📋 Your Guide to Professional References & CA Safety Checks

To get you officially cleared to work in California classrooms, we need to complete two quick steps to verify your experience and ensure compliance with state safety laws.

Don't worry—we do all the heavy lifting of actually reaching out to them! We just need you to provide the right contact information in your Zen Educate app. Here is exactly what we need:

🌟 Part 1: Your 2 Professional References 

This is the "how great you are" check! We need to speak with two people who have supervised your work in the past 5 years.

What you need to provide:

• Their full name and professional title.
• The school or company name.
• Their professional email address and phone number.
• The exact dates you worked together (Pro-tip: Double-check that these dates perfectly match the resume you gave us!).

⚠️ Important Rules: * References should be professional supervisors or managers whenever possible.

• If tracking down a former supervisor is not possible, check in with your recruiter! We may be able to accept colleagues, professional mentors, or college professors.

Note: We absolutely cannot accept friends, family members, or colleagues that you worked with for less than 3 months.

🛡️ Part 2: State Safety Checks (AB 2534 & SB 848)

This is the "California state law" check! To keep students safe, the state recently passed strict laws (AB 2534 and SB 848) requiring educational staffing agencies like us to contact ALL of your previous educational employers to check for records of misconduct.

What you need to do:

1. Sign the quick digital consent form inside the Zen Educate app.
2. Add the Human Resources (HR) contact info for every school or daycare you have previously worked at.
3. Sign the quick digital consent form inside the Zen Educate app.

📱 App Data-Entry Hack: When entering these HR contacts into the app, you probably won't have a specific person's name! Here is exactly how you should fill out the name fields so our system catches it:

• FIRST NAME: [Employer Name] - AB2534 Verification 
  • (Example: LAUSD - AB2534 Verification)
• LAST NAME: HR - SB 848

Take a deep breath! These previous employers do not need to write a detailed letter of recommendation or evaluate your performance! They simply receive a standardized legal form asking them to confirm your dates of employment and verify there was no egregious misconduct on your record. It takes them less than two minutes!

🕵️‍♀️ Pro-Tips: How to Find the Right HR Contact

We know tracking down contact info for a job you held three years ago can be annoying! Because school districts are fully prepared for these new state laws, they usually have a dedicated inbox just for this.

Here is how to find the best email to give us:

• For Large Public School Districts: Do not use the Principal's email! Go to the school district's main website, click on "Human Resources," and look for an email address labeled "Employment Verification," "Records," or "HR."
• For Private Daycares/Preschools: If they don't have an HR department, providing the email address of the Center Director or Owner is perfect.
• When in doubt, search it! Google "[Name of School District] Employment Verification email" and the correct HR contact page is usually the first result!

🛟 Still have questions? Text your recruiter for assistance!