Switching jobs, resume question

November 30, 2004 6:15 PM

My girlfriend has an interview for a job later this week. She is currently employed, but this new job offers much more than what she is currently receiving. She really wants to use her current job on her resume since it is directly related to the field and good experience, but the possibility of losing her current job if the prospective employer contacts them is a risk she does not want to take.

Anyone have some recommendations on how this situation should be handled?

I checked this thread, but no one offered any advice that applies to this situation.

Also, this is my first question. Please be gentle. ;)

posted by purephase to work & money (9 comments total)

References are not checked, as a rule, until after an offer has been made. A resume is simply to get the interview, and a recruiter won't usually make calls on it until after the interview. (To make sure they aren't wasting time.)

If it is a concern, then the interview would be the time to broach the subject.
posted by benjh at 6:40 PM on November 30, 2004

The risk is ultimately unavoidable, and she should realize that if that's an absolute restriction then it might be difficult for her to get another job until the company folds or she is terminated.

That said, there are a couple of things she can do. Ranking these in order of increasing paranoia, I would say:

1. Be up front about it. If it's an interview situation, state that "contacting my current employer might put my job at risk, so please don't until you've made me an offer." That is not too bold or in-your-face, simply good, responsible management of the situation. (I have always done this when interviewing for a new job.)

2. List the company in the employment history, and make sure it says "5/15/01 - Present" or something similar to indicate that it is her current employer. Do not list anyone from the company as a reference. Sometimes companies will ask for a reference from your previous (or current) employer. She should simply say that she does not want anyone from her current company contacted until she has an offer. Again, I doubt it will be questioned. If the new company pushes back on this at all, it will likely say that they are "required" to check references from the most recent employer, in which case she should simply agree and explain that it may put her job at risk if they know she is looking at other options, "...and surely that's not your intent, is it?" She should be prepared to have the job offer contingent on her references checking out OK, which is not at all uncommon, and in that case if they check references at all (less than half do) they will almost certainly call one from her previous company, so she should be sure it's a good one.

3. If it's done solely in writing, list the company she is working for as "Medium sized advertising agency (50 employees) focused on consumer packaged goods", or some other generic description. The prospective employer will understand what she is doing and why.
posted by JParker at 6:42 PM on November 30, 2004

I agree with everyone else, really shouldn't be a problem. Usually a formal application is used to verify education and employment history, and those usually (always?) ask "May we contact? Y/N" for the most recent employer.
posted by cosmonaught at 7:12 PM on November 30, 2004

I'm in HR. I always check references, and a lot of other people do, too. It's just a risk you take applying for another job while you're still with the old company. Some tricks:

If anyone she worked with there already left, ask them to be the reference for that job. The person who's already gone is less likely to squeal and more likely to give a full reference rather than a date of hire/eligible for rehire nonanswer.

Send it through HR - The HR person probably gets two or three of these a day, depending on the size of the company, and often doesn't squeal. (Depends on company politics and how they see their role, so this one's iffy.)

Lots of people put a friend's name as their boss and the friend's # as the company number. I'm here to tell ya, this almost never works. Friends are not usually the best of liars, and generally can't keep their info straight. You will not get the job if you get found out using this trick.
posted by pomegranate at 7:39 PM on November 30, 2004

I've looked for jobs many times in my career (long story for another thread), and I've never had any problem. But the current job on there; every company I've interviewed with understands discretion, especially if you make them aware of what the potential problem is.

I think JParker summed it up pretty well.
posted by Doohickie at 8:39 PM on November 30, 2004

Anyone remember the 90's, when this situation was the rule rather than the exception? Good times, good times...
posted by mkultra at 8:44 PM on November 30, 2004

If anyone she worked with there already left, ask them to be the reference for that job. The person who's already gone is less likely to squeal and more likely to give a full reference rather than a date of hire/eligible for rehire nonanswer.

It's a good point, but any trusted coworker would do. The individual doesn't have to be an ex-employee.
posted by Chuckles at 9:23 PM on November 30, 2004

Yeah, there's a big difference between listing your current place of employment, and using them as a formal reference. I've done a lot of hiring, and getting hired, and I've never had this be an issue in either situation.

If the prospective employer really feels that they need to go through the formal step before hiring her, I think there are still just two points she needs to make:

1) It's acceptable if both sides have basically made it clear they want to move forward on the new opportunity--if they've made her an informal commitment, and she's good to go, then if they need to make the call to prove she's got nothing to hide, at least you're making sure it doesn't happen till it's hopefully moot.

2) Even so, current employers--in the US, at least--are _very_ tightly constrained in what they can or will say about an employee. It's very rare to find an official representative of a company that will do anything more than confirm "Yes, she works/worked here, from [Year X] to [Year Y]."

If she can line up four or five solid references, along the lines of what JParker suggested, this should really be a non-issue.
posted by LairBob at 9:47 PM on November 30, 2004

What JParker said. Definitely put the current job on the resume!
posted by xammerboy at 9:58 AM on December 1, 2004