Friday, May 30, 2008

Resume: Former Employer Out of Business

Question
I am currently redoing my resume and I want it to look great. My biggest issue is with my work history. One of my former employers is no longer in business. There are other stores (it was a chain) but no one that worked with me works at the other stores. I don't want to leave the job off my resume, but there isn't a phone number or address and I no longer have a current number for my old supervisor. How should I present this job that is out of business?

Answer



Josie, on your resume you should list this employer just as you would all your other employers. As I explain in this video, it's not your responsibilty that the store was closed so you should not feel shy about mentioning your experience and accomplishments at that job.

When an employer considers you for your next job, he or she will likely conduct a verification of the work history on your resume. At that time they will discover that your former employer is no longer in business and will probably contact the corporate headquarters to confirm that you worked for the company.

By the way, there's no need to put a phone number and address for any of the employers that you list on your resume.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree-- what is most important are the skills employed on that job, as well as accomplishments, and also work exposure. All these you want to highlight, rather than
the company name.

Having said that, the company name should be listed as well as the city and state. Potential employers will search for the parent company in order to verify your employment.

Anonymous said...

I strongly beg to differ - you will be requested to supply the telephone number and sometimes even the street address of your former employers. It is 2010 (I retired in 2003 and am currently trying to get employed again) and all of my employers since 1980 have either closed their doors for economic reasons or have been acquired so many times, I no longer am in any of their employee databases. So I probably have no employment references at all.

Susan Ireland said...

You may be asked to provide your former employer's contact info on your job application, but you are not expected to list it on your resume.

On your application, you can say that the company is out of business.