There are many ways to list employment references on your resume, but the best way is to keep the information short. You want potential employers to read through your references list in just a few seconds and glean from it what they need to contact your professional associates. Here's how to create your list.

Gather Your Sources

Make a list of references from your past jobs, business associations and other networking affiliations in your industry. These should be people who can attest to some aspect of your employment record and related skills.

Notify employment references of your intention to use them in your job search. If you need a letter of recommendation, ask your references if they wouldn't mind doing this and have them provide all the necessary details and contact information.

Verify contact information. Ensure the correct spelling of all names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and the best time to reach them.

Properly List Your References

Place three to five business references at the end of your resume under your last employment listing.

Single-space your references, even if your resume is double-spaced elsewhere. This information should fit in a small amount of space, as it is the last item on the page.

List your references in this format: number of reference, full name, company, position, phone numbers and email. This should fit on no more than two lines in a 12-point font.

Follow Up on Letters of Reference

Call your references if they submitted a letter of reference for you to confirm the letter was sent properly and in a timely manner.

Call your potential employers to verify receipt of letters of recommendation from employment references.