To think this is discriminatory to Stay At Home Mums?

[WomanAtTheBack]

I have been looking for a new job and have noticed on the application that a lot of companies, including the NHS, say you must provide work references for the previous 3 years. Characters references will not be accepted.

I have only been in my current role for a year and prior to that was a SAHM for 9 years.

Does this mean my application is automatically unsuccessful?

Isn’t this discrimination towards (predominantly) women who have taken time out of the workplace due to caring for children or relatives?

It just means they want references from your most recent employer. If you haven't been employed in those years then you just provide your most recent employer. It's so people aren't fleeing gross misconduct dismissals or something and give old references to avoid it.

Tbh I think that’s for people who are in current employment. The NHS will definitely want a current line manager reference. However it will probably be fine for you to give character reference for your time out of work and give them the details of your last job so they can get a reference from your most recent job.

I think it’s ok just to apply with whatever work history you have got.

by your logic it would also exclude self employed people etc

Hi, I have just started a job with the NHS and only had 20 months of employment prior to my application as I had been a stay at home mum for 8 yrs prior to this. I had to give 2 character references from people high up in the community as well as the one job reference and this was accepted. Just apply, you have nothing to lose.

It means it wants employment references from everyone you have worked with in the past 3 years, rather than you must have worked continually for the past 3 years, to avoid leaving off a recent negative exit.

If you haven't worked in the past 3 years they ask for character references. If you have worked though what they're saying is they need to be employment references for the period. So no, it's not discrimatory.

It might be unfair, but it isn't discriminatory. Lots of people (like the unemployed) don't have three years work references. And SAHM ( or father? ) isn't a protected characteristic.

That said, contact their HR and make your point. There might be good reasons for some jobs needing previous employment experience. But there can also be other ways of getting around this requirement. You won't know until you ask.

Yeah it’s to stop you bypassing your current or last employer due to disciplinary issues etc. if you don’t have a current or last employer if you were successful in bring preferred candidate HR would work with you to make sure you provided a suitable reference for your circumstances.

It’s not just SAHP though. A friend of a friend used to run a shop with her mum. Business collapsed and she had to look for a new job, found it very difficult as she’d done that since she was 18 and was in her mid-40s. She did eventually get a job with the NHS but had to join a temp agency first as she found it impossible to get work with no references.

getting an agency post in the NHS is a great way to get references