Employment References Question

[royalfan5]

So I have to provide references to headhunter type place, and I was wondering if it was acceptable to use an academic reference from a Grad School professor in place of an employment reference from a menial job I had in college. The professor would be able to give the employer a better Idea of my high level skills than somebody that watched me stuff a bunch of envelops. TIA

[SCOUT]

I think it would be better to use the Grad School professor as your primary reference. I would also include the information for your previous employer if they specifically asked for it. If you don't give them what they asked for it may be interpreted as hiding something.

If you give them the academic reference information too, you are going above and beyond.

[Vaevictis]

It depends on what you need out of the reference? Both have their benefits -- the menial job reference can probably attest to your work ethic better than the professor, but the professor can attest to your level of skill in the subject area (which applies to the job, I assume).

IMO, you should ask the headhunter type place. Remember, they're getting paid to place you. They should know what it is would benefit them most in doing so.

One thing that you might want to do -- something my father recommends -- is require the headhunter place to double-check with you before submitting your resume to anyone.

Some headhunter places blast out resumes shotgun style... which is something you could do yourself. And because most headhunter places get paid by the company for "introducing you", even if you apply on your own separately with the company, the company is going to be in a tough spot if the headhunter submitted your resume first.

A lot of companies will prefer the non-headhunter employee, because that way they don't have to pay the headhunter fee.

If you require the headhunter company to get your permission first, then they can't do the shotgun style approach. One of the things I like to do is put a copyright notice in the footer, which silently implies that you can't redistribute without permission :)