Past work performance

Past work performance is a factor of merit.

All appointments to the BC Public Service require completion of past work performance checks prior to making a job offer. This includes an employment reference from a supervisor or equivalent (a designate who can respond on the supervisor's behalf).

Reference checks, samples of your past work and previous performance evaluations are examples of your past work performance.

Reference checks

Reference checks provide a hiring manager with an understanding of your work history and your performance on previous jobs.

These checks can be conducted at any stage, but are usually the final hiring step.

Bring a list of your references (usually 3) with you to the interview. You should contact your reference providers to ensure they agree to provide a reference for you. If any will be unavailable, we suggest you have alternate names and contact information available. Your references should be job related and one must be a supervisor.

Reference checks are confidential. The hiring manager will contact your references to speak about your work history. When you provide your reference names, you also provide your permission for these references to be contacted.

There may be times when you do not want to list your current supervisor as a reference. Perhaps there's a personality conflict or you're keeping your job search under wraps. If so, have a conversation with the hiring manager about why there may be reluctance to engage your current supervisor. They may be able to delay contacting your current supervisor until you have a job offer.