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There's a difference between what you put down on your resume and what you put down on your application. A resume is essentially just a selling document listing relevant knowledge, skills and abilities to the job you are applying for. References included with that would be those people who would vouch for your work ethic, professionalism, attitude, projects completed, etc. These should be other professionals but do not have to be your boss.
Your application is an official document and you should list all jobs held within the time frame requested or space given. Even if that was the 2 month gig at Starbucks. Lying or omitting information from this document is grounds for not being hired or being fired if found out later. Contact info on this form is the person who can verify your employment. Generally this will be HR. And many companies have policies requiring all official reference check calls (from the application) to be routed to HR. This ensures that only the information allowed is given out and is given out consistently and reduces the likelihood that the company will be sued because Joe Boss didn't like the hair products that Mike Employee used and calls him a slacker even though there's nothing in the employee file to back that up.
Federal law does not restrict companies from giving as much information as they would like out in a reference. However, there's a misconception that giving negative information is illegal. It is not. Giving false information is grounds for a lawsuit, but if the employee stole a reel of copper wire and was fired, then it is acceptable to say that the employee was fired for theft. But just because someone can't win a lawsuit doesn't mean they can't file one and it's time-consuming and expensive to defend yourself in a lawsuit even if you will eventually win. So most companies have the policy of title and dates of employment.
And yes, many years ago is a good question. If this was a job out of college 10 years ago and you've had two 5 year jobs since then it isn't as big a deal in the grand scheme of things. Doesn't need to go on the resume, but if there's space for it on the application, put it down. And HR may or may not even check that one in that situation.
Thank you for answering a lot of questions - I appreciate it. You provided a lot of very helpful information that was specific. Thanks again on that.
May I ask where exactly are employers pulling background checks on candidates? Are they checking credit reports, FBI records, criminal databases, what?
I would do the same,dont list that job on your application,if they ask what you did in that period of unemployment tell them you were concentrating on school or taking care of your sick family member or something like that.
Ive actually ran into a scenerio like that awhile back in a restraunt application and simply put down that you did daycare in your home. The job I had done and was trying to avoid was irrelevant to the position I had applied for anyway. I wasnt fired, it was another situation, but still didnt use that former company on any of my resume's. If you really wanna play it out, another thought is you can make up a company name and say the company went out of business was the reason youre not there anymore. There are ways you can get out of using your former employer. Ive done it.
I forgot to add in my last post, there may be times where a person legitimately does come across this scenerio and has no other choice but to eliminate the former employer or add the long drawn-out story behind the reason for 'do not contact' but its rare you get hired if you do add them and explain why the 'no' on the 'may we contact' section.
I forgot to add in my last post, there may be times where a person legitimately does come across this scenerio and has no other choice but to eliminate the former employer or add the long drawn-out story behind the reason for 'do not contact' but its rare you get hired if you do add them and explain why the 'no' on the 'may we contact' section.
Power Surge, in my opinion, you gotta do what you gotta do, and no one's going to judge you for it. If everything in life was perfectly clear-cut, it would be a lot easier. I agree with what you've said.
Like the other posters were saying - can't you give a human resource phone number. And a co-worker reference from that job?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Power Surge
I forgot to add in my last post, there may be times where a person legitimately does come across this scenerio and has no other choice but to eliminate the former employer or add the long drawn-out story behind the reason for 'do not contact' but its rare you get hired if you do add them and explain why the 'no' on the 'may we contact' section.
It's going to come from a few sources. Your credit report may list your jobs, but there's some companies out there that pull information from public information sources like court documents, etc.
As far as listing everything, you don't have to list everything you've ever done. But if it's relatively recent, you should include it on the app. If you substitute taught part time while you were taking a couple years off after a crappy job, it might show up on the background check and then you open the can of worms of "why didn't you list it?"
<shrug> I've been fired before, I've even been fired twice from the same company. Both times they eventually came back and admitted it was their mistake. It didn't stop me from getting hired on to a competitor, getting a great job, and helping to build that company up until it was purchased at an outrageous price by the first company. I then moved on to my own business and watched as the poor management and burden of the added debt from the acquisition bankrupted the company that had fired me. Oh, darn.
I've hired and fired hundreds of people, mostly young folks. If I saw a pattern of continual short employment, that sent up much more of a warning flare than someone who put on their application that they had been fired. A single fire doesn't mean much, especially if the person is open about it. Missing dates of employment, however, were another warning sign. Was the applicant just out of work, or in jail, or a habitual goof-off? Knowing that I would have to work to find out what really happened was often enough for me to shelve an application with missing data and choose among the other qualified candidates.
When I checked references and verified employment, the standard answer from larger companies was almost always "we can verify dates of employment but we do not evaluate." In smaller companies, there might be a cordial "Jimmy? How is he doing now?" or some such, but rarely anything negative. One of the funniest non-negatives I got was - "James? (l-o-n-g pause) Yes, he worked here. Did I mention that we never give any information about any ex-employee, whether we would hire them back or NOT, even if the law was involved?"
Uh, OK. Thank-you. I think you just answered the question
If you have doubts about how your references will talk about you, hire an agency to call and ask them. It is that simple.
NEVER, EVER reveal you were fired from any job. It's private information, and that's why companies go out of their way to get you to disclose. The ONLY reason employers "want" to know if you have been fired is to screen you out. Period. The nonsense some of the above posters have said is just that, nonsense. There are all kinds of companies now who will for a fee check for you if companies are giving out negative information about you. Then you sue them in court. There is all kinds of case law supporting my contention.
NEVER reveal a termination. Don't buy any of the garbage spewed here and elsewhere HR can check for negative references. That is a lie.
the last place I worked and quit,so that I could move out of Alaska, is where the crazy,psychotic biotch was my employer. I'm going to continue listing the job on my resume but will tell anyone who asks not to call her because she's a crazy loon.
I mean, really what can someome do when turns out the boss is a nut job??
It happens people. Turns out psychotics can actually own companies. The things this loon continues to do would boggle the mind.
So,would you then leave off that work history or tell potential next boss about the experience?
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