Need to Cover Gaps on My Resume Fast

[dispenser]

You were:

*Taking care of a sick parent/child/wife
*You were on a religious mission (I'm thinking Mormon).
*You had an illness that you were recovering from.

Something like these^^. Be creative.

All of these say "I have baggage that will interfere with my work."
If you're going to lie, let the lie at least be a DHV.

OP, I'd recommend asking your family who they know that is an employer.
Second cousin Whatsisname could claim to have had you as an unpaid intern.

 

[nidall]

I'd never pay a service to lie about employing me unless it was a really good job. Your best bets IMO are:

1) Go through a recruiter. A good recruiter will handle smoothing over your resume gaps.

2) Put down freelancer or something entrepreneurial and make sure you have a couple of friends to backstop it. This can be as simple as saying that you were hired to do X for a company that failed.

Hello there DoctaWho. Greatly appreciate your reply. There’s a service that’s good at acting as a “previous employer” and providing references. But the problem with this is if the hiring company asks for your past W-2s from this employer, you won’t have them because you never paid taxes for it.

As to your first suggestion, I think recruiters expect a good resume to present to their clients. I don't think they'll help you lie on it since their clients expect workers to have no issues. But I could be wrong about this. Maybe someone here can shed more light on this?

As for the second suggestion, I have a friend who owned a hardware store. It operated 10 years before it failed this year. I could put that on my resume and say I either: 1) worked for it and then failed, or, 2) I was a partner and I invested money in the business but it ultimately failed.

You were:

*Taking care of a sick parent/child/wife
*You were on a religious mission (I'm thinking Mormon).
*You had an illness that you were recovering from.

All of these say "I have baggage that will interfere with my work."
If you're going to lie, let the lie at least be a DHV.

OP, I'd recommend asking your family who they know that is an employer.
Second cousin Whatsisname could claim to have had you as an unpaid intern.

Hi dispenser. I was actually thinking of putting on my resume that I:
1) Travelled abroad
2) Was a partner at a business that failed.

As for your suggestion, I do however have a family member who works for a corporation. He’s one of the executive managers. I could say that I was an unpaid intern where he worked. But the problem with this is that I’ve been unemployed for 3 1/2 years. Don’t you think a recruiter will be suspicious at that?

 

[dispenser]

Hi dispenser. I was actually thinking of putting on my resume that I:
1) Travelled abroad
2) Was a partner at a business that failed.

As for your suggestion, I do however have a family member who works for a corporation. He’s one of the executive managers. I could say that I was an unpaid intern where he worked. But the problem with this is that I’ve been unemployed for 3 1/2 years. Don’t you think a recruiter will be suspicious at that?

You could have tried one position for a year, then taken some time off, then tried another in a slightly different area.
I advise you to talk this out with your relative. He might be able to claim to have paid you.
However you manage to work it out, make sure this guy is on your Christmas list. Whiskey, cognac, something substantial.

 

[Soyouz]

I work in HR, and did recruiting for a long time.

Seeing a 3 years gap on a resume is usually a deal breaker.

Some suggestions :
-Say that you took those 3 years to work abroad. If you put a random Chinese/Indian/Japanese company on your resume, they probably won't call them to check references. If they do ask for references, say that your boss didn't speak good English, give a random number from the country, and they will probably give up.
-Write a fake work experience, and be prepared to give fake references (ex : one of your close friend could do it). Or you could also make your own fake references (buy another phone number on Magic Jack, change your voice a little bit, and pretend that you are your former boss).

Two things to keep in mind about HR/Recruiters :
a) We're under pressure to fill the positions quickly, so we don't put a lot of effort into checking out references.
b) Checking references is one part of our job we don't really enjoy, so we tend to neglect it.

Good luck!

 

[nidall]

Seeing a 3 years gap on a resume is usually a deal breaker.

Some suggestions :
-Say that you took those 3 years to work abroad.
-Write a fake work experience, and be prepared to give fake references (ex : one of your close friend could do it).

As I said in my last post, I discussed the possibility of using a business that went under this year as my last "employer" that I never worked for. The business was a hardware store owned by a good friend who can back me up in case HR calls him.

My question therefore is, which is better? Putting down that I worked or traveled abroad or that I worked for this hardware store?

 

[Vincent Chase]

Seeing a 3 years gap on a resume is usually a deal breaker.

Some suggestions :
-Say that you took those 3 years to work abroad.
-Write a fake work experience, and be prepared to give fake references (ex : one of your close friend could do it).

As I said in my last post, I discussed the possibility of using a business that went under this year as my last "employer" that I never worked for. The business was a hardware store owned by a good friend who can back me up in case HR calls him.

My question therefore is, which is better? Putting down that I worked or traveled abroad or that I worked for this hardware store?

Better to say you worked for the hardware store that went under. Just say you were an "Analyst", and gear whatever you did towards the job you are applying for at least slightly. Generic position titles are the best.

 

[Goldin Boy]

As I said in my last post, I discussed the possibility of using a business that went under this year as my last "employer" that I never worked for. The business was a hardware store owned by a good friend who can back me up in case HR calls him.

My question therefore is, which is better? Putting down that I worked or traveled abroad or that I worked for this hardware store?

Fuck traveling if you're not saying you had relevant work experience they don't want to hear it.

Go for the hardware store! This a a no-brainer since your buddy will cover for you for the background check and a reference check. Just make sure that your job responsibilities and title are similar to what your applying for(i.e. don't say your unloaded freight when your applying for Electrical Engineer job).

Besides that I also highly recommend you get the "Fake Resume Guide". This will help you strengthen the rest of your resume. I've had it about 3 years and the exercises in it are gold.


Good luck.

 

[Ice]

As I said in my last post, I discussed the possibility of using a business that went under this year as my last "employer" that I never worked for. The business was a hardware store owned by a good friend who can back me up in case HR calls him.

My question therefore is, which is better? Putting down that I worked or traveled abroad or that I worked for this hardware store?

Fuck traveling if you're not saying you had relevant work experience they don't want to hear it.

Go for the hardware store! This a a no-brainer since your buddy will cover for you for the background check and a reference check. Just make sure that your job responsibilities and title are similar to what your applying for(i.e. don't say your unloaded freight when your applying for Electrical Engineer job).

Besides that I also highly recommend you get the "Fake Resume Guide". This will help you strengthen the rest of your resume. I've had it about 3 years and the exercises in it are gold.


Good luck.

Hey Goldin Boy,

"Fake Resume Guide" sounds interesting - can you post some key insights from the guide?

Would be thankful for it.

 

[Soyouz]

Seeing a 3 years gap on a resume is usually a deal breaker.

Some suggestions :
-Say that you took those 3 years to work abroad.
-Write a fake work experience, and be prepared to give fake references (ex : one of your close friend could do it).

As I said in my last post, I discussed the possibility of using a business that went under this year as my last "employer" that I never worked for. The business was a hardware store owned by a good friend who can back me up in case HR calls him.

My question therefore is, which is better? Putting down that I worked or traveled abroad or that I worked for this hardware store?

Go for the hardware store. Make sure to coach your friends about what you're gonna write on your resume, and what you're gonna say in the interview.

Recruiters who check references usually ask the following questions (so your friends can foresee what kind of questions they will ask):
http://www.hcareers.com/us/resourcecenter/tabid/306/articleid/298/default.aspx

 

[nidall]

Fuck traveling if you're not saying you had relevant work experience they don't want to hear it.

Go for the hardware store! This a a no-brainer since your buddy will cover for you for the background check and a reference check.

Hi Goldin Boy. I will put the hardware store down as my last employer and that I "worked" there for 3 years. But what if ask from me for W-2s from there when I never worked there? What do I say?

 

[Goldin Boy]

Fuck traveling if you're not saying you had relevant work experience they don't want to hear it.

Go for the hardware store! This a a no-brainer since your buddy will cover for you for the background check and a reference check.

Hi Goldin Boy. I will put the hardware store down as my last employer and that I "worked" there for 3 years. But what if ask from me for W-2s from there when I never worked there? What do I say?

That's easy. Go online and find something like this:

http://www.realtaxtools.com/W2-Mate...5sa98dGFhoAoASZ2hKYkvPC84W5xA-PMLoRoCCeXw_wcB

It's w-2 software, designed for small businesses. I've used this one. Buy it for the years you need and use it. They also sell the paper there too. Good quality, you can't tell the difference.

Or if they want a paystub, google "novelty excuses". They have a good template in there you can edit(in addition to a ton of legit-looking doctor's notes).

 

[...]

Fuck traveling if you're not saying you had relevant work experience they don't want to hear it.

Go for the hardware store! This a a no-brainer since your buddy will cover for you for the background check and a reference check.

Hi Goldin Boy. I will put the hardware store down as my last employer and that I "worked" there for 3 years. But what if ask from me for W-2s from there when I never worked there? What do I say?

No one will ask for W2s unlike it's a niche job, like being a floorhand/derrickhand. This is to verify experience and it's not some moron saying they have 2 years exp.

Shit, not even professional jobs ask for W2s.

The only instances where I have heard about W2s being asked if the applicant's salary history is high and he wants the company to match his pay.

Also, your defensiveness and paranoia is telling me that you've done something "bad" that you don't want anyone to find about. Were you locked up or something?



Currently I have two assistants that run employment verifications (references) and here's all they do. Call the references twice, ask for position, dates, pay......and they will ask if the applicant was a good employee and if the person is rehireable.

Here's the thing, most companies only release job title and job dates. Anything else they will not comment on.

I was in your situation a couple of years ago and all I did was list myself as a freelancer and had a couple of friends as references because they were my clients. One of them was also listed as a former employer of mine. I put a fake address and a generic company name "LITTLE ABE'S SHEETROCK WORKS", no one every found out.

 

[nidall]

That's easy. Go online and find something like this:

http://www.realtaxtools.com/W2-Mate...5sa98dGFhoAoASZ2hKYkvPC84W5xA-PMLoRoCCeXw_wcB

It's w-2 software, designed for small businesses. Or if they want a paystub, google "novelty excuses".

That sounds too risky. I really don’t know if printing out fake paystubs or W-2s will completely fool HR. I really don’t know.

No one will ask for W2s unlike it's a niche job, like being a floorhand/derrickhand.

Shit, not even professional jobs ask for W2s.

Actually, they do. At one company I interviewed at they asked for my past W-2 which I couldn’t furnish because the last job position I stated I held on my resume I never worked in.

I was in your situation a couple of years ago and all I did was list myself as a freelancer and had a couple of friends as references because they were my clients. One of them was also listed as a former employer of mine. I put a fake address and a generic company name "LITTLE ABE'S SHEETROCK WORKS", no one every found out.

Freelancing sounds like a good idea. I got 2 questions on this:

1) Would putting freelancing on my resume get me in trouble with HR? Can they find out that I never freelanced?

2) If I put down freelancing on my resume, how would I cover this in case HR asks for proof like my EIN or copy of my business taxes?

3) I got a good friend who used to own a business that failed this year. I never worked for him but I can put his business on my resume and he can provide a good reference. Of course, since I never worked for him I can’t provide W-2s in case HR asks for them to gauge my salary. So considering this, which is better: Putting the freelance work or my friend’s business on my resume?

 

[Brodiaga]

It's unlikely that anybody will ask you for w2, at least for professional, non government jobs

If they do, fuck em. Unemployment is at 40 years low right now. Lots of other companies where you can apply.