It is very important to have a list of at least three professional references that can be submitted along with your resume, or provided to job interviewers upon request. Choose people who are willing to speak on your behalf and won't hesitate to promote you as you are seeking employment.

Brainstorm for people who you can ask to serve as references for you. It's best to select people who can vouch for your professionalism and experience rather than personal references.

Get in touch the people you select and ask for permission to include them on your list of references. Let them know that you are actively searching for a job, and inform them that employers may be contacting them on your behalf if they agree to help.

Place the title "References" at the top of the page, followed by your name, so the prospective employer will know exactly what information is on the page.

Next, hit enter three times, then type the name, company or profession of the first person and the address including street, city, state and ZIP code. Finally, type the telephone number where they can be reached. In many cases, you will have email addresses for the references; type them below the telephone number. An example: Mr. Joe Jones Principal of John High School 70 Smith Road New York, NY 56789 765-435-7869 JJones@letters.com

Double-space in order to begin the next entry that is going to be directly below this one. Repeat until all references have been added.

Select a font that looks professional and is easy to read. Helvetica, Times Roman, Arial and Lucida are very easy to read and conservative, but attractive just the same. Blackadder, Edwardian Script and French Script are not recommended; they could possibly make your references difficult to read. Because you may be sending your reference sheet with your resume, it's a good idea to use the same font on both documents.