
Ask HN: Do put the name of your current employer on your resume when applying? - lordxenu
When applying for new jobs, do you leave out the name of your current employer? Do you think it&#x27;s a good idea? I thought about replacing the name with something generic, like &quot;Embedded Systems Company&quot;.<p>My fear is that if I&#x27;m mass applying to other jobs, especially to startups with small teams that may not have a formal HR practice in place, a tiny set of them may call my current place for whatever reason without my knowledge. I would rather not tip off my current employer that I&#x27;m thinking of leaving; my place is a bit trigger-happy at times.<p>I do have colleagues in the company who will vouch for me, so references are not a problem, but there&#x27;s no tactful way to put that on a resume in place of the company&#x27;s name.
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danieltillett
This is more a meta-answer, but it is a pity that more companies (and
employees) can’t be professional about this. Every employee should feel
comfortable having a new potential employers talk to their current employer.
If everyone was upfront and honest the workplace would be a lot more
productive.

One thing I do with my employees is have a chat to them about making sure they
let me know in advance if they are thinking of leaving and in return I promise
to provide them with a fantastic reference.

We all work in a open office so every employee gets to hear my references of
past employees so they know how this system works. This approach stops me
being sideswiped by employees leaving at short notice and my ex-employees get
great references. A great reference from your last (or current) employer is
worth its weight in gold.

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zerr
Notice happens after the offer is on the table. Otherwise, you can interpret
various signals such as refusing a raise, career progression is not aligned
with the expectations of an employee, etc...

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ajeet_dhaliwal
Does anyone not do this? Would be strange I would think both from a candidate
and employer perspective to have missing information. Don’t mass apply, pick
companies you feel are professional and want to work for. No decent company
would call your current employer without your knowledge like that.

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ecesena
No, I wouldn't remove the name.

I don't think anybody would ever call a current employer, that'd be so stupid
on so many levels. Moreover, if they really want, they can probably find who
you work for anyway, no?

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imhoguy
Years ago some idiot recruiter approached me by phone at my work. He got thru
chain of offices and people to reach me by my name. As I had no phone on my
desk finally my manager passed me the phone to answer the guy in a room of
four co-workers. I wasn't looking for a job that time actively. Possibly my
name and company name on LikedIn was enough for his desperate quest.

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity", A.Einstein.

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joezydeco
No. Always be honest and accurate with employers and start/end dates of
employment.

If you need a bit of anonymizing to avoid the wrath of your current company,
get in touch with a recruiter instead and let him/her represent you.

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muzani
It's not dishonest. It's also common in the industry to even sign a NDA to not
disclose what company you're working for. Just don't use it to hint that you
work for a big company which you're not in.

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seattle_spring
> It's also common in the industry to even sign a NDA to not disclose what
> company you're working for.

What industry are you referring to? Because it's definitely not the software
industry.

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pravula
Never seen anyone do this, except once on linkedin. Instead of a company name,
it said confidential, top 5 xyz company.

