reference not there

I have been asked for references before an interview.
I have a list of 3 of my references, but one of them I cannot get in contact with, and has most likely been laid off.
I don't have time to find a 3rd reference quickly, as my interview is day after.
What do people suggest, keep the references at 2, or give the 3rd one anyway, but mention the contact info is not upto date?
I can't find her new contact info.

Anon
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

A reference is not a reference if you cannot contact them.

The email on this post is fake
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

You did try calling directory assistance, right?

Kyralessa
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

>> "A reference is not a reference if you cannot contact them."

Brilliant!  And advice is not advice if it doesn't contain any useful friggin' information.

My advice:  Ask her former employer to contact her on your behalf, if the reason you can't find her contact info is that they won't pass it along for privacy reasons.  There's always the standard resources on the web.  In the future, try to get a written reference letter up front, so you won't have to rely on contacting them.  It probably won't be as convincing as a reference directly given to the prospective employer, but hey, at least you'd still have it.

anon
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Just callin 'em as I see 'em dawg.

The email on this post is fake
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

No old co-workers they may have kept in contact with?

Next time be sure to drop all your contacts an e-mail every other month, and make sure you have their personal e-mail address rather than just their business contact info.

Schedule a lunch every 6 months or so.

www.MarkTAW.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Here's a thought:

If you don't know 3 people who can confirm your employment history, skills, etc. You are in a big doo-doo budddy.

Cosmo Cramer
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

NullPointerException

Walter Rumsby
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Its unlikely I'd ever give permission for references to be contacted unless they were serious about offering something.  Certainly not before an interview.

And as an employer I've got better things to do in life than discover how nice someone is before I meet them (almost entirely the only thing you'll ever discover from a reference anyway, other than they worked there and had such and such a job title)

Simon Lucy
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

I would just go with two. Does anyone even check references outside of the FBI?  For my first two jobs, I just had some college buddies pretend to be previous managers. They were never contacted.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

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