The International Schools Review Forum

I'm wondering if anyone can give me advice on how many references admin actually want to have. I have my two most recent supervisors and a parent reference. I am confident that all my former supervisors would happily give me a good reference, but I don't want to waste anyone's time. Is it worth it to have lots of references, or should I have the required two and indicate that I will happily provide more if anyone wishes to talk to a particular person? Thanks for any advice you can give me.

The references you mentioned sound sufficient as "open" references (I'm thinking you mean letters of reference). More important are the confidential references that the recruiting agencies provide to schools. On your resume, I would recommend listing contact information for your referees. That saves recruiters from having to email you for that information. I always make a point of contacting two referees by phone or personally at a fair. If there are any concerns, I'll look for a third or fourth contact. But, that is rare.
Good luck!

To add to the question:

We have our confidential references all complete on Search, but are waiting for letters of recommendation from current admin. Should we apply to schools now anyway (for those schools who have letters of rec as a required upload on their applications), or wait until we get the letters?

Thanks Albert.

Most letters of reference that you (the job applicant) provide will be of the same variety - good teacher, sorry to lose them, excellent candidate. I usually ignore these. What I look for is the confidential reference list along with contact info so I can call or email directly and get more pertinent information.

Three references with contact information is generally enough for me to get a clear picture of a candidate.

In terms of contacting schools without having letters of reference in your possession: if you have your file with Search and it is active, by all means contact the school and let them know you are signed up with Search where they can find your references - provided that the school is registered with Search as well and has this access. If you are registered you can search the database and find out if the school is registered. If they are, they can access your file.

Most want at least 2, 3 is better and should cover just about all schools. Schools really want contact information of references so they can call and get the real picture. Most open references are generally very generic. As mentioned earlier good teacher, hate to loose them good candidate. like cover letters they are generally self serving and provide no real insight. A teacher wouldnt submit a letter that was even vaguely negative.