References are a common part of the recruitment process. It’s essential that your referees are people who know you and your work well and can vouch for you. But should you include their data on your CV right away? Here’s why you should not:

1. Respect your referees – Just because someone accepted to be your referee, it doesn’t entitle you to share their contacts with everyone you send your CV to;
2. You don’t know with whom your CV will be shared – Every time you submit your CV in a website or share it during an application process, you lose control of your data and who will access it. For example, when you upload your CV to Monster or other job platforms, you’re basically sharing it with thousands of people… that you will never meet;
3. Your CV may not be correctly parsed by Application Tracking Systems (ATS) – Nowadays, it’s very common to have ATS as the first phase of the recruitment process. If there is a good match, the recruiter will take a look at it (for more information about this topic read the blog post about how to make your IT CV ATS friendly). So, when you include your referees’ contacts on your CV, ATS can match them as your own contact. Needless to say, it can lead to unpleasant situations;
4. Remember GDPR and data privacy – When you share your referees’ contact details, you are sharing private data. That said, there will be GDPR compliance issues when you share third parties’ personal data with an automated system. Keep track of where you share their data and inform them. If you don’t trust the entity you are sharing the details with, just don’t do it;
5. Only share data when asked to – A good approach is to share your referees’ contact details when asked. Normally, after the first interview and when there is a clear interest from both sides. Ideally, contact your reference asking if you can share their contacts with the recruiters.

Sprint CV –  We truly value your data

References are an important section in your CV and can give you more credibility. Nevertheless, they are only necessary if the recruiters ask for them. Which means the sharing of contacts should happen between humans. That’s why, at sprintcv.com, we don’t ask our users for their referees’ contact details – we value your privacy. We suggest you to simply include a line saying “References available upon request.”

Good luck! 🙂