diff --git a/includes/job-templates.yml b/includes/job-templates.yml
index 2218f0453711b82446dd1ff06933d72dfbb5fb2d..cf13d7742f8e0ef158471ae78add1a67a1431565 100644
--- a/includes/job-templates.yml
+++ b/includes/job-templates.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
   before_script:
     - |
       if [[ "$IVAS_CODEC_CI_REF" == "" ]]; then echo "Error: IVAS_CODEC_CI_REF not set" && exit 1; fi
-    - git clone "$CI_SERVER_URL"/ivas-codec-pc/ivas-codec-ci.git --depth 1 --branch "$IVAS_CODEC_CI_REF"
+    # note: git clone -b does not work with SHA refs, hence using the safe way of a full clone and git switch
+    - git clone "$CI_SERVER_URL"/ivas-codec-pc/ivas-codec-ci.git && pushd ivas-codec-ci && git switch --detach "$IVAS_CODEC_CI_REF" && popd
 
 .job-windows:
   tags:
@@ -16,7 +17,9 @@
   before_script:
     - |
       if (-not $env:IVAS_CODEC_CI_REF) { echo "Error: IVAS_CODEC_CI_REF not set" ; exit 1 }
-    - git clone $env:CI_SERVER_URL/ivas-codec-pc/ivas-codec-ci.git --depth 1 --branch $env:IVAS_CODEC_CI_REF
+    # note: git clone -b does not work with SHA refs, hence using the safe way of a full clone and git switch
+    # also, we cannot use && with powershell < 7 unfortunately, hence we cannot reliably detect if the snippet fails
+    - git clone $env:CI_SERVER_URL/ivas-codec-pc/ivas-codec-ci.git; pushd ivas-codec-ci ; git switch --detach $env:IVAS_CODEC_CI_REF ; popd
 
 .build-job-linux:
   stage: build