Contacting referees prior to interview

[Snowflakewater]

If I say no here on application forms, does it look odd to the employer.
The reason I ask this is because, I can imagine that it could make it seem as though there’s a reason I don’t want them being contacted and could make the employer question why.

The main reason, is because it has happened before, my HT has been contacted and I wasn’t actually put forward to interview. So it was hugely embarrassing explaining that to other people. As seemingly everyone caught wind of that and it started going going to people above me

Any thoughts? I just don’t like the feeling of having to explain I was rejected

It does look odd and part of safer recruitment is getting references before interview. It also means decisions can be made more quickly about who to employ.

The timeline from before is odd. Did you apply, get an interview and then get knocked back? Or apply and not get an interview but you know the HT was asked for a reference (therefore you have assumed the reference was the issue)?

What do you mean by going to people above me?

If you don't want people to know you have applied for a job, don't tell them.

Standard in teaching, unusual in many other professions
yes it will look odd if you say no

I always say yes. But after a conversation with my mentor he said you can say no, that made me wonder if it just looks like you have something to hide.
Basically the HT was contacted for a ref and was asking if this meant I was short listed. But I wasn’t
and it can just be a bit embarrassing that’s all

Agreed I thought so too, thanks!

I’m a bit worried that people were told that your reference was requested and that you weren’t shortlisted.

This sort of information would normally only be shared on a “need to know” basis. You shouldn’t have been embarrassed or made to explain the situation to colleagues. This feels like a form of bullying.

The other cause for concern here is the quality of your reference. You’ve mentioned that you’ve been applying for jobs and not making it past the application stage, even though your application has been checked and improved? It might be that your current reference is quite poor. Is there a way that you can find out what your current reference says? Would your Head, HoD or mentor (whoever you have used) be open to showing you the references they’ve given you?

Yeah I did think the same, apparently, the head told a member of slt who told my hod and deputy hod that the head had got a request and for them to approach me with the questions about what I have planned, then from that it seemed like they wouldn’t stop hounding me about what I wanted to do come September. I just felt a bit upset explaining myself again after I was clearly rejected.

I was told by my mentor I can’t ask the head what he is putting in his reference but what he did say was that it comes from hr first so it’s including attendance, punctuality and whatever else and they then forward it to the head for additional comments. My mentor said that’s the procedure everywhere. I then asked my hod and he just said “nice stuff will be in there don’t worry”.

I said no and was shortlisted so I don’t think it’s a problem.