An Aussie recruitment expert has hit out at a “beyond unreasonable” hurdle some employers are asking job seekers to jump through. Reference checks are an important part of the recruitment process and can help to confirm whether a candidate is right for the job.

Tammie Christofis Ballis, a recruiter and career coach at Realistic Careers, told Yahoo Finance two reference checks were generally the norm. So, she was shocked when one Aussie worker told her they were asked for five references when applying for a job.

“That’s insane. I can only think of one reason why they would want five reference checks and that’s maybe if the person has job hopped a lot,” Ballis said.

“You can’t be asking for that. How long do they want people to go back? Like 10 years?”

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She urged jobseekers to “absolutely” question the requirement and ask why they had to provide so many references.

“You don’t have to go through with the recruitment process if there’s anything that you don’t agree with. I know we’re in a tight job market,” she said.

“For some reason, younger people have this misconception that work is like school and you have to agree with everything. You don’t.

“If you don’t agree with what they’re doing in the recruitment process, you can pull out. You don’t owe anybody anything. If they ask for five references that is beyond unreasonable.”

Ballis noted it was “not uncommon” for recruiters to ask for a third reference if one of your references wasn’t up to scratch.

Are you a job seeker with a story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com

‘Red flag’ for job applications

Ballis shared a video about the reference requirement online and said she was shocked to see other workers had applied for jobs where they were asked to provide as many as six references.

“I recently got asked for four references - it was a 12 month contract and they were paying minimum 10k less than the industry standard. I turned it down,” one wrote.

“I was asked for 6 references for an ADMIN INTERNSHIP job,” another added.

“I applied for a job that wanted six and when I provided two they emailed and said due to not enough references we are unable to process your application further,” a third said.

Another former recruiter agreed the ask was unreasonable, calling it “outrageous and a red flag”.

Aussies told not to put references on resumes

Ballis recommended job seekers don’t include their references on their resume when applying for private sector jobs.