Riffing on Resumes, Part 14: References

It doesn't hurt to mention specific references in your resume if you have an extra line or two, something like this:

References

• Yu Zhang, Chief Operations Officer, North South University, Bangladesh
• Marisol Martinez, Ph.D., Professor of Linguistics, Universitat de Barcelona

Doing so shows you come to the position highly recommended. Better yet, you can include your references' letters of recommendation with your resume. As I have said in previous posts, be sure to target those references to the prospective employer's needs and interests. 

On the other hand, you are wasting two lines of precious real estate on your resume page with a heading "References" and a line below it saying, "Available upon request." Of course they are. Better to say nothing.

Even if you are not inclined to note your references, exceptional though they may be, keep records of those endorsements in case the interviewer requests them.