can an employer check your work history?

geewizzuk

A few years ago I had a job that was to do with the entertainment industry and didn't want to put it on my CV so I left it out, can an employer check the history of your work before you start with them?

Dave101t

yes, they can check your cv, which you have now fiddled, well done.

Reggie_Rebel

They may ask you about it if there is a gap in your CV. If you extend either the previous or next job to cover it and they ask for a reference then the discrepancy will ring bells.

MrRedundant

So you where a stripper and hid it?

The company can check and if they do will almost certainly withdraw the offer.

Gleeful

You might be ok as long as you have no gaps in employment that can't be explained. It depends on the type of job you are applying for and how long ago it was.

MrRedundant - why would a company withdraw an offer if they found out she was a stripper? They can only withdraw the offer for her lying on her CV.

Anyway, it might not be a stripper job, it could be flyering for a nightclub for example. I wouldn't put that on my CV if I didn't think it was relevant.

MrRedundant

Did I say thats why they would withdraw it? They will withdraw it for the lying. And well that would be stupid; lying on a CV because you didnt think a job was relevant.

ellie101

geewizzuk wrote: »

A few years ago I had a job that was to do with the entertainment industry and didn't want to put it on my CV so I left it out, can an employer check the history of your work before you start with them?

They can check before you start, but in 25 years of job-hunting I've only had one company ask to check back on my work history (and they wanted 10 years of references). That was in finance.

No-one else has. I've accepted jobs with local councils, private media companies. May be different in other fields.

morganedge

How would they ever find out about it if you didn't mention it?? Sounds impossible.

morganedge

ellie101 wrote: »

They can check before you start, but in 25 years of job-hunting I've only had one company ask to check back on my work history (and they wanted 10 years of references). That was in finance.

No-one else has. I've accepted jobs with local councils, private media companies. May be different in other fields.

that's been my experience aswell.
Years ago when trying to get my first job I made up lots of jobs and added them to my CV because nobody would hire me having no experience.
It worked and I got the job.

Since then i've had a few jobs, but have now been unemployed for a good few months when my job had to let me go due to a complete lack of orders because of the recession

I think this gap with me on Jobseekers would look bad, so im considering just making up a job for the gap. Of if, in the unlikely event, that everyone is now much more strict with checking, could I say that I've been working for my sister who lives abroad and has her own company? (which she does, although i haven't worked there. She would back me up though....)

cheers

Uncertain

They can only legally check information which is in the public domain or which you have given them permission to access. So they can look at anything the public may see on, say, Facebook but not hack into your private data.

Obviously they can approach anybody you have offered as a reference.

Just missing something out on a CV is not, in itself lying. If you were given a form and asked to list ALL employers in the past ten years then missing one out would be untruthful.

No CV lists every last thing you have ever done so what you include is up to you.

However, changing dates etc to try and hide something is dishonest. If they think there is a gap then they are of course free to ask you about it. Any reply must be truthful.

KiKi

morganedge wrote: »

How would they ever find out about it if you didn't mention it?? Sounds impossible.

They wouldn't find out about the job itself, necessarily, but in investigating other jobs they will either find a period of time which is unaccounted for, or that she lied about the time spent in other jobs. That's when they'll ask questions, *if* they bother going through it!

KiKi