I don't want to have to pay to find a job.

July 2, 2008 1:25 PM

I will be putting together a resume soon. However the exact dates and other details regarding some of my past jobs escape me. Is there a site that will give me my job history? Everything Google gives me requires payment/enrollment is some service. I want free and no attachments, is that doable? Subquestion, best resume putting together site/application/thing?
posted by Epsilon-minus semi moron to work & money (8 comments total)

Google won't know your job history unless it has been indexed from a indexable website. If you need exact info, why not just call previous employers and ask them to verify your dates? If they no longer exist or otherwise are not contact friendly, then inexact dates might not be something to worry about if a prospective employer is doing their due diligence.
posted by Burhanistan at 1:36 PM on July 2, 2008

Your exact history is not that important. I worked at Company X from June 2002 to August 2005 is more than good enough for a resume. A resume is a sales document to sell yourself, not your authorized biography. The only caveat I would add is that if you need a govt security clearance you probably want to be exact on the dates. Otherwise, nobody is going to care if your last day was June 12 or June 19 at some particular job several years ago.
posted by COD at 1:49 PM on July 2, 2008

Also, depending on the type of work you do, most employers probably don't verify your job particulars back past the last one or two, depending on how long you worked at them.
posted by autojack at 2:01 PM on July 2, 2008

You can order old tax returns from the IRS. I don't know if that includes the particulars of your W2s and 1099s, though.

Personally, I wouldn't sweat it. Just estimate.
posted by meta_eli at 2:12 PM on July 2, 2008

I don't put months on my resume:

"1998-2000: VirtualLungfish.com. Software Engineer. Wrote, tuned, and debugged enterprise-quality lungfish simulation software using perl, MySql, and VRML"

Only once have I ever been asked what months I worked there. I think it would be okay to not remember or more general answers.
posted by aubilenon at 2:23 PM on July 2, 2008

What COD said.
posted by xammerboy at 6:00 PM on July 2, 2008

I worked at Company X from June 2002 to August 2005 is more than good enough for a resume.

Company X (2002-2005) is enough for me, and I wouldn't really care if one of the years was wrong. You're making a resume, not an attendance report.
posted by rokusan at 6:49 PM on July 2, 2008

I do a lot of hiring, exact dates are not critical, I never check them (unless something seems very, very strange). Estimate.
posted by HuronBob at 7:13 AM on July 3, 2008