when to bring in reference

[newyearnewjobnewme]

I am looking for a new role. I have confided in someone very senior in my organisation, who has said they would be happy to write me a reference. My question is when can I use this? Only once I get a job offer? would it seem strange if I volunteered this when applying....mostly my line of work goes through recruitment agencies.

I have applied for a role, where the person who has offered would have contacts I think....can I ask him to drop in a good word do you think?

It's unlikely a potential new employer would want to bother taking up an offered reference at an earlier stage than job offer (other than in some specific sectors), so probably no point offering them your referee's contact details unless and until offered.

Whether your referee could put in a good word depends. I am assuming that if he happened to be having lunch with someone involved in the recruitment for the post, they'd probably ask him anyway, or he could say 'I have someone in my organisation who I know has applied for a post you're involved in recruiting, she'd be really good'. But I imagine those circumstances happening to arise beforehand is unlikely.

Depends on your sector. In teaching references are now taken during shortlisting, before the interview.

When I've been job-hunting I've spoken to my referees to say so, and to ask if they're happy for me to use them. I then wouldn't mention it again unless the recruiter asked me for their contact details or said they were going to be requesting references, and then it would just be in a "just to let you know you should be getting a request for it."

References nowadays tend to be confirmatory in nature (this candidate's CV lists their employment dates and role title accurately etc) rather than endorsement (this candidate is great at xyz and an asset to the team).

So if you have the reference, from your senior manager, it will serve a purpose once you receive a job offer, but unlikely to be relevant until you've been through the interview process and the recruiters have already formed their own view of you and just need confirmation 'their hunch is a good one'.