How long can I keep references on my CV, and is there a min/max amount that should be put on?

Question

I'm a Masters student and looking for an internship. During my bachelor studies I performed two internships, both of which I can use my supervisors as reference. However, the first internship is now four years ago, the second is 2 years ago. Are these still relevant, or should I remove references from my CV after X years?

If the reference isn't too old, is there a max amount of references you should add to a CV? Besides these two references I got a reference from a professor from my bachelor studies and one from my Master studies, but I don't know if putting four references up is too much, or if I should put up the most relevant one.

Answer 1

You don't put references on the CV/resume. You don't even need to put the line "refences available", they will assume you have references.

When a potential employer gets to the part of the hiring process that they want to check references they will ask you to provide them. Some will ask for them when you fill out the application, others will make it one of the last steps.

If you create a cover letter for a specific position, and you have a very impressive reference, then include that one of the paragraphs.

Keep in mind the relevance of a reference will depend on the position and purpose of the reference. The potential employer may also specify the number of years back they want to go. Also putting a reference on the CV/resume doesn't mean they wont ask you to provide them as the appropriate time, they know that resumes are sometimes stale when they get them.

Since you will only be providing them when they ask for them, your list can be long, and just select the ones that can help you get that position and meet the requirements of the employer.