checking employment history???

Spon Farmer

Hello,

Does anyone here know how employers check that an applicants employment history is true?

My sister is applying for jobs abroad and has no past employers to rely for references - the reason being she has been unemployed for 5 years and every place she has worked is long gone and the supervisors, etc. are scattered to the wind.

The only place left is her last job, but the MD there can't be relied on as he is (honest to God) unstable - whistling cheerily one minute and fuming like a demon the next. And her supervisor (who stormed out of the one afternoon and never came back - TWICE :P - second time was permanent) would be more qualified to give her a reference but my sister is again hesitant - he could be in a mood the day he gets the phone call and ruin it.

I had an idea - though my sister doesn't agree with it.

Our uncle had his own business up until two years ago and packed it in to do something different.

He has a different surname so he won't be asked if he is a relative.

I'm going to see if he'd be willing to play along as an old employer, but before I ask I was wondering how a prospective employer could find out that my sister never worked there - should they be so inclined dig.

Which they might. And they would be a foreign organization.

Let us ignore the rights and wrongs of lying for the time being.

Cheers.

Nody

Most likely during the interview when they ask her to tell what she did, give examples etc...

Elvis_Presley

You can be her former employer. Done it before for friends - although call never came through. Depends on the type of work she is going for: bar work, retail etc no way in hell they'll check up. Higher skilled work will probably do much more checking.

silja

What if they ask her for samples of her work? tax filings? Even if she gets the job and then later it slips she was unemployed, they could sack her on the spot for lying (well, depends on the country's laws).

Be honest, explain the situation and provide personal references, or ones from places she may have volunteered.

Bandana boy

Depends on the company
With a previous company (one of the big blue chips) when I joined they hired a firm in the UK which confirmed my work history and degree.
One of my previous firms had left Ireland and they wrote to the head office in the US to confirm my dates.
They also checked my degree with the issuing University.
This all happened after I started work, but within my probation period.

My current job they phoned my referees and took at face value that they were who they said they were.

As a rule I advise to never outright lie in an interview or with references as they have a habit of coming back to catch you out.

Spon Farmer

silja wrote: »

What if they ask her for samples of her work? tax filings? Even if she gets the job and then later it slips she was unemployed, they could sack her on the spot for lying (well, depends on the country's laws).

Be honest, explain the situation and provide personal references, or ones from places she may have volunteered.

It isn't about being unemployed - it's just that she can't contact anyone from her previous jobs who were her supervisors.

Mrs OBumble

Spon Farmer wrote: »

every place she has worked is long gone and the supervisors, etc. are scattered to the wind.

A few years back, I would have believed this.

But now there is Faceboook, LinkedIn and Google.

Tell her to get busy and find those supervisors.

Also, to get some referees for whatever she's been doing for the last five years.

Equality

It depends on the job.

Senior management or a position of trust (nursing/teaching) means that there is more likely to be a check.

One option, if she is young, is to ask someone she did babysitting (or minded an elderly person) for to write a reference, give a phone number and address on it, and they are generally acceptable if she is looking for low skilled employment (factory/care assistant).

This is why people who are unemployed should consider some form of training - it fills that gap in the CV.