I've been working on the side while attending college the past two years, and as a result my resume looks pretty hectic. I have a summer job, a few odd jobs in between summers here, a job just for Christmas break there, etc. I try to be working when it's possible. However, it has occured to me that anyone looking at my resume could very easily get the impression that I have trouble keeping a job or a history of getting fired/unreasonably quitting, etc. I just assume not include some of the more menial jobs on a resume, just to alleviate this potential problem.

Is it legal to not release past jobs to a potential future employer? For example, if an application asks me to write down my past three jobs, is it legal for me to actually skip the most recent one and put down recent jobs 2 through 4 instead?

Thanks

List the jobs that are the most closely related to the job you are applying for.

Yes you can omit them if you want.

There is no law that says you must be honest on an application. You might get fired later for lying, though.

Yes, you can, especially at your age. When you get older you may have trouble explaining why you went without any visible employment for months at a time.

During your interview Many employers will ask you the reason for the gap between the end period of one job and the start of the next job, if it is longer than 30 days.

Depends… you can but if the application asks you to list all jobs and you don’t if you get the job you have given them grounds to fire you with cause at anytime they choose.

Do whatever you want, but in today's world, employers have extensive background checks that reveal past jobs for a certain time period.

There going to do a credit and background check anyway..... Dont even know why we have to bother with applications anymore.

Quoted: I've been working on the side while attending college the past two years, and as a result my resume looks pretty hectic. I have a summer job, a few odd jobs in between summers here, a job just for Christmas break there, etc. I try to be working when it's possible. However, it has occured to me that anyone looking at my resume could very easily get the impression that I have trouble keeping a job or a history of getting fired/unreasonably quitting, etc. I just assume not include some of the more menial jobs on a resume, just to alleviate this potential problem. Is it legal to not release past jobs to a potential future employer? For example, if an application asks me to write down my past three jobs, is it legal for me to actually skip the most recent one and put down recent jobs 2 through 4 instead? Thanks

I would see if anyone at the company where you are applying can answer the question. As mentioned by others, if you have anything on your application that is not correct, you can likely be terminated at anytime.

There is nothing wrong with having several jobs and for short periods if they can be explained. There is a big difference between someone that held several jobs to get through college and someone that held several jobs because they were fired.

If I was doing the interview or background check, I would probably look favorably on someone with several jobs in college. Rather than show you are a bad worker or untrustworthy, I think it tends to show that anytime you were available to work, time permitting, you held a job. Most depends on how you present the situation to the people doing the hiring.

list recent jobs most relevent

If you have two jobs at the same time you can leave off one of them without having the "gap" to explain

If you do have a gap, they will probably think you are hiding a job where you had a problem

+1 to listing relevant jobs.

The folks at NASA don't care how many months you flipped burgers if you're going to apply for space shuttle door gunner.

Quoted: There is no law that says you must be honest on an application. You might get fired later for lying, though.

It's not an issue of honesty; it's an issue relevancy.

Just don't mention a diploma mill degree. Some states are cracking down.

It could become a class 3 felony in Washington.

seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/261747_diplomamill04.html

Only list the Relavant ones.

If you don't, your resume will be 18 pages long.  Noone cares that you flipped burgers over the summer while in college.

Legal trouble?  No way.  Only trouble would be (as others have said) if some HR person got a burr up his ass and decided to oust you for lying on your application.  Typically speaking, employers only care about experience relative to the position you are applying for.  List those, and anything that has a hint of managerial/supervisory duties.

Woody

Back in '90, IIRC, I put down on an application that I was in the French Foriegn Legion for 5 years.

I was trying to cover a gap that was spent commercial fishing on a number of boats.

The personnel woman called me in and asked me what I did in the Legion.

I answered "Deux Regemente Etrange de Parachutiste".

Then I looked her straight in the eye and told her that covering for five years in the Alaskan Fishing industry would take twenty pages, and a month or two for me to look up in my sparse collection of records, so I figured that I might just as well cover the 5 years with a hitch in the Legion.

I actually didn't expect to get hired.

She chuckled and told me she understood and that I would fit right in.

This was at 1000 hrs.

By 1330 I was on board a tug as an OS.

Two years  later, a damned port captain called me in to question my application. By then I had cashed in my fishing (read: sea) time and had taken the test for not only a Master's License, but I also had earned a tankerman's endorsement and an Able Seamans endorsement to boot.

My answer: "Yeah! I fuckin' a well lied. So fuckin' fire me and I guess I'll just have to go to work for another company (that was our competitor) in New York and make more money than this chickenshit outfit is paying me. And you're going to have to explain how come this company spent so much money training me to make money for the competition."

Hem. Haw. Er. Uhhh.

A lot of what you put down depends on circumstances.

Remember this: The only permanent record people I have ever heard of comes straight from the Gospel According to Piccolo. I once told some woman in a bar that i worked for the department of permanent records. When she asked about hers, I called my sister(she's quick on the uptake) asked the hapless womwn for her name and SSN, gave it to my sis and acted like sis was looking it up on the computer.

"What? No record on her? Better start one!"

The girl went into a panic.


Don't worry about trying to keep track of every rinky dink job you've ever had. Just the pertinant ones.


BTW, in my business King's Point Merchant Marine Academy and Hawspipe University are considered sister schools.