What to Do When Your Reference Request Has Been Declined

When a reference has been declined, it means that the provided referee is unable to provide you with that requested reference for a particular reason. You will receive an email notification just like the below from Zinc stating that the referee is unable to provide you with a reference and the reason why. This typically has the subject line of **Please submit a new reference — your nominated referee wasn't able to provide a reference.** When a reference has been declined, it can be for several different reasons such as the HR team is the only way to request a reference, it might be the wrong company, or they might be a [character reference](https://help.zincwork.com/hc/hm54ky7yrc/article/d8b5c312-how-do-i-add-a-character-reference) instead of an employer just as a few examples. This declined reference request will be visible from your submission page with the status **Declined by referee** and your new employer will be made aware of this as well with visibility on the reason why. When a reference has been declined, we recommend reading the reasoning provided and if needed, providing a new referee. ## Why does it say my referee confirmed my employment, but my reference was declined? In some cases, a referee may decline the reference request but still provide or confirm some employment details, such as your job title, employment dates, or role. This means Zinc may have received partial employment information, but the reference request itself has still been declined. The reference may therefore not meet the requirements for your check, even if some details were confirmed. If your reference request has been declined, follow the instructions in your Zinc account or email to add a new referee. The reason shown in your Zinc account reflects the outcome of the reference request, even if some employment details were also provided. If you believe the reference was declined incorrectly, or you are unsure why the information provided was not enough, contact Zinc support so the team can review the specific reference outcome. ## Add a new referee 1. Click the button **Add new referee** in the email sent. 2. Add a new referee into Zinc so we can request another reference for you. You can find more details on how to add a new referee [here](https://help.zincwork.com/hc/hm54ky7yrc/article/248eee57-how-to-add-a-new-referee-in-your-reference-requests).