References do not belong on a resume. Leave the names off, delete the line that says "References available upon request", and keep a separate one-page reference sheet you send only when an employer asks for it. The ask typically arrives late, after an interview or alongside an offer, so line up three or four people, get their permission before you list them, and spend the resume space on the work you actually did.
The verdict
Do references go on a resume? No, and it is not close
This is one of the few resume questions with a clean answer. Names, titles, and phone numbers of the people who will vouch for you do not go on the resume. Not at the bottom, not in a sidebar, not squeezed under education. The resume is a screening document, and nobody at the screening stage is calling anybody. Recruiters are deciding, in a matter of seconds, whether you are plausibly worth an interview. A former manager's cell number does not help them make that call.
The cost is real. Three references formatted properly take up a solid block of the page: three names, three titles, three companies, three phone numbers, three emails, plus the header. That is space you could have spent on another result, another project, another line of the thing the employer is actually buying. On a one-page resume, that block can be the difference between a fourth strong bullet and a fourth weak one.
There is also a timing problem. References get contacted at the very end, once a company has already decided they probably want you. Attaching them to the front of the funnel is like handing someone your house keys during a first handshake. It is not thoughtful, it is early. Keep them ready, keep them off the page, and hand them over the moment the process reaches the point where they matter.
The line
Why "References available upon request" has to go
It is the single most common filler line in the resume format, and every argument for keeping it falls apart on contact.
It is obvious
Everybody knows references exist
No employer reads that line and learns something. Of course they are available on request. If they were not, you would not be applying. The sentence carries zero information, and a line with zero information is a line you can delete.
It dates you
It reads like a template from another decade
The phrase survives because it was printed in a resume template someone copied in 2004. Experienced recruiters register it as a tell that the format was inherited rather than thought about, which is a bad first impression for one wasted line.
It costs space
A line is a line
Resume space is the scarcest thing you own. That line, plus the blank space above and below it, is roughly one bullet point. A bullet describing something you shipped is worth more than a sentence stating a default.
It signals nothing
It cannot differentiate you
A signal only works if some candidates lack it. Every applicant can produce references, so the claim separates you from nobody. Compare that to a number in a bullet, which not every applicant can produce.
The habit
People keep it out of nervousness
The real reason it stays is that deleting something feels riskier than keeping it. Nothing bad happens when you cut it. No hiring manager has ever rejected a resume for failing to announce that references exist.
The swap
Replace it with evidence
Take the space back and put a result in it. If you want the reference effect on the page, quote a short line of public praise from a client or manager on your website and link to it, where a reader can actually see the endorsement.
The build
How to build the reference sheet employers ask for
This is the artifact you prepare instead. It takes twenty minutes, it lives as a separate file, and it goes out only when requested.
Pick three or four people, not ten.
Aim for three, keep a fourth in reserve, and stop there. Employers who want references will tell you how many and what kind. A direct manager beats a peer, a peer beats a friend, and a friend does not count. If a specific number is requested, follow that number exactly.
Ask every one of them first.
Send a short message, tell them the role you are up for, and ask if they can speak positively about your work. Anyone who hesitates is telling you something. A reference caught cold gives a flat, careful answer, and a flat answer reads as a warning to the person making the call.
Brief them with the job description.
Once someone says yes, send the posting and two or three things you would love them to mention. This is not coaching them to lie, it is saving them from guessing. A reference who knows the role talks about the right work instead of a project from four years ago.
Format the sheet to match the resume.
Same header, same font, same name and contact block at the top, titled "References". For each person: full name, job title, company, relationship to you, phone, email, and one line saying how you worked together. Six to eight lines each. One page, and export it as a PDF.
Send it only when it is requested, then warn them.
Attach the sheet when an employer asks, and the same day, tell your references a call may be coming and from whom. That single heads-up message is the difference between someone answering with enthusiasm and someone answering while trying to remember who you are.
The trade
Three places your references could live
The resume is the wrong home. The private sheet is the required one. A public praise page is the artifact almost nobody bothers to build.
| Capability | Folio | Listed on the resume | A separate reference sheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A page on your own site holding quotes from managers, clients, and colleagues, with names, roles, and companies | Names and phone numbers printed at the bottom of the resume | A one-page PDF with three or four contacts, sent only when asked |
| When a reader sees it | Whenever they open your site, which is often before they ever call you | During a six-second skim, when nobody is calling anybody | At the end, after the interview, when the decision is nearly made |
| Contact details exposed | None. Quotes are public, contact details stay off it entirely | Yes, to every recruiter, job board, and resume database it lands in | Yes, but only to the one employer who asked for it |
| Effort to keep current | Edit the page once and every future link shows the new version | Re-export the resume every time a number or a job title changes | Re-open the file, edit, re-export, and hope you sent the right copy |
| What it proves | That people who worked with you said something specific and good, in their own words | That you know three people willing to pick up the phone | The same, once somebody spends fifteen minutes making the calls |
| Should you have one | Yes, and it is the one most candidates skip | No. Delete it and use the space for results | Yes. Have it built before the request arrives, not after |
The sheet and the praise page are not alternatives, they are a pair. One is private and factual, the other is public and persuasive.
The edge cases
What to do when the rule does not fit
Some application portals have a reference field, and it is mandatory. Fill it in. The rule is about your resume document, not about a form an employer built and asked you to complete. If the field is optional, and the posting says nothing, leave it empty and put the names on your sheet instead. The same goes for a posting that explicitly says to include references with your application: do what it says, and attach the sheet as a second file rather than jamming the names onto the resume itself.
Academic CVs play by different rules. A CV is a long-form scholarly record, and referees are commonly named at the end of it, which is why the word people search for changes with the region. In the UK, Ireland, Australia, and much of the Commonwealth, they are "referees". In the US they are "references". Same people, different label, and the safe move is to use whichever word the job posting used. If you are applying with a CV rather than a resume, read the field norm in your discipline before you cut anything.
If you have no professional references yet, you have more options than you think. A professor, a project supervisor, a volunteer coordinator, a client from freelance work, a coach, or a senior teammate from a group project can all speak to how you work. What disqualifies a reference is not the absence of a payroll relationship, it is the absence of anything specific to say. A professor who supervised a semester-long project can describe you far more concretely than a manager who saw you twice. Ask the person with the most detail, not the most impressive title.
By the numbers
What Folio actually gives you here
First-party facts, no world claims. This is what the product does and does not do.
The better artifact
Give them the praise before they think to call for it
A reference call is a slow, awkward ritual. Somebody has to find fifteen minutes, dial a stranger, and ask careful questions that get careful answers. Most of what they are hoping to hear could have reached them weeks earlier, in the applicant's own words, if the applicant had bothered to collect it. That is the gap worth exploiting. Ask the people who would vouch for you to write you two or three sentences instead, get their permission to publish it with their name and title, and put it somewhere a hiring manager will actually see it.
That is what the Testimonials module in Folio is for. Each entry holds a quote, the person's name, their role and company, a photo, a rating, and a link back to the original if it came from somewhere public. You can feature the strongest ones. Then, using the block-based page builder, you can build a dedicated page at a URL like /references or /praise, mixing quote blocks with the projects those quotes are about, and link it from your resume header alongside your portfolio. A hiring manager clicks it in one second. That is a much better return than a phone number nobody dials until week four.
To be exact about what you get: on the Free plan the page lives at portfolio.wrxstack.com/yourname, not at yourname.com, because Free includes zero custom domains and shows a "Made with Folio" mark. Your own domain is a Pro feature. The resume itself is a different story. Every resume layout and preset is available on Free, and the PDF and DOCX export has no plan gate and no watermark, so you can build the resume, see its ATS score across seven weighted criteria before you export, and download it without paying. What you should not do is put your references in it.
Frequently asked questions
Do references go on a resume?
No. Keep the names off the resume entirely and hold them on a separate reference sheet. Nobody makes a reference call at the screening stage, so the block of names is wasted space that would serve you better as another result or project.
How many references should I have?
Three is the working default, with a fourth held in reserve. If the employer names a number or a type, such as two former managers, match that request exactly rather than sending everyone you know.
Should references be on the resume or on a separate page?
A separate page, every time. Build a one-page reference sheet that reuses your resume header and font, save it as a PDF, and attach it when an employer asks. Keeping it as its own file also means you can update a phone number without touching the resume.
Should I write "References available upon request" on my resume?
No. Delete it. The line tells the reader something they already assume, it is the oldest piece of filler in the resume format, and the space it occupies is worth roughly one bullet point that could describe something you actually did.
How do I format a reference sheet?
Match the resume: same name block, same font, same margins, with the heading "References" at the top. For each person give the full name, job title, company, your working relationship, phone, email, and one line on how you worked together. Three or four entries, one page, exported as a PDF.
What if I have no work references?
Use people who have seen your work rather than people who paid for it. A professor, a project supervisor, a volunteer lead, a freelance client, or a senior teammate can all speak to how you operate. Pick whoever can be most specific, not whoever has the grandest title.