Should I mention the new company name of my previous employer, in my CV?

Question

I worked for two years at company ABCD, a decade ago. Around three years ago they changed their company name to HIJK. I verified that they had changed the company name, and had not closed ABCD and started a new company because HIJK is listed on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website with the date of incorporation shown as 2006.

For the past few years I've mentioned my previous employer in my CV as:

ABCD (now named HIJK) [Feb 2009 to April 2011]

I've worked with them recently for a few months on a contract assignment and things didn't turn out very well (I'd rather not mention the reasons, but it was basically neither their fault nor mine, and we realized that I'm not a good fit for their company culture, so we don't plan to stay in touch).

In future CV's, I don't want to mention HIJK as the company name, as I'd prefer any background check person to not contact my previous employer, in case they lie about me just out of spite (nothing that bad happened, but just-in-case).

Since my old offer letter and employment agreement mentions ABCD as the company name, is it ok for me to mention ABCD in my CV and pretend that I don't know about the company name change or is there an ethical need to mention HIJK?

Answer 1

There is nothing inherently wrong with excluding the current name. The company may have changed its name due to a M&A or changed owners. In which case, you didn't work for the new company, so it is more accurate to use the old name.

In some cases, one may not even know the name has changed -- so it can't really be held against you for 'witholding' information. However, if nothing comes up during the background check under the old name, you may be asked to explain it.

Answer 2

It's perfectly okay to mention your old company with the data you had when you left. Their old name, their old address, all their old data.

Nobody is required to research what became of the company they worked at. Or what became of the people they worked with.

I'm certainly not keeping up with what happened to companies I worked at a decade ago. And finding out if my old boss still have their name or maybe changed it because of a marriage or divorce? That's stalking, not polishing one's CV. So no, put the data that is on your documents from that time. That should be enough.