Not listing employer names on a resume

Lail

Hi all,

I'm re-doing my resume as I begin to start job hunting, and I'm wondering how potential employers/HR managers would feel about seeing a resume that doesn't list employer names - just job title and industry. The owner of the business I currently work at is VERY connected in this town, and I worry that if my resume had my employers name on it, it could somehow get back to him that I am looking for another job.

In case it's relevant, I am a financial controller looking for a similar controller/CFO/accounting manager role.

Its been a while since I posted here, I'm hoping those HR folk are still around from before...

Thanks!

dispatch.o

I have left employers off my resume entirely in the past and put references available upon request in an effort to get it all down to a single page.

Typically on application forms or during preliminary interviews they will ask if it's okay to contact your current employer. I don't know if that works for a CFO position though.

Edit: I always say that they're free to contact my employer after they make an offer.

zepherin

Leaving off employers is common when combining experience, or using a skills based resume.

Enc

Leaving off supervisors is common, leaving off the company or organization would put you in my toss pile when looking at a number of strong applications.

Local H Jay

I make sure to list everything relevant and provide a rough timeline of what you've been doing leading up to that job. If you have 10 years but some small jobs in there that didn't add much, you can gloss over the ones who don't add anything meaningful to the picture you're painting of yourself

Even things that may sound useless to you could push your resume higher up the stack in some small way

Janson

I’m having trouble conceiving of a town small enough where someone says to a business owner, ‘hey, heads up, your CFO had an interview with us!’

Everywhere I have worked, interviewing people for a job isn’t a big enough deal that the interviewers have openly discussed/gossiped about the people they’ve interviewed. And many of the people doing the interviews are going to hopefully be experienced professionals enough that they know not to do that anyway, especially for CFO-level positions. They should really only be talking directly to any references on your resume.

So I agree with Enc; I wouldn’t leave off your company’s name.

Ketar

Janson wrote: »

I’m having trouble conceiving of a town small enough where someone says to a business owner, ‘hey, heads up, your CFO had an interview with us!’

Everywhere I have worked, interviewing people for a job isn’t a big enough deal that the interviewers have openly discussed/gossiped about the people they’ve interviewed. And many of the people doing the interviews are going to hopefully be experienced professionals enough that they know not to do that anyway, especially for CFO-level positions. They should really only be talking directly to any references on your resume.

So I agree with Enc; I wouldn’t leave off your company’s name.

It doesn't have to be a small town, just a small industry within that area.

When I worked in high-end travel, for a luxury tour operator, there were only 2 other similar employers if you wanted to do the same kind of work at that same level and both workplaces were riddled with people who had worked at the company I worked for. It was pretty much impossible for someone at any of the three to interview at either of the other two companies without their employer finding out, unless you were working with a very tight-lipped hiring manager and could possibly finagle an after-hours interview when their office would be empty. Even that would be dubious given how often people would work late so they could communicate directly with partners in other time zones. Realistic chances of that were extremely low. And this was in Chicago, not Smalltown, USA.

That said, I wouldn't leave company names off of a resume - when I'm hiring I would go past that resume immediately. If the situation is really that fraught you could *maybe* consider leaving off only the name of your current employer and replacing it with something like "Provided upon request, discretion requested." I wouldn't love seeing that either when scanning resumes, but it would be a bit more understandable.

schuss

Company names are also key for understanding the position, as job titles are used differently at different places. On top of this, certain employers are known in different areas for having smart/hardworking/toxic people, so that's key contextual info.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

It's hard to imagine a scenario where your current employer's name being on the resume would lead to it getting back to your owner, but actually going in for the interview wouldn't

like, if the people reviewing your application are inclined to circulate your details in that way then it's going to happen either way, because it's not like your current position won't come up in the interview

Lail

Thank you for the feedback, everyone!