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I'm filling out an application for an international NGO. It's asking me to list every single job I've ever had. I don't think I could do that if I even tried. I'm middle aged and I've been working for decades. I worked in retail, food, offices, temp jobs, etc. How do people fill these things out?
Do it once, as best you can, list every single job (like they want). Then, save a copy. And add to it every time you get another job. Keep a chronology. If you ever have to do it again, you have it. But most places only want the last 10 years or so.
7-10 years is sufficient and should be relevant work experience.
I agree. I do a couple of college recruiting trips for engineering careers each year and at that age, I want to know every job they ever had. My company couldn't care less about their backpack trips to Europe or soccer camp or any of their extracurricular stuff. They just want to know what type of work history they had.
If you are middle aged, 7 - 10 years should be plenty.
Oh, and we use Facebook to help screen out any of the tattooed pierced types before the interview. Saves a lot of wasted time.
depending on the level of security clearance needed for the job, they may request (and require) more details and more in depth work history. for one job (with a security clearance requirement) i also had to account for periods of UNEMPLOYMENT as in prove you were unemployed. that is harder to document. i had to list landlords and neighbors who could verify unemployment and yes they did personal interviews to verify. i thought that was bizarre. they also required detailed living addresses for many many years back. including, yes believe it or not, the names of motels i stayed for 3 or 4 days when i moved to change jobs. i was very surprised. and temporary housing, again in motels, for 3-4 weeks waiting to get into apartment. it was incredibly detailed, and they did 3 personal interviews with me for the background check. every day literally was accounted for, both addresses and employment and unemployment. the nerve racking part was that they hired me for the job contingent on passing the background check, but they had me start the job before the background check was complete, it took a few months to complete. if i had not passed, they would not have kept me in the position. i don't think i would do that again, but in this case i really wanted the particular job experience, and i'm glad i did it, it's served me well.
several people told me, keep all the forms, so that if you ever have to do it again (and I have, twice now) you have all the information filled out and available. which made it a lot easier when asked to provide it for other positions. but it was tortuous to provide that much detail.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 05-23-2018 at 08:27 PM..
the nerve racking part was that they hired me for the job contingent on passing the background check, but they had me start the job before the background check was complete, it took a few months to complete. if i had not passed, they would not have kept me in the position. i don't think i would do that again
I'm filling out an application for an international NGO. It's asking me to list every single job I've ever had. I don't think I could do that if I even tried. I'm middle aged and I've been working for decades. I worked in retail, food, offices, temp jobs, etc. How do people fill these things out?
Simply ask how far back they want you to go; otherwise take them at their word and list as many previous employment gigs you've had say since leaving college.
Keep in mind persons can and have been terminated for intentionally misleading or omitting things when asked on employment applications. This can happen months or even years after being hired.
Key word there is "intentionally", and why it is best to ask whomever issued the application to clarify what information they are seeking.
Simply ask how far back they want you to go; otherwise take them at their word and list as many previous employment gigs you've had say since leaving college.
Keep in mind persons can and have been terminated for intentionally misleading or omitting things when asked on employment applications. This can happen months or even years after being hired.
Key word there is "intentionally", and why it is best to ask whomever issued the application to clarify what information they are seeking.
This^^^^
I'm also middle-aged (48) and my first job was as a paper carrier in 1978 when I was 8 years old. I've worked ever since. Oh good grief, if they wanted me to list EVERY job I've done since 1978 to current then it would be a frigging book since I've done a lot of side gigs, contracting and general job hopping
I usually only give them 10 years but yeah some types of jobs want/require more job history. When I worked as HR for a state corrections facility I had to go 20 years back
Well, I decided I would only go back 10-15 years, and even then, I'm not listing gigs or short-term stuff (like a month or less). That is just insane. If a company wants to perform a security clearance, they should commit to it and pay for it instead of asking people who've worked for decades to list every job they had and all the details associated with it.
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