Worked a job, but it was under someone else's name. OK to put on resume?

Question

So the specifics are as follows. My spouse got a job as a independent contractor for an online job. They didn't work it much, and when I didn't have a 'real job' (for a matter of years), I worked the job. I did the max hours a week, got paid, performed at their standards, etc. But of course it was all under my spouses name.

the job was as an independent contractor, so no taxes were taken out.

Obviously "I" didn't work there, but without putting it on my resume I have a huge gap in employment. It's kind of difficult to contact the company (though I am going to try contacting them acting as an employer verifying employment), so who knows if a job I am applying to will ever find out it wasn't "me" that worked there.

So my question is what do I do about putting/not putting this on a resume?

Answer 1

So my question is what do I do about putting/not putting this on a resume?

Easy. You don't claim work that was "under someone else's name". (You shouldn't work "under someone else's name either, but that's a different question.)

For all anyone but your spouse knows, you didn't do the work - your spouse did. Your spouse basically lied to the employer and you were complicit. That's not a great story to try to sell a potential employer.

the job was as an independent contractor, so no taxes were taken out.

Well, taxes weren't taken out by your spouse's employer, but of course your filed the taxes on your spouse's 1099, since that's the law.

A decent background check would easily point out this sort of deceit.

Just leave this off of your employment history, since you weren't actually employed.

Answer 2

Check how exactly that job was handled legally.

If it was as an "independent contractor", an essential part of being an independent contractor is that you can let someone else do the work. Your spouse got paid for getting the work done, and you did the work. That would mean that the company paid your spouses company, your spouses company paid any amount of salary to you and your spouse and paid taxes on those salaries, and your spouses company paid dividends from its profit to the owner (your spouse). If this is what you did, then everything is legally fine, you can put the job on your CV, and your spouse's company was the employer.

If your spouse was actually an employee permanently working from home, and got paid with income tax deducted by the company, then the situation is dodgy to say the least.

Answer 3

I think you'd have to verify things with someone at the company to make sure.

If they know you, there's a chance they'd respond to someone calling positively.

If the first time they're hearing about your possible engagement with them is from someone else, there's a greater risk of it being a negative experience on the phone, as the person will be reeling from the surprise as they respond.

Answer 4

For an adult man/woman there's only a couple potential excuses to mention in CV that you have worked under different or false identities - either you are a retired spy/undercover agent or an artist/writer. I'm not making fun of you, ironically, when I was young I've done exactly the same - I was a journalist, just like my wife. For like half of the year I've been writing reviews on her behalf just for fun (yeah, when you in your early twenties you have a different concept of fun).

My advise for you will be - don't make things complicated - put yourself into potential employer shoes. Hiring someone is a complex process and more non-standard variables are there in the equation, the more complex it's getting and that is not always a good thing.

Just try to end up with listing all the jobs you did not did in the shades.

Answer 5

Unless you need them to provide a reference - you could roll the dice and just put them in.

Your greatest risk is if someone in the hiring space has a direct personal relationship in some fashion. Maybe they worked there - or they know someone well who does and they choose to do a "back channel" chat.

Most reputable recruiters will not contact people who you have not listed as referees, so your chances of getting away with this are pretty good especially if it's not the last thing you have been doing. (Although the way your question reads it seems like it may be)

Answer 6

I hired multiple times online and if any contractor would contacted me later and told me: "hey, the job I have done (that was probably good because I got hired for two years) was under my spouse name, I would probably answered: "I do not care". And subsequently, if I had more job, probably I will contact you again because you delivered.

I read some comments and I find the statement of "deceive" a little bit "over" because we are talking about online work, where a lot of peoples are working under another personas for good and bad reasons that I will not be the judge for it.

So, as you state, you have two choice:

1) have a blank of two years on your resume and get your resume at the bottom of the pile or state the work (probably happening often)

2) put the work you have done even if it is under another name and if a background check is done completely, two years will mismatch from your resume, you will get rejected (probably not happening often if the business if not a government or a large company)

I think the most important thing for your resume is that you put YOUR experience. You work those two years, you have two years of experience. So state your work, the recruiter/manager/whatever will probably probe your personality/skills by asking questions like how to manage situation X, Y, Z and by your experience, you will be able to get the job.

Good luck!

Answer 7

I would put it under a "Volunteer" or similar section of your resume, not the "Work History" section. As other's have pointed out, yes you did the work and your employer would like to know what your actual skills are so they should know you spent multiple years at their max hours per week. But you did not work for the company and were not on their payroll, you did not work there. Related to this, your wife is likely going to put the same job under her "Work History" the next time she's looking for a job even though she knows you did all the work for those multiple years. You voluntarily did her job, so I would frame it as such.