AIBU to think that if you ask for your referees not to be contacted....

[1hamwich4]

.....then an employer shouldn't just ignore that and ask them for a reference for you?

Or is it just me? Why bother having the question on your application form if you're just going to ignore the answer?

Do you mean prior to interview?

But what is the point of giving someone as a reference and then saying you don't want them contacted?

How can they give the reference?

Works both ways.

Why put them down if you don't want the new/prospective employer to contact them? Or do you mean 'please don't contact them without letting me know'?

Ah yes, unless you mean prior to interview. In which case, you're right.

I might be being a bit thick here, but why would you name someone as a referee if you weren't happy for them to be contacted? Or do you mean the sort of situation where they're not supposed to contact your current employer until such time as it's looking likely you'll get the job or have at least been shortlisted?

Yes obviously prior to interview. They have to get the reference at some point.

But it could easily be after we've both had a chance to work out whether we like each other....

I feel for you. You meant (or thought) that your referees were not going to be contacted until after they had offered you the job (subject to references). If they contacted them beforehand, that would have been embarrassing and awkward especially if one of the referees was your current boss!

Chin up OP, it can only get better (new job??!!)

Sorry crossed posts OP.

TBH I'm seriously considering withdrawing my application. I had some reservations anyway and this really has not helped.

Depends what job it is, if it's working with children it's part of safeguarding to request the references when the applications come in, this should be made clear though....

Hm that's interesting finally. It's a school.

Why bother having the question on the form though? If you're just going to merrily phone someone's boss up out of the blue you should at least give the applicant the chance to have a quiet chat first, no? Not have a section on the form that leads them to believe otherwise?

yes, I was going to say this must be a school job.

Our LA has removed that box from the form, so you can't opt for employer not to be contacted before interview anymore and adverts usually say references will be taken before interview (not always, not everyone's with the programme yet!). I wonder if the school gave you an out of date form?

Is the form a generic LA one? It may also be used for other vacancies where the Safer Recruitment guidelines don't apply. I agree it could have been made clear that this would happen though.

The form should have made it clear the referees would be contacted prior to interview but I've always told my employer that I'm applying for other posts and asked them in advance for a reference anyway.
Dependent on the role I'd have possibly expected an applicant for a position in a school to be aware of safer recruitment procedures.

Sounds like they are following the latest safeguarding procedures, but not using the latest form! I agree if they'd given you the option to tick 'don't contact' on the form they should've rung you first.

Any job you apply for that involves contact with children, the same is likely to happen again.

YANBU

What's the point of asking if you mind if they're going to do it anyway.

I've not applied for a job in a while but NHS Jobs had this option, so it can't just be for safeguarding that they've ignored it surely?

I had this. School contacted my then current employer asking for a reference. I hadn't even been called about an interview. Current employer went ballistic and I didn't even end up getting the job. Ended up staying in the job for another 6 months but my employer made my life hell and kept changing my shifts around, deliberately giving me all the Christmas shifts and not including me in things. I ended up with another school role which I am in now. References were requested once I had accepted the position.

Thanks for the information. I didn't know about the safeguarding guidelines. The form definitely didn't make this clear and it looks like it's the latest in a series of admin failures (hence my growing apathy for the idea of working there).

Fortunately I'd mentioned it to my referees before putting in the application, but I did tell them I'd asked for them not to be contacted at this stage, purely to save them a job if the whole thing came to nothing. So it is a little bit awkward right now...

Once I had an interview that I hadn't told my boss about (on my day off). After the interview the interviewer said he'd let me know. As soon as I walked out of the room he called my boss to tell him he was offering me the job and ask could he have a reference. I was fucking raging.

Ouch Tracey

Years ago I sent an email to a prospective employer from my mobile phone. I didn't realise that I was sending it from my work email account instead of personal (both set up on my phone)

I got pulled in the office the next day. I was more pissed off that my line manager had been going through my sent box at every given opportunity.

This happened to my friend recently (also a school job). She hadn't put her current headmistress as a reference because headmistress barely knew her and hadn't seen her teach. The prospective employer rang the headmistress and asked for a reference anyway, and the first my friend knew of it was when the headmistress called her in. She did get the job, though!

TooExtra I would certainly have thought that a teacher would be aware that the HT has to be contacted automatically under safer recruitment procedures.

Too that's also safeguarding, one reference has to be current employer and has to be the head giving the reference. Clearly this needs to be being made much clearer on application forms though!

Probably an administrative error. I was contacted recently for a reference for one of my team, and she had ticked the "don't contact" box. They realised afterwards that they had screwed up and apologised, but the damage was done.

Fortunately for my colleague, she had already told me that she was looking for another job, but it could have been a bit awkward for her if she hadn't. As it turned out, she withdrew her application for the other job anyway!

I seem to remember this issue (schools and early references) cropping up before in the Employment Issues section. Clearly the timing of reference requests is sensitive. For anyone in the know - in what way does this practice improve improve safeguarding?