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I did freelancing work for a client for 18 months about 5 years ago. Unfortunately for the client, the business didn't take off and development was halted. Final payments were made (I still have the tax forms for the year showing where I received income and this client was one of those places) and I transferred all assets to the company as the contract said. I then moved on.

Recently, I went to update my resume for a new position and added this 18 month block of time. This particular job had several challenges that would be relevant for the position I was looking at.

I was curious if the founder ever restarted development. When I checked their website, I was happily surprised they had and saw that several portions of my work were still prominently featured. I figured this would be good if the job ever advanced to the interview stage.

Unfortunately, I noticed in the "About" section of the page that the company is listed as being founded last year (2014 vs the 2010-2011 range I did work). The founder's LinkedIn page shows the same time frame for being CEO of the company.

How can I put this work experience on my resume? If I put the time frame I worked (2010/2011) a very quick Google search will make it look like I'm not being truthful.

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Put it on your resume the way you would normally without having known about the new company. Then add something to the effect of:

Most of these projects [things you did] are still used today with their new firm/company, see [web address]

This not only shows that what you did was really valuable, it also breaks the barrier of them doing a google search and thinking you're lying by bringing the truth up-front, thus making you look better.

Lilienthal suggested wording to something along the lines of

"..are still used after the company's relaunch in 2014"

That will help break some of the mystery even more.

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    Simple and brilliant!
    – o0'.
    Jul 22, 2015 at 7:50
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    Agreed, but I'd change the wording to "are still used after the company's relaunch in 2014" and drop the link to their site, unless the work OP did involved building their website layout.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Jul 22, 2015 at 8:44
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    @Lilienthal I don't feel like this answer solves the problem without the addition you suggest.
    – jpmc26
    Jul 22, 2015 at 14:17
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Binary Bazooka has offered a good answer to this, but there's something you should do before putting this company on your website:

Call them up, and ask them.

You know that your work is being used by the company - you can see it on their website - but they might have forgotten about you, or may not be prepared to reference you should you include them on your resume.

If you are in good standing with the owner of the business, there's no harm in calling them up and asking if you can put your work with them from 2011 on your resume - and not only that, it will alert the company that they might be called up to provide a reference for you (where otherwise they might not recall you working there in 2011, and accidentally say 'no, they haven't worked with us' due to the relaunch in 2014).

There's also a (slim) chance they'll be looking for good developers today (or whatever position you're hunting for), so calling them up is doubly a good idea, both for your resume and for your job search in general.

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    I thought it was standard issue for designers to allow work they do to be used for portfolio purposes. Right in the contract. If I were doing that, it would have to be a very, very lucrative contract for me to exclude it from my ability to show that I'm a capable artist.
    – corsiKa
    Jul 22, 2015 at 15:25
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    @corsiKa This answer has less to do with what is 'allowed', and more to do with letting the company that you worked for know that they might be contacted as part of an interview process, so that they can give accurate information about your time working for them, and accounting for the possibility that, in a company that has shuttered and reopened, that their records of you working with them may have been lost. Legally though, you are probably right and the asker has the right to their own work, but since he specifically is referencing this company, he should contact them as well.
    – Zibbobz
    Jul 22, 2015 at 15:30
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    @corsiKa More like something something networking, something something good recommendation.
    – Zibbobz
    Jul 22, 2015 at 16:19
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    @DA. Like I said, this is more about getting the best reference out of them possible. Even if you don't directly use them as a reference, calling them up wouldn't hurt to help remind them of the work you did, and you'd stand a better chance of getting a favorable work review by doing so, should any recruiters call them up (and if they're good recruiters, they should call them up).
    – Zibbobz
    Jul 22, 2015 at 17:32
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    I agree with your points, but I would reframe it around what you hope to achieve - you hope to avoid a scenario where a previous employer accidentally disavows your involvement, which at best makes you forgettable, and you hope to possibly achieve a good networking opportunity. You are not reopening contact to ask permission to list your previous work experience, as you need no permission to do that. In most scenarios, I'd say it's unlikely that they will contact the previous employer anyway, and would likely ask you for your references, at which point it's up to you to choose good ones.
    – Jason
    Jul 22, 2015 at 18:12

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