t be working for most of your rotation or they will be away and inaccessible when reference checks need to be completed.
     
• Have you built rapport with your referee? 
  • Does your selected referee appear to ‘like’ you? 
  • Have you asked them for any feedback - if you haven’t, action this.
  • Do you think they would provide a favourable reference?
     
• If you have a particular career pathway in mind that you are wanting to pursue, it is good practice to identify and gather a selection of referees who are specialists in this pathway(s). i.e. if you are keen to pursue surgery, gather referees that are surgeons. 
  • References from specialists in the speciality pathway you are pursuing will be viewed more favourably and in some cases are mandatory.
  • Having a selection of well-known, highly regarded specialists that speak favourably of you is likely to positively support your application for an accredited training position in the specialist training pathway you are pursuing.
     
• Now that you have identified your preferred referee(s), you need to ask them if they are willing to act as a referee for you.
  • If possible, aim to do this this in-person, 1:1.
  • Follow this interaction up with a text / email confirming this and be sure to thank them. 
  • If you find you are always with others, in a group setting, we would suggest asking them if you could set up a time to briefly speak with them 1:1 or if this is awkward to email them separately to request this.
  • If neither approach is possible, reach out to them with your referee request via email to ask them. If they say yes, thank them and ask to speak 1:1 with them at a later time about this.
     
• To assist your referee to provide the best reference that they can, it is important that you take ownership to understand the structure and content of the reference for, the criteria the referee is asked to assess you on, key dates and timeframes. 
  • This is important as you want to make sure that your referee can assess you across all reference criteria assessed.
  • If there are some identified gaps you can then ensure that these are addressed with the referee within the rotation. 
  • Most reference check forms use a rating scale to assess performance across a number of criteria, which can vary from form to form. However most also have an ‘additional comments’ or ‘free text’ section and we would recommend asking your selected referee if they would be willing to take the time to provide additional ‘positive’ comments in this section as we know this is received well.
     

Struggling to source a referee?

We know that sometimes sourcing a referee is not easy. 

Sometimes the doctor you approach to act as a referee is not able to provide a reference for a variety of reasons. If this is the case, we would recommend that you ask them if they could suggest another doctor(s) who might be able to provide a reference for you, and if possible to refer you to them.

We also know that in some rotations, you do not get a lot of opportunity to cross over with consultants or that for some of you, your first or second rotation of the year finds you on ‘covers’ or in later years, on ’nights’ which again makes it difficult to cross paths with consultants who can provide a reference. If this is the case (and sometimes you won’t know until the start of the new year), we recommend that as a back-up plan you always aim to actively gather referees in your final couple of rotations each year so that you have these as a back-up if required. 
 

Top tips:

• Your seniors - consultants, fellows, registrars - expect to be asked to provide references for their juniors, it is part of the annual recruitment lifecycle and they are typically very familiar with the process
• While most seniors are familiar with the process, they may not be familiar or up to date with changes in reference check forms and formats for particular roles which can be updated annually. So, it is good practice to download a copy of the form and to provide this to your referee. We would also recommend that you are familiar with the content of the reference form that you can cover off any questions if they are asked of you.
• You accumulate references over time who can, and should form part of your professional network which should be slowly building with each rotation (for more on this, read our Leadership Insight: the importance of your personal network). Therefore we recommend keeping in contact with them and updating them on your career progression. LinkedIn can be a helpful tool to support you to do this. Actively building your professional network can be a great source of potential mentors, sponsors, research and job opportunities in later years (for more, read our Leadership Insight: mentoring and sponsoring: what is your legacy?) so try to be a bit more strategic when engaging with referees, with the aim to add them to your professional network.  

Finally, our top tip in sourcing a high-quality referee is simple - Always act professionally and get the basics right. 

That is:

• Turn up on time in a professional state
• Be reliable and respectful
• Work quickly and effectively – but always safely and within the scope of your role
• If you’re unsure seek help
• Be an engaged active learner
• Ask for and take on board feedback, and
• Always focus on being the best possible doctor you can be in the rotation you are in.

If sourcing a reference is becoming challenging for you book a career call with one of our careers team and they can assist you to navigate this process.