Does the APS call your referees if they AREN'T going to give you the job?

This thread is propagating some long-standing APS myths. From Terry Moran’s recent report:

“There is no requirement to obtain referee reports. However obtaining references for candidates in strong contention for a role is highly recommended.

“The panel is not obliged to speak to all referees nominated by the applicant. People other than nominated referees (such as previous managers) may be used with the consent of the applicant.”

What they said ^

When it comes to a permanent position and an interview panel, referee reports are required for all candidates that were interviewed, rated as suitable and ranked.
So if 4 people were interviewed and 3 were deemed suitable and they were ranked 1, 2 and 3 then all three will need to provide referee reports. Therefore if candidate 1 either withdraws or there is something in the referee report that makes them no longer suitable then candidate 2 will be offered the job. Then unless they withdraw etc then on to candidate 3.

It’s universially acknowledged that candidates go through a lot of effort to prepare their applications, get referee reports and turn up to interviews – but this is what people need to do to be provided with an APS career. The process for getting someone on board as a temp or non-ongoing is much more relaxed, but if you want to convert that job to permanent then you still need to go through the panel process one day.

The comments above are basically right. It is a time-consuming process calling rferees and writing up the reports. Sometimes rferees can be hard to contact and it becomes quite expensive in staff or scribe time.

Therefore, it means that you’re well in the running, but so may several others who have been short-listed.

If it is a bulk selection round, or there will be consequential vacancies or a an order of merit created, then there may be more candidates whose referees are contacted.

Be positive – you’re in with a good chance but you’re not there yet!

I’ve often wondered why public servants call references “referees”. Referees in sport are supposed to be impartial but when applying for a job you expect your referees to be anything but – hopefully totally biased on your behalf. Also this BS about “addressing the selection criteria”. If you’re applying for a new job you expect a new challenge, not a rehash of what you have already been doing. In any case, isn’t it normal in both the public and private sector for the interviewing committee to contact as many referees as possible for all the candidates – unless they interview poorly or are totally incompetent and unsuitable – compile a short list then make their final selection from there?

Let’s hope they didn’t call the video ref, that bloke can’t get anything right!

We have to contact referees for at least three of our candidates. Obviously I’ll choose the top three, but it’s not only the top candidate’s referees we talk to.

In my experience “it depends™”.

Sometimes they only call as a final check you aren’t a psychopath before hiring, but other times they have two people who end up scored exactly the same at the end of the process and they need a way to distinguish them.

It means you are still in the running, but I wouldn’t bet too heavily on it.

Referees may be contacted to ‘split’ two candidates who are close (has happened a couple times to people I know) so it is still a possibility you are not successful.

Hard to say. Personally I’ve contacted the majority of candidates’ referees to balance out their applications and interviews. There are always a few people whose referees you wouldn’t bother contacting. Then there are others who had a great application but didn’t do so well on the day – so speaking to their referees is important to give you another perspective.