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I am new to the north-American job market (I am an immigrant) and I am struggling to prepare my resume and everything else. My biggest question at the moment is how to present the information that I've had two concurrent functions at the same company.

My parents had a small company back in my country and since I was a teenager I took care of the technology there, very amateurishly, on an on-demand basis. In spite of liking tech a lot, I thought it would be better to become a Bachelor in Business Administration so I could help my parents better. While I was in the university and until I came to Canada, I kept working at the tech side of the growing business, which became increasingly complex (but still on an on-demand basis), but as soon as I graduated, I also took care of the company's Customer Relationship, which became my main function. In a week I would spend around 40 hours doing Customer Relationship and 6 hours doing tech. My job titles were officially "Customer Relationship Manager" and "Information Technology Consultant".

I have just graduated in a Information Technology diploma, Software Development major, and I see that my experience put me ahead of my colleagues but I am afraid that disclosing my experience in tech would make me overqualified for junior positions but not be enough to get me intermediate positions.

I was thinking in downplaying my tech experience so I would not scare junior positions, since I am not very confident that I could handle an intermediary level. But how do I do that? Should I completely omit it? What do you think?

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    Be prepared that in US non-American experience is very much discounted. So I would not worry about being perceived as too experienced.
    – PM 77-1
    May 9, 2016 at 0:04
  • @PM77-1 That seems to be true in any country. Only the education/experience from the current country counts.
    – Juha Untinen
    May 9, 2016 at 7:17
  • I agree with @PM 77-1 not only that but experience with your parents' company will also be discounted. So I would list all of it and expect everyone to treat you as entry level. Especially if you are trying to go into software development but it sounds like you've been working in IT (Information Technology). There is some crossover, but generally for software jobs they expect you to have programming experience and while your prior experience will be better than nothing, I don't think anyone is going to assume you are overqualified.
    – TechnicalEmployee
    Jun 3, 2016 at 22:06

3 Answers 3

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An additional point to consider is the background check and what it would reveal about your time at your previous company. If you held two positions, either one or both may show up in a background check for employment history. Some HR departments tend to have strong reactions to discrepancies, which might affect your job offer.

In any case, it is best to be honest and forthright with your employment history. If you insist on leaving the tech experience off, contact your previous company and get your employment records so that you know what a background check will turn up first.

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  • I agree with this point. Best to be honest. If they are curious about the dual positions, they will contact you to clarify it.
    – Marion
    Jun 13, 2016 at 3:18
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You should be applying for junior level positions so don't worry about not being experienced enough for intermediate level positions.

Keep in mind that many of your competitors have internships, summer jobs, etc. So it is fine for you to have some experience. You could say something like "worked on X, Y and Z for family business". It's good experience. And it doesn't sound like years of a full time job.

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  • You made a good point about my competitor's experience, @Jeanne. I am thinking in only mentioning my function of Relationship Manager in the work experience section, because that was my main function and brings some good transferable skills to the table, and select 2-3 software projects I have done as "IT Consultant" as freelances for the same company, in order to show my tech experience. What do you think?
    – voll
    May 9, 2016 at 3:28
  • Makes sense to me!
    – Jeanne Boyarsky
    May 10, 2016 at 1:25
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You should give a try for profiles that require both fields, instead of choosing one. Even if you are starting with junior level, there will be few with such combination..and since you have experienced in both..it is worth mentioning!!!

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