References are professional contacts that will vouch for your competency, credibility, and work ethic if/when they are contacted by hiring managers.
References should be teachers, college professors, mentors, co-workers, and current or previous management/supervisors.
References should NOT be friends and family but it depends on the circumstances.
Be prepared to provide at least 3 references.
Reference information: First and last name, address, email, phone number(s), relationship to you.
Create a reference page separately from your cover letter and resume. Typically you only provide your reference page when it is requested by the hiring manager or interviewer(s).
ALWAYS ask someone if you can use them as a reference before you list them on your reference page. If it has been a while since you have had an interview reach out to your references and make sure it is still ok to use them as a reference.
Ask your references if they prefer you let them know when you interview for a job so they are aware that someone may try to contact them. This way they can expect a call or keep an eye out for an email from that place and won't ignore the call or email if it goes into junk mail.
Employers typically do not reach out to references until the interview is complete and they have chosen to hire you.
Most of the time they are only verifying information with references such as dates you worked somewhere or your work ethic. However, this depends on the type of job or company. Some jobs will requires more extensive questioning of your references (i.e. government jobs).