Of all the barriers to employment, the worst is most likely the requirement to provide not one, but two professional references, in this article, we will explore exactly why so.​

As you probably know, it's a very common and well accepted part of job applications, and you are probably wondering why they are such an issue. It comes down to the fact that there are numerous circumstances where one can not provide the required two professional references and there is little that one can do to obtain the references, and even if they can provide one, almost all employers require two.

REASONS WHY AN APPLICANT CANT ALWAYS PROVIDE REFERENCES:

There are numerous unfortunate circumstances that will result in an applicant not being able to provide the required two professional references including:

• No Recent Work History: There are many reasons why an applicant might have a gap in their work history, they might have been caring for a sick family member of friend, they might have been sick themselves, or they might have just been struggling to find employment for several years. These large employment gaps result in any references becoming outdated as the references and applicant may no longer be in contact.
• Previous Employer Does Not Give References: Some large businesses such as Woolworths or Coles do not allow their managers to be references for their employees, this is due to the fact they fear possible legal action from a former employee due to a bad reference. Despite this, the same companies still demand that applicants provide two references, this is hypocrisy at it's finest!
• Previous Job Did Not Go Well: Unfortunately there are those times when one ends up in the wrong job, and an employee may perform poorly at a job they were never cut out to do, and due to this, the might have not been able to get a reference from the employer. Just because they were not fit for one job, does NOT mean they are not fit for another, and a negative reference will prevent an applicant from being able to start fresh in an 'entry-level' position in a new field.
• Lost Contact With Previous Employer: You may have worked at a business that close down, or the manager simply changed jobs, either one of these or similar similar circumstances result in the same situation where you no can no longer get in contact with a former employer for them to be your references.

Unfortunately there is not a whole lot one can do if one of this numerous circumstances preventing them from providing two professional references are affecting them, although often times, one may present the following flawed options to a job seeker:

• Use as close friend a 'Personal Character Reference': Unfortunately as stated in the title of this article, personal character references are often not accepted by an employer, jobs that school students can apply for may accept them for one of the two required references but that's about it, other than that, that's it, some jobs might even go far enough to clearly state that references must be of a professional nature and personal character references are not accepted.
• Volunteer somewhere and get a reference through the supervisor: A great idea if possible, but sadly it's not always possible, for example, the payment rate of Newstart allowance is so low that a recipient can sometimes not even afford the public transport fare to get to volunteering. In some cases, a Newstart recipient may be employed casually, but is still steadfastly searching for more stable employment, knowing that the Christmas school holidays will see their causal employment terminated for six weeks while school students are free to provide cheap labour through youth wages, since the job seeker is already working casually, they won't have time to also volunteer.

HOW MANY JOB SEEKERS ARE BARRICADED FROM EMPLOYED BY REFERENCE CHECKS?

Studies show* that managers have removed 21% (1 in 5) of applicants from consideration after performing reference checks, it is entirely possible that a person may have ended up in a job they were not cut out for and ended up with a negative reference, this can have permanent damage on a person trying to find more suitable work.

References are so much of an issue that a number of 'fake reference' services have popped up on the internet such as Fake Reference Shop*, and there are numerous forum posts on the internet from job-seekers who are down on their luck and can't secure reliable professional references, usually just receiving responses with the flawed 'use a personal friend to vouch for your character' solution.

HOW TO EMPLOYERS FEEL ABOUT REFERENCE CHECKS?

Studies have shown that the most important information managers hope to receive from references is as follows:

• Description of past job duties and experience (36%)
• A view into the applicant's strengths and weaknesses (31%)
• Confirmation of job title and dates of employment (11%)
• Description of workplace accomplishments (8%)
• A sense of the applicant's preferred work culture (7%)
• Other/don't know (7%)

Although the second most common hope, 'a view into the applicant's strengths and weaknesses' would arguably be the most important piece of information for a hiring manager, and there is another more reliable way of exacting this information;

THE SOLUTION TO REFERENCE CHECKS:

So now that you have seen the problems, you are probably wondering what the solution is, and that is to ban reference checks all together.

If the employers want to argue this, then it could be possible to put an applicant on a short unpaid trial as the final part of the hiring process (with back-pay for successful applicants), this would give the employers better insight to the applicant's strengths and weaknesses.

Although this solution is not perfect, and employers would need to be closely monitored so they don't exploit applicants for free labour, it would provide an even playing field for job candidates, as opposed to reference checks where it simply comes down to luck and hoping that you can still contact your previous employers, and they will give you a good reference.

Unfortunately, even though better, more reliable, and more fair options are available, reference checks have become the traditional, accepted way of doing things.The worst part is that an applicant can make it through the online filtering process (application), lying competition (interview), any role play, assessments, or psychometric testing absolutely perfectly, but can be condemned to the Newstart Allowance simply and entirely because of the references.

So to recap the solution; the government needs to put in a regulation to abolish references, and possibly looking into having employers bring in applicants for unpaid trails as an equal-opportunity alternative, this will do a lot to get people off of the Newstart Allowance and save tax payers money.
Until then, the requirement to provide two professional references is condemning people to the Newstart Allowance, and condemning your tax dollars.

NOTES AND LINKS:

• this petition does not advocate for or endorse the use of fake reference providers, you may be caught and terminated a job if your application was successful
• http://www.fakereferenceshop.com/how-we-can-help/4594336619
• studies quoted were conducted in the United States of America (USA), but information sourced could eqully apply to Australia
• https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/what-employers-want-from-job-references-hot-jobs
• https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/officeteam-survey-reference-checks-remove-one-in-five-job-candidates-from-consideration-96871544.html