snoopdogg

Hi can anyone help we are starting the process for 175 carpenter and as you need references from past employees for vetassess.When i have contacted my old employees they are saying roughly the same thing:
" is it for a residency application to move to Australia? If so I could do with a template or guide to what info is required, in the past we have had to answer specific questions or give specific information about the works carried out with us, tools used etc – if you can get something for me to work to it would be much appreciated!"

im a little confused could someone please try to explain i thought it was usually straight forward to get a reference or am i being stupid!!! . THANKS

Bermudashorts

Employer reference should include the following:

Dates employed
Job title
Salary
Hours worked per week
Main tasks and duties (these should match the occupation you are applying for a visa under needless to say).

If your employer won't provide any of the above in a reference then you may need to prepare an affidavit and provide other proof.

This was the guidance that I received, I can only assume it is the same regardless of occupation but cannot say 100%.

jon.n.bec

Hi, Its as listed by bermudashorts, but you also need to include all of the tools, machines etc that you used, and try and be as detailed and specific as possible. I did the letters from a template and altered it slightly for different companies. to speed things up I typed the reference letters out myself and just got the companies to sign them, I did quite a few and all of the people i asked prefered this as basically they couldn't really be bothered, they gave me a few sheets of their letterhead paper, I printed them & then all I had to do was get a signature. If i had got them to do the whole thing i would probably still be waiting now!

bec

snoopdogg

hi Bec

Thanks for that none of my employees can be bothered writing a reference, so im just doing a template with my information to pass onto employees, just a quick question did you change the details on each individual template or send the same to all your previous employees,will this effect us when we send it off to vetassess?

thanks again
Andy

Bermudashorts

I would think you should change them, surely did not have identical jobs with each company? I have no idea how this assessing body works, but my first thought would be to wonder if it would look a bit fishy to have identical letters from all past employers

jon.n.bec

Hi Andy

You can use the same template (we got ours from our agent, and you just deleted where applicable, and added extra information where applicable etc.)

The actual finished references will be different, as jobs carried out, materials used, tools used, hours worked, working from technical drawings or not, working on site/workshop/private client etc. will be different from job to job.

On the vetassess application form, somewhere it lists 'competancy groups' I don't know about the carpentry one, as my oh did joinery ( he doesn't like making roofs), these are the skills/ experience etc. that they are looking for.
I made sure that my references covered these areas eg. one of the competancies was; 'prepare surfaces, and apply finishes', so i made sure i included a reference that included that he had sanded some wood and painted it.

hope this helps, bec

smurph22

Hi

My husband has just pulled his references together and basically for VETASESS purposes they need to be able to see clearly where your training was done. So this reference was really explicit outlining how he developed as a carpenter, when he learned how to fit windows, floors, roofs etc etc. where he learned the skills (eg. NVQ, support of experienced tradesmen) increase in salary as his skills developed and so forth. The others were less specific, just the usual dates of employment and a bulleted list of tasks and tools used on a regular basis. I think the historical where you did you training one is key for the skills assessment, then the more recent ones are key for the actual visa application where they want to see that you have actually been working in the trade in recent years.

Good luck. Angela

snoopdogg

Angela
thanks very much for that information any help is appreciated still at the beginning of the vetasess it feels like theres no end to it all, but im sure it will be worth it in the end. Once again thanks hopefully keep in touch its nice to know other carpenters in the same situatuion.
aNDY