Canadian References

[coyne20]

I see that alot of canadian employers highlight the importance of having a professional reference. Thats all well and good. However, what does one (such as a new comer to Canada) do in a situation where by their previous employers are refusing to provide references directly to the ex employee?

For instance, Im from the UK. In order for my prospective employer to hire me they would be required to contact my previous employer for a suitable reference. They would not provide me directly with a reference. Would Canadian employers accept this as a common practice?

 

[thezieglers]

You may provide as a reference a phone number to contact a previous employer in he UK. Is that possible?

 

[Canadian Career Coach]

Many companies, even in Canada have a reference policy of "confirmation of employment" vs employment reference.

Confirmation of employment is just confirming you worked at company A, for how long and what your title was. That's it. They do this, to avoid any potential issues where a manager gives a bad reference, or personal opinion and down the road puts the company in a litigious position.

See this reference link to learn more about references:

http://careego.com/CareerResources/References/HowImportantareReferences/tabid/246/language/en-CA/Default.aspx#


If you can't get a reference from a current employer, think of former colleagues, managers, contract employees vendors, suppliers, distributors, suppliers that you've worked with in the last 1-3 years that you can contact AND can speak at length about your work relationship with them. These are great people to be references for you.

http://careego.com/CareerResources/ImmigrationJobSearch/JobSearchStrategies/tabid/325/language/en-CA/Default.aspx