Hi all,
I'm new around here but need some advice. Basically, my second supervisor was meant to do references for some post-doc application that I was submitting. I asked him in good time before, and he said that's fine.  The first one was due a week ago. I sent him all the details beforehand so he knew what he was expected to do. In the actual event, he e-mailed me 1 hour before the application was due, having not read what he was meant to supply, essentially panicking that he had none of the info he needed and asking me to help him. So I did that and he submitted the reference with literally 30 seconds to go, after I'd had a near heart attack! I was doubtful that the reference would be that good, how could it be when it was rushed, but at least it got done.

Then one week later the next application needed a reference. He could have used the same one. I discover he hadn't uploaded this either so I e-mailed him the day before reminding him (he'd already had a reminder a week before). I got an auto-reply, he was on holiday. I sent him another email the next day, just in case he checked his email but of course, it was useless.  The application was submitted,but as he hadn't done the reference it was no good. The uni I was applying to made it quite clear in the smal print that with a missing reference it wouldn't be considered.

So, I'm very upset that I wasted all that time, and my main supervisor's time, doing this application.  I'll never know now how far I would have got with the application either.

Does anyone know what a supervisor's responsibilities are about references? Has anyone had a similar experience? Or does anyone just have some advice. To be honest, I don't think I'm this guy's top priority, or indeed any sort of priority, so that's why he completely forgot.

Thanks everyone,
P.

Hi!

I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to you. Unfortunately I don't think there's anything you can do about the missed deadline apart from maybe calling and asking if they could make an exception.

I don't know if sups have to give us refs, to be honest, but I think it's pretty common practice. Saying that, I've had someone coming to me before and saying he'd only write 3 references because he was such a busy person he couldn't afford to keep spending time writing references for everyone indefinitely :-( but he was not a research sup and he was the exception to the rule really as most are quite happy to write a reference and help their supervisees progressing with their career.

It doesn't sound that your sup doesn' want to do it from what you're saying, he's not doing that out of spite either, 'you're just not his top priority' which suggests to me that either he's 1) too busy, 2) too disorganised, 3) too forgetful or 4) all of the above! If that's the case, it sounds like you're doing everything you can by chasing it up etc. If I were you, I'd probably start emailing maybe 2 weeks before the deadline and 'appreciate that he's very busy but...' stress how important this is to you and you're concerned that you might not even be considered if he doesn't manage to do it, etc. I also try to get a reply so I always ask questions e.g. 'have you done the reference yet? Did you get the info? Do you need any more info? or just unrelated stuff, how are things with...? Did you manage to do....(any work related stuff)?

I know these days everything is done electronically but, personally, I've 'happened to be around and thought I'd stop by to see how the reference is going and if they need any more info because I'm very excited and confident about this' as well. Some might see this as slightly extreme and maybe it is but I've had to get a report from someone who was extremely disorganised and forgetful and I know that he wouldn't have it done on time unless I'd done all these things - he'd missed quite a few deadlines for others before. It is a pain (excuse the language) but desperate times require desperate measures.

Good luck!

Hey! That is really annoying- and I think it comes down to the fact that supervisors are busy and have 'more important' things to do. More important to them of course, not us mere PhD students and our entire futures. My second sup is also rubbish with references. I got a post-doc about a month ago and I emailed him originally asking him if he was willing to provide a reference, to which he agreed. When I got offered the interview I emailed him again to remind him he would be asked for a reference and got no response. 3 days before the interview I emailed him again and still got no response. To this day I don't know whether he sent it off or not (I suspect not), but fortunately my other two references were enough for them to go on. I was still annoyed though. Is there anyone else you could ask to be your second reference instead of him? I had my two sup's down as references where two were required, but when a third was required I put down a lady within the NHS setting that I was working in for my PhD, in the knowledge that she was reliable! Best, KB

That's terrible. If he's too busy to do a reference he could at least tell you to ask someone else.
I'd agree with Keenbean about trying to find another person who could do a reference. The applications I've been doing have geenrally asked for two, but often have space to put three, that was if he doesn't manage to do it for you again, you'd still get two in.

Thankfully the jobs I've been applying for don't need a reference with the application as my supervisor is also very very busy. I don't put his contact details on the form, but put his secretary on instead, as otherwise they'd never never get done.