What to do if a job reference no longer works at the company

In this age of market volatility, people are being laid off at all levels of the corporate ladder. It’s not uncommon to contact a former supervisor for a reference, only to find out he’s no longer there. Now what?

Your references do not need to be with the company to provide a reference for your job there. Use LinkedIn, Facebook, a general Google search, or network offline through mutual ex-colleagues to find a missing reference. If you find him and agree to discuss your work at the previous company, provide your potential employer with your new information, but also your previous title and your exact relationship at the company where you both worked.

Use someone else in that company. If you can’t find your previous boss and the potential employer really wants to know about your work at this company, find someone who knows your job. This may be a colleague who worked on a project with you. This could be your boss’s boss, who can at least verify what kind of work you did. These could also be customers or suppliers of this former company. For example, if you were an asset manager, find an institutional investor who might have interacted with you. If you were an IT specialist, find someone at a software vendor you’ve worked closely with. LinkedIn is great for collecting these kinds of testimonials.

Use another supervisor. People who fall off your radar is why you always want to have at least three supervisors for your referral list. Collect and confirm your references now, not just when you get an offer and need to look up names, titles, and current contact information the same day.

Also remember that you need other types of references besides supervisors. Recruiters can request colleagues and people you managed. References at different levels provide different points of view, and more extensive reference checks will cover all of these.