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I am in United states. I worked unpaid for a small company A for 3 weeks at the beginning of my OPT visa period. I did voluntary unpaid work in company A. It is not exactly relevant to the skill set I am applying. Then I continued to work for company B.

Question: 1. Now that I applying for jobs, should I share both the companies on resume? I feel like removing company A. 2. What are the probabilities of background verification agencies to find about company A, if in case I hide about it?

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closed as primarily opinion-based by scaaahu, Rory Alsop, rath, Cronax, Masked Man Feb 28 '18 at 16:07

Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

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    In which country are you looking for job. This information is relevant. – Ironluca Feb 22 '18 at 8:12
  • The background check question is covered here, the general "can I do this" has no great parent question as per my comment on that post. – Lilienthal♦ Feb 22 '18 at 8:26
  • Not a lot of info to go on here, but one question to always consider is "Does listing a short-spell job look better than having a measurable time of apparent unemployment between jobs?" How is your prospective employer likely to interpret that? – user34587 Feb 22 '18 at 9:18
  • How is it that you were doing unpaid work for a corporation while on a visa? Was this an unpaid internship at A? Otherwise, this sounds a bit sketchy which may men that A would be reluctant to confirm you worked there if called which complicates things... – Justin Cave Feb 22 '18 at 15:12
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    Possible duplicate of Omitted short-term job from job application and worried about background check – rath Feb 28 '18 at 10:20
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Why don't you have some sections on your resume, like "occupational experience" where you state company B, and later on something like "other activities / voluntary work" where you state company A, giving the time frames of the activities you performed.

For someone doing an extensive background check this would seem as:

  • you have some experience in the position you're applying for
  • you have some hobbies and other interests beside your core activities / occupation
  • while having gaps between employments you're spending your time for the benefit of the community (depending on the character of the company A) or you're broadening your horizons

This way you won't mix irrelevant activities into your professional resume while keeping company A on your resume.

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  • That's a very nice suggestion. I will make changes to my resume thinking from this angle. – user83062 Feb 22 '18 at 21:50
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Companies don't have to know how much you were paid for a job. Focus on what you've done and what you learned while working for company A. It can be relevant if you worked within a team, learn to follow deadlines...

In my opinion, you should list all companies unless you have too much of them to fit on your resume (but be prepared on questions about unemployment).

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  • Thanks for reply. I liked Mike's suggestion. In that way I can showcase it correctly to the recruiter - both relevant and additional skills. – user83062 Feb 22 '18 at 21:57
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OK, background checks are generally done on what you declare (in terms of your employment experience, academic history, etc.); and something you don't declare (intentionally or unintentionally, like your criminal record, if any, visa status etc.) if you exclude company A from your experience and only declare that your experience is for company B, then company A tenure in effect has no relevance to your current job searching. However, as Ckankonmange, mentioned, if there is a gap due to you not declaring your tenure with company A, then you have to explain the gap; a gap necessarily does not mean something bad, if at all anyone questions you for the gap (which I very much doubt since it is just 21 days), just tell them.

By not putting company A, you are not necessarily hiding it; you feel it is not relevant. However, companies have a last shot question if you have worked for or have any connection to a specific company or any of its competitors etc. etc., if company A falls in the category then mention it if you are asked that question.

I will not say, 'What happens if the BGC agency finds out', I would say 'so what if they find out', you don't feel the company A relevant to the current job searching and you have left it out and have claimed only that you have declared in the CV, in terms of experience and otherwise.

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  • +1 My thought process was exactly the same, but I am going to mark @Mike's answer as correct as I am going to follow the suggestion. Having two sections: Relevant work experience and Other activities would help me in highlighting the skill sets I have relevant to the job and other's that I have gained. – user83062 Feb 22 '18 at 21:53