Previous employer basically blocking my references!!

[kalanala]

Hi all.
I have a situation and don't know my rights.
I was recently offered a job I applied for but when the girl who wants to employ me contacted the hotel I used to work for, they told her that the two people id listed as references were only colleagues and not management so they told her shed have to contact head office. Thing is, the two people were actually my supervisors at one point . They are being deliberately obstructive and its really upset me as now I have no refs for work at all as I have been a stay at home mum for a few year before working at the hotel.
I did so much hard graft for them I'm angry about the complete lack of humanity.
What can I do??

They are not obliged to give you a reference - but from what you've said, your previous employers are not 'blocking' your reference at all, they just want it to come from the management staff/Head Office which is pretty standard really. If your prospective employer contacts the Head Office, they'll do a reference by the sounds of it.

I'm not sure why you have taken this so personally or seen it as obstructive, most companies asked to provide a reference would want to do it this way.

It would normally come from HR/Head Office, and probably won't say much more than "she worked for us between date x and date y, and we had no issues". But that's all you need, really.

Ib taken it personally because the two people I named were my supervisors but they're telling the new employer they were just work mates kind of thing and cant give a ref which I know is a load of balls because they've given refs to people before.

Only hr can give references in my firm, it's quite normal.

Completely normal. Even if the references go to those people they would most likely need to be passed to HR.

Most companies don't do personal references...

Kalanala do you know the email addresses of the 2 people?

If so, or if you can call their mobiles, then ask them to email you a character reference to say you reported to them at x hotel, dates and to comment on your hard work, punctuality, honesty, getting on with people, things you did that showed customer service with some examples of what you did.

In addition you can contact the new company and say you hope they can accept the references. Your previous hotel may only be able to give dates of employment but here is some additional insights into you as a person and your good character.

You deserve to be recognised for your hard work, but unfortunately big corporates nowadays are very arms length

Hope it goes well!

Normally it would be hr or the most senior person on site who would be your professional referee. Individuals can provide personal references but it seems you only know them through work. Do you have home contact details instead? Why would you assume the hotel is being specifically difficult towards you personally?

Lack of humanity? It's pretty standard really; stop over-reacting.

Why not just give them the name of your manager? (Not supervisor).

The policy may have changed since you worked there and they have been told to forward references to HO. Either that or they didn't like you.

Just contact HO for the reference....common sense!

You are massively overreacting OP. Perfectly normal and sensible response from your ex employer.

I'm confused why you think this means you have no reference for work now? Your ex employer advised your new employer to contact head office. Has head office now refused to give you a reference?

Flowery has it spot on. Even if your colleagues/supervisors were the most senior members of staff at the hotel, it is perfectly normal policy for companies not to allow members of staff to provide references. All reference requests received at my place of work were forwarded on to HR for a response in line with the company policy on references - which was basically to confirm start and leave dates, job title and salary. Companies are well used to this response, if they need something more, perhaps you could use one of your ex-supervisors as a personal reference.

Supervisor is not the same as management. Your reference should come from management or from head office.

Really sorry, but you're being a bit precious about it

Was there a reason the new employer couldn't contact head office? This is totally normal, references can be a bit of a minefield and could get the company into trouble if they aren't done correctly.

Don't worry, just give the new employer the Head Office contact details. They will give you a reference (probably just a 'worked here between x and x date', which is fine). Then you'll just have to explain that you were a SAHM prior, in which case you should be asked for a character reference instead of an employer reference as your second reference. Have you done anything such as voluntary work in your time as a SAHM?

Normal where I work too
All reference requests go to hr
Also we don't accept 2 references from the same employer