Reference Requirement Guidelines

Reference Requirement Guidelines – Tradewind Subs

All Tradewind Subs all Educators must provide three (3) referees covering a minimum of six (6) months’ employment within the past two (2) years.

Reference Requirements

References must meet the following criteria:

• Referees must include the most (1) recent employment, including all current roles by direct supervisors.
• Referees must include the most (1) child-related roles and must be provided by direct supervisors.
• Referees must include the most recent (1) character reference dated to current day.
• References are preferably accepted from a professional work email address.

Professional vs Personal Email Addresses

At Tradewind Subs, we prioritize authentic, verified, and auditable references to ensure safeguarding and compliance standards are met. We do accept personal references as per the below guidance, however, please be aware that they will always come with additional verification and so will mean a longer clearance process; where possible please always provide the professional reference to enable us to complete your compliance paperwork as soon as possible.

Professional references may be accepted in one of the following ways:

1. Professional Email Address (Always Preferred)
References provided from an official work or organizational email address will be accepted as standard for the quickest clearance.

OR

2. Personal Email Address (Conditional Acceptance)
Professional references may be accepted from a personal email address (e.g. Gmail) only where an acceptable layer of verification evidence is provided.

Acceptable supporting evidence may include one or more of the following:

• The referee’s email address is listed on the organization’s official website.
• Offer letters or contracts confirming employment.
• A reference letter on official letterhead, received directly from the referee’s email in addition to evidence. supporting the individual can be confirmed within the organization.
• The referee is listed on the organization’s staff or leadership page.
• News articles or media coverage clearly linking the referee to the organization, with time-stamped evidence.

If a personal email address is used, educators must explain why a professional email is unavailable and provide sufficient information to allow Tradewind Subs to independently verify the referee.

Please note that all personal email references must be verified before they can be accepted.

Character References

For character references, professional email addresses are preferred; however, personal email addresses may be accepted, subject to standard verification checks.

Character reference cannot be family members; but individuals can speak to the character of the candidate such as a mentor, friend, community members, program administrators etc.