Ask HN: Do put the name of your current employer on your resume when applying?

8 points by lordxenu 8 years ago | 9 comments

When applying for new jobs, do you leave out the name of your current employer? Do you think it's a good idea? I thought about replacing the name with something generic, like "Embedded Systems Company".

My fear is that if I'm mass applying to other jobs, especially to startups with small teams that may not have a formal HR practice in place, a tiny set of them may call my current place for whatever reason without my knowledge. I would rather not tip off my current employer that I'm thinking of leaving; my place is a bit trigger-happy at times.

I do have colleagues in the company who will vouch for me, so references are not a problem, but there's no tactful way to put that on a resume in place of the company's name.

danieltillett 8 years ago |

This is more a meta-answer, but it is a pity that more companies (and employees) can’t be professional about this. Every employee should feel comfortable having a new potential employers talk to their current employer. If everyone was upfront and honest the workplace would be a lot more productive.

One thing I do with my employees is have a chat to them about making sure they let me know in advance if they are thinking of leaving and in return I promise to provide them with a fantastic reference.

We all work in a open office so every employee gets to hear my references of past employees so they know how this system works. This approach stops me being sideswiped by employees leaving at short notice and my ex-employees get great references. A great reference from your last (or current) employer is worth its weight in gold.

zerr 8 years ago | |

Notice happens after the offer is on the table. Otherwise, you can interpret various signals such as refusing a raise, career progression is not aligned with the expectations of an employee, etc...

ajeet_dhaliwal 8 years ago |

Does anyone not do this? Would be strange I would think both from a candidate and employer perspective to have missing information. Don’t mass apply, pick companies you feel are professional and want to work for. No decent company would call your current employer without your knowledge like that.

ecesena 8 years ago |

No, I wouldn't remove the name.

I don't think anybody would ever call a current employer, that'd be so stupid on so many levels. Moreover, if they really want, they can probably find who you work for anyway, no?

imhoguy 8 years ago | |

Years ago some idiot recruiter approached me by phone at my work. He got thru chain of offices and people to reach me by my name. As I had no phone on my desk finally my manager passed me the phone to answer the guy in a room of four co-workers. I wasn't looking for a job that time actively. Possibly my name and company name on LikedIn was enough for his desperate quest.

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity", A.Einstein.

joezydeco 8 years ago |

No. Always be honest and accurate with employers and start/end dates of employment.

If you need a bit of anonymizing to avoid the wrath of your current company, get in touch with a recruiter instead and let him/her represent you.

muzani 8 years ago | |

It's not dishonest. It's also common in the industry to even sign a NDA to not disclose what company you're working for. Just don't use it to hint that you work for a big company which you're not in.

seattle_spring 8 years ago | | |

> It's also common in the industry to even sign a NDA to not disclose what company you're working for.

What industry are you referring to? Because it's definitely not the software industry.

pravula 8 years ago |

Never seen anyone do this, except once on linkedin. Instead of a company name, it said confidential, top 5 xyz company.