The most common spot job hunters get stuck in, and an easy one to fix properly. We get your references sorted before anyone picks up the phone: real referees briefed well, a practice reference check, and the standard practice that keeps your current employer out of it.
Three pieces, done in about a week, all of it true.
We turn your real work history into a one-page brief for each referee: dates, scope, what you actually delivered. They skim it once. Every answer they then give is true, specific and consistent, because good referees go quiet on the phone and briefed referees don't.
We run the exact call NZ employers run: dates, title, reason for leaving, strengths, weaknesses, and the would-you-rehire question. You hear it first so nothing surprises you. Your referees can get a run-through too.
Standard NZ practice works in your favour here: current-employer references are usually only taken up after an offer is accepted, and only with your consent. You get the exact wording for your CV, the application form, and the conversation with the recruiter.
Nobody here pretends to be your old manager, answers reference calls in someone else's name, or scripts lies. A made-up referee is fraud under New Zealand law, NZ employers do verify, and fake references have a habit of surfacing years later, after the job, the pay rise, and the reference-check clause in your contract. Everything we do is true, attributable and checkable. That is the whole point: a reference that survives scrutiny.
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The legal bits, in plain language. Summarised from SEEK's career advice, which quotes NZ employment lawyer Catherine Stewart. General information, not legal advice.
Short answer: don't. The consequences run from simply not getting the job, to getting the job and being dismissed later, particularly if your employment agreement has an employee representations clause. That clause is your promise that everything you told the employer was true and correct, so a fake referee is grounds for dismissal even months in, after the probation, after you've moved cities for the role.
No. A prospective employer should get your permission before approaching any referee. In practice, current-employer references are usually only taken up after an offer has been accepted, and only with your consent. That is exactly what our current-employer script relies on: you control when your boss finds out, legally.
No. Once your employment has ended, they can decline no matter who asks. The exception is where a settlement agreement, signed off by a mediator under the Employment Relations Act, legally binds them to provide one. This is why we build briefs: a referee who has agreed to help should know exactly what they can honestly speak to.
Opinions in a reference should be honest, truthful and relevant to your work performance, because that is the purpose of a reference. They should not share personal information without reason, say anything defamatory, or discriminate on any Human Rights Act ground: gender, pregnancy, disability, ethnicity, age, political opinion or religious belief.
Every reference question answered honestly. See all 30.
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