Employment History

What Is Your Employment History?

Your employment history is, quite simply, a list of every job you’ve held in your professional career to date.

Your employment history is usually requested when you apply for a new job or apply for unemployment benefits.

Your employment history should include:

• The names of the companies you have worked for
• Your job title when you worked there
• The date started and the date you finished

It’s worth noting that some companies may only be interested in what positions you’ve held recently, but others may want your entire employment history. You should also try to keep the employment history relevant for the job that you’re applying for.

If this is the first time that you’ve put together your employment history – or experience – it can seem quite daunting.

How can you remember when you started and finished a job ten years ago?

How can you ensure that the history is accurate? This is especially important if your potential employer is conducting employment background checks.

How to Find Your Employment History

There are many ways in which you can discover your employment history and verify that the information that you’re providing is accurate. Here are some of the most common ways:

You Can Request Employment History from Social Security

By contacting the Social Security Administration (SSA) and paying a fee, you can get detailed information on your employment history.

Go Through Your Tax Returns

If you have access to your tax returns, you can piece together the puzzle by estimating your past jobs’ dates.

Check With Your State Tax Department

Most states keep these records, but often they have different names, so you’ll need to find the specific one for your state.

Check With Your Old Employers

If you contact all your old employers, you may be able to get the information you need from their HR department. They should have both your start dates and finish dates on their records.

Once you complete your first employment history, it’s advised that you then keep it up to date. You can do this in a document you save, and nowadays, people also keep their employment history up to date on LinkedIn.

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