Anyone work in recruitment/hr? References

[ColouringPencils]

I've been at my current employer for about 7 years. Before that I was freelance for 7 years.

I am not sure what I should do about two referees. Obviously one would be my current employer. None of the people I freelanced for 7 years ago are likely to have much to say about me and/or they have moved on themselves, and the last time I worked in an office before that was 14 years ago, so it would feel very strange going back to them.

Would it be appropriate for my other reference to be a peer who worked with me in my current job but is now more senior than me elsewhere? Thanks

I'd ask your new employer what they would prefer, it depends on if it's a regulated industry type role where they need to verify your employment history or if it's more of a character/personal reference they are after. For the latter your former colleague would potentially be suitable, for the former a generic HR type reference simply confirming your employment history would probably be better. If this is simply on spec/application form I'd put HR down as it's simpler, you could always also put your colleague down at a later date. Some employers won't even want a 2nd reference if you can get one reference which covers 5 years + of employment history...

Thanks @maxelly that's really helpful

I my last job I used a peer as it had been such a long time since my previous job and all managers had moved onto other companies. My peer had moved up and that seemed to do the trick.