Evaluation / Reference Forms
If after reading the information on this page you have any questions or concerns about the process of submitting an evaluation / reference form, please e-mail your senior associate who will be happy to help.
What Evaluations / References Are Required?
When you register as a candidate with Search Associates we request that you provide us with the following number of confidential evaluations / references, according to the type of position you are looking for. One or two additional evaluations / references beyond the suggested MINIMUM OF FOUR would surely be helpful to you, so please do not restrict your list to just four.
- Teaching Candidates – At least three Supervisor evaluations and one Parent evaluation of a student you have taught, or, if you prefer not to approach any parents, be sure in that case to get at least four Supervisor evaluations submitted.
- Administrative (Leadership) Candidates – At least two Administrative evaluations and two further evaluations which may be Administrative or Supervisor. (Administrative candidates are those seeking or who have held senior management positions – eg: Head, Principal, Deputy Head, Programme Coordinator, Grade Level Leader / Section Head, Counselor, etc.)
- Leadership / Teaching Candidates – At least two Supervisor and two Administrative evaluations. (Leadership / Teaching candidates are those seeking or who have held senior management positions, but may equally be interested in accepting a teaching position.)
- Intern Candidates – At least four Intern evaluations. (Intern candidates are typically young, recent graduates and newly qualified teachers - NQTs - with no, or very limited, teaching experience applying for internships and not full teaching posts.)
Additional References – Either your senior associate or the organiser of a Fair that you plan to attend might also ask you to request additional evaluations / references, always with the aim of helping you. In any one registration period, no candidate should ever contact more than three people for a Parent reference: one or two should almost always be sufficient.
Important Notes
- The referees whom you ask to complete an online Search Associates evaluation / reference form may be the same individuals listed on your application under 'References' and/or you may select different people.
- Your chosen referees can only complete the online evaluation forms AFTER you have completed and submitted your own online application to your selected senior associate.
- You may add referees over time, i.e. you do not have to send all your referees a request to complete an online Search Associates evaluation / reference form in one sitting. However, we encourage you to send out the requests as soon as possible, as we will not be able to make a decision on your candidacy until your Search file is sufficiently complete, including the required minimum number of completed evaluation / reference forms.
- It is the candidate's responsibility to ask each of their chosen referees to complete the appropriate Search Associates evaluation / reference form for them by following the procedure described below.
- If applying both as a Teacher and as an Administrator, you may need to request that the same referee complete two different evaluation forms.
How To Request An Evaluation / Reference From Your Referees
- Contact each referee to ask if he/she is willing to fill out an online confidential Search Associates evaluation form for you. If your referee accepts, get his/her e-mail address and full name, and inform them that they will soon receive a system-generated e-mail request from Search Associates with instructions on how to complete the short evaluation form.
- Log onto your candidate welcome page on the Search Associates website, and - on that page - click on the Add Referee link.
- Read through the instructions and complete the Referee Submission Form at the bottom of the page, entering your referee's name and e-mail address and selecting the type of evaluation form they will be completing for you.
- Click on the Submit Referee Form button and view the confirmation page. Your referee will automatically receive an e-mail requesting they complete an evaluation form for you. The e-mail will contain instructions on how to complete your confidential online evaluation form, including a personalised link that your referee will need to follow in order to access the evaluation form.
- For each additional referee whom you wish to add to your profile, click on the Add Another Referee link in the Referee Submission Form confirmation page (or come back later - even weeks / months later - to repeat step 2, above, at any time) and then follow steps 3 & 4.
We recommend that you check with your referees to confirm that they have received the e-mail request from Search Associates (and to thank them once they've completed the evaluation).
Reviewing, Editing And Resending Your Evaluation / Reference Requests
At any time, and in particular if your referee does not receive the e-mail request within 24 hours of your submitting the Referee Submission Form, you can check the referee details you entered and the status of each of your evaluation requests by clicking on the View Status of Evaluations link on your candidate welcome page. If necessary, by clicking on the corresponding Resend link in the evaluation request status list, you can correct the referee details you entered and resend the e-mail request.
Additionally, on your candidate welcome page you can click on Review List of Evaluations to see a full list of the completed evaluations in your Search online file. Normally, this list shows exactly the set of confidential evaluations / references which a recruiter interested in your candidacy can view via the Search Associates database, but note that your senior associate is able to trim the list slightly. Usually the senior associate will only cut out old references from earlier years, and only if it is felt that your number of references is too large, which would annoy recruiters who typically prefer to view 4-7 references but no more.

