Why You Should Verify Employment Information With Past Employers

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On resumes, you often don’t need to include the exact months of employment; years or even seasons (for example, Summer 2012) are sufficient. However, if you’re completing a job application, you may be asked to verify employment information from past employers. In some cases, the job application will ask for month and year you started and ended employment. Be very certain the dates you give are correct.

Although you may feel certain, call the human resources departments of each of your previous employers and verify: your dates of employment, your supervisor (in some cases, employers keep a record of supervisor, in other cases they don’t, and remember your official supervisor might not be the person you worked with the most), your title, and your salary history.

Also ask about what information they provide to prospective employers who will inquire about you, such as reason for termination of employment. If you were terminated for cause (in other words, fired), it’s important that you know whether the employer will reveal this information. Ideally, you would have collected this employment information before you ended employment, but if not then call HR and ask.

All this only takes a few minutes of your time, but it will ensure your career development file—your career history file—is both complete and accurate. You’ll now have all this information, whether you need for bar admission applications, job applications, or some other purpose in the future.

You’re also protected in case the employer goes out of business, or loses or destroys its records. And most importantly, you can ensure that whatever information you provide prospective employers will match the information provided by your past employers—crucial since employers can interpret any inaccuracies as misrepresentations, lies, or sloppiness, all of which are grounds to either not hire you, or fire you even years later.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

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2 Comments

1. 

   DebbieC

   November 28, 2012 at 6:12 PM

   You will not get a reference from a lot of employers, even when someone has been terminated for theft, fraud, embezzlement, etc.
   They will be dumped back in the job market for someone else to pickup and learn the hard way. Reference check very thoroughly and don’t stop with one or two.

   Reply
2. 

   Josh Tolan

   November 28, 2012 at 2:27 PM

   Great tips on verifying your employment information. It’s very important not to appear to be lying when speaking with a prospective employer. If you’re asked in the interview, whether in person or through online video, about your work history you don’t want to get it wrong. At best you’ll look disorganized and at worst like you are lying to cover something up. Neither of those two attributes are what employers are looking for in the ideal candidate.

   Reply