 Reference Check FormMonday, 2 August 2010
Almost all businesses check job applicants' previous employment, most commonly by phoning the individual's immediate supervisor in each role. This simple form can contribute some structure and consistency to your telephone reference checks, and is a useful starter document easily tailored to your particular business needs. For best practice, substitute behaviour-focused questions for opinion-based questions: contact our office for advice or assistance.
Employers should be conscious that the Privacy Act entitles employees to access information retained on their personnel files; this right may also be extended to job applicants if access is requested in writing. Questions and answers should not breach employment and discrimination law, and under no circumstances should slanderous or defamatory comments be recorded. An increasing number of companies will not allow managers to provide reference information by phone, in part due to the increasingly litigious nature of Australian society. Prospective employers may be obliged to consider alternatives to reference checking in some circumstances, such as supervised work sample assessments, to determine skill levels.
Click here to download: /employment_reference_check.pdf |
