Company has my cv. I changed parts concerning the past. Send it again?

February 18, 2013 10:21 AM

Should I sent a potential employer and updated version of my cv, when the difference concerns the past? In the version they have, I didn't include one project I was working on, but I would include it now.

I'm a computer science student nearing my graduation. I've been in contact with a potential employer, Employer Inc. Several months ago I've sent them a copy of my cv, but didn't proceed with the application because my graduation was then still too far away. In the first version of my cv, I've omitted some paid coding work done for an open source product, because the part I was working on was ultimately scrapped and none of my work made it into the release. My embarrassment about it was the reason for not mentioning it the first time. In the meantime, I've continued working on the project and the new work was included in the release, mostly bugfixes and GUI stuff.

As I see it, my options are:
1. Leave the CV as it is.
2. Send them an updated version in which I only mention the second time I worked on the project, where I can point to (albeit unimpressing) results.
3. Include the whole time and hope they don't notice the difference.

posted by Triton to work & money (5 answers total)

Depends on how long they keep it on file.

This advice may depend on industry specifics I don't know about, but in general don't over pester by sending revision of a CV. It is perfectly legitimate to bring up the situation in an interview. "in addition to what is on the CV I have also worked with company XZY doing blah blah blah in this time frame".

If you are sending them a new CV because the old one is no longer on file, yes, of course update it. Otherwise I'd say no, it is just creating busy work for someone along the chain, and might be a case for minor annoyance.
posted by edgeways at 10:30 AM on February 18

Are you proceeding with the application now that graduation is near? Submit the most recent version of your CV whenever you make the formal step of applying for something. You can also offer it in casual conversation at some point - you are maintaining contact with these people at professional events and stuff, right? But chances are they'll want the most current version to hand off to HR when they hire you (if you do this the backdoor way) or HR will require the current version when you submit the application (if you do this via HR.)

At my employer, resumes are kept with the relevant position file, not in some special individual-person file. At best, you'd find the CV (of someone who never actually applied) in some random engineering manager's files (whoever it was the recruit happened to form the relationship with.) And, well, that's not someplace I, as an HR person, would ever want to try to find something specific. Plus, we are acutely aware that student resumes freaking change every other day. So.
posted by SMPA at 10:40 AM on February 18 [2 favorites]

I second the previous posters. Don't bother until they contact you for an interview.
posted by schrodycat at 10:52 AM on February 18

The notion of resumes being kept "on file", at least around the silicon valley software industry, is mostly bullshit. When you submit your resume to a company, someone looks at it, and checks to see if it looks like you might be a good fit for whatever position this person is trying to fill. If it doesn't, it gets put aside and never looked at again, even if it is technically "on file" somewhere. As an example, if you find yourself in the position to be interviewed at Google, they will ask *you* if you've ever interviewed there before. This implies that they aren't checking or keeping track of these things otherwise, and this is a company that specializes in finding stuff. Basically, if you don't put your resume in front of someone's face, they're not going to look at it, and you're not going to get called back. If you sent your resume to someone more than a week ago, and you haven't heard back from them, you're not going to hear back from them. If you want to re-apply because your resume has changed or you want to try for a different position, then re-submit it. Someone will literally look over it for 30 seconds or so and decide whether you're worth calling back, in which case they'll call you back right away.

I'm sure this varies by industry and location, but here, in this industry, recruiters watch incoming resume streams closely, prune ruthlessly, and don't have much of a memory.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 11:02 AM on February 18 [3 favorites]

Thank you!
I wasn't clear enough in my question: Of course I wouldn't send them the new resume out of the blue, but only when applying.

My question was, if I should still send them and only them the old version if I submit the after-graduation round of applications, out of worry they compare it to the old one and the difference looks bad. From your answers, recruiters have a short memory and this seems unlikely, so I just go ahead and send the current version when I formally apply.
posted by Triton at 8:07 AM on February 20