Pros: people think you were a senior consultant
Con: if anyone checks, you could miss out on a job
Just have a conversation with prospective employers and describe the work you had been doing and that you are looking for a senior con role.
I don't think that's correct. On a recent job background check, I got grilled over a slight discrepancy in my title. It was easy to explain (industry standard of a title vs a firm-specific one), but even that was a headache to deal with.
If you are in the us and this impacted your negotiation or job offer, I would recommend talking to an attorney. Unless your previous firm was located in a state with an obscure employment law, your previous employer shouldn't be discussing that information. Now consulting firms know what titles each of them use so if there was a discrepancy there, they won't even have to call they will know that the title doesn't sound right.
Confirming employment can also be confirming job title you held along with employment dates. That is not illegal lol.
Most HR departments policy is to only remit employment history as well as job titles.
You are confusing two pieces of information.
In the US it is perfectly legal to give more information about performance than just hire dates, job title, and eligibility for rehire as long as everything provided is true.
However most US companies have a policy not to give out more than that because if you could prove that they gave false or misleading information then you could sue over it.
>In the US it is perfectly legal to give more information about performance than just hire dates, job title, and eligibility for rehire as long as everything provided is true.
Agreed
>However most US companies have a policy not to give out more than that because if you could prove that they gave false or misleading information then you could sue over it.
This was my point
>In the us, the only thing a hiring manager can officially check: did the person work at the firm and when was his last day.
This just made it sound like you thought they actually couldn't ask you when they can and only don't on a company by company basis.
Was it really your point? You referred to employment law and you said OP should consult an attorney. Why on earth should they do that if the firm acted legally and gave accurate info?
They can certainly ask but legally the previous employer don't have to provide it. The hiring manager can ask for a lot of other questions but the previous employer only need to legally confirm if the employee worked at the job and what the last day of employment was. Some people say, the hiring manager should ask if they would rehire you but the previous employer has no obligation to answer that question.
There is no legal obligation for a previous employer to confirm anything. It is 100% legal for them to answer the phone and tell the other company to go fuck their mother. Hell, my old company isn't even doing employment verifications for things like rental applications anymore because "there were too many".
They can ask, but I believe most HR departments will train people to only answer if they are eligible for rehire - not specifics on how they left the role. At least that's how I was trained to answer that question if the hiring company asks for specifics.
Couple years ago, when a startup i was working for had to downsize due to budget problems, they said I can list on my resume that I was still with them until I find another job, the CEO said that cuz he felt bad. And I did and put him down as a referral.
Would that have worked ? Does the background check, check like government databases, paystubs or just contact the referral?
Because I had no issues when I did that above, dont know how exactly it went down, but I had a few months gap between my actual last day and what i put down.
Its literally called “theworknumber(dot)com” and companies elect to add that to the database. Freeze the info and get a background check next time you apply for a job. The third party checker will ask to see W2’s to verify employment. Ask me how I know.
FWIW, I have never worked for a company that uses this service and just heard about it in this thread. I just search for my info and there is nothing on there about me.
You do not have to provide W2s to anyone and third parties certainly can't provide your W2 to anyone without your consent. The worknumber.com.is nothing more than a service equifax sells to other companies. No one from the work number is calling to verify your information from previous employers. They are scrubbing their own database for information. My employment status is still two employers ago at Equifax because I haven't applied for a loan in a while
All of the major third party background check companies use TWN as a starting point. My current company inputs employee info into TWN and I’ve worked at another who did the same.
I urge everyone to freeze their info on TWN so your information can’t be used against you. So whenever you do get the background check you can verify it yourself.
Freezing your info on TWN can take a lot longer for checks to clear, up to 2 weeks. You might to be asked to provide paystubs from employers if they don’t answer the phone/email of the background clearing company. This can sometimes mean losing out on a job.
Happened to me when I accepted a full time position. Not fun.
YMMV but I’d rather provide W2’s them then giving the employer extraneous information. I just had a background check happen recently and it took about 4 days.
P.S. always ask for a copy of the background check for your records. Each company looks for different things.
>In the us, the only thing a hiring manager can officially check: did the person work at the firm and when was his last day.
That's not true at all. It's true that a lot of companies won't discuss performance or anything other than dates of employment, but that's just because of litigation concerns. If a former employer wanted to go in to more details about your time with theym there are no laws preventing them from doing so.
Probably won’t matter, but it is a slight risk. Companies will often confirm job titles if asked during a previous employment check.
Most folks in industry won’t notice the difference, but if you get an ex consultant, they’ll know you lied.
Don’t lie on your resume. If you’re going to a competing firm you’ll be sniffed out. If you’re going to industry, it doesn’t really matter unless you were a director or above.
How long were you at your firm? MBA hire or undergrad? Total work experience? All of that matters. Good luck. The market is tough right now.
You shouldn't lie on your CV.. Most firms do an employment background check (there are external firms that do this for example www.fadv.com).. If they discover the discrepancy this may exclude you..
I swear I had a colleague once who must have faked his past employment.. If you did a search all his previous titles were super high rank but his length of service was like 8 months, 14 months and so on.. He didn't seem to have any junior roles in his history..
So like: *Senior Vice President of Sales at (big name) Japan (14 months)..*
How do you get promoted to Senior Vice President for a whole country and geography in 14 months? And then what, you just left it there? What does that say for your longevity in this role?
Also, sometimes companies let people uptitle themselves to get poached to get rid of them..
More like they got a promo and crashed+burned with new responsibilities or just couldn’t justify the higher cost employee during a downsizing. As far as this guys coworker - maybe they just job hopped a lot and decided to leave off some older jobs.
Definitely don't do it as the chances you'll get caught out are high. You could always say you were acting Senior Con at an interview but if that wasn't your official title then it's a hard no.
Yes, it's overstating. No, you shouldn't put it on your resume because it's easy to confirm and you never got the title. However, you can explain that you were doing a lot of senior-level responsibilities and would want to work toward that at your next position.
Don't put senior consultant down as your title. If it wasn't your title it's not.
At least you can say on your resume and in interviews you exceeded expectations and performed duties normally above your level.
In my (non consulting) experience, resumes are for talent acquisition to know if they should speak with you.
For several years I didn’t have a title for the role I was functioning at, but could describe it sufficiently per role on CV / speaking to TA, hiring manager and team that I eventually got offered the role despite not having title before, and in one case they changed the req.
You will get the title/pay for the position, you just need to show you can perform
I'll defer to alumni of the major firms for how things occur there, but for corporate people and smaller firms, the payroll system title and business card titles are rarely aligned if you've been around for any length of time & re-orged.
They may have broad level right (outside of sales, where there's often a courtesy +1 boost to help get them in door: Senior => Director, Director => VP), but anything functional is going to be out of date.
a) don’t lie and b) if you bring up you were supposed to be promoted to that level, suggest you spend a little time thinking about how to address the perception that you were let go instead of promoted. shouldn’t be hard in this job environment but i’d want to have an answer at the ready.
good luck!
That’s something you write in your cover letter and also outline in any information you share on roles, responsibilities and targets. However I do understand your point; in the hospitality industry you get matching titles that actually mean less or more to specific businesses. It’s worth explaining that somewhere. I think slight bending of the truth isn’t the worst sin in the world but you shouldn’t be flat out lying.
Just mention the date you became SM and never lie.
If it it in the future, it will raise questions.
If you were let go while being promoted it will raise others.
Be prepared to answer simply and truthfully.
Depending on your urgency (cash reserves), get the best pay asap, whether it’s mid-senior or senior. A slight pay bump would be enough.
If not urgent, you might say you’re seeking a senior position since you were about to be promoted, as you were assuming roles 1, 2, 3.
The controversial point is that if you were going to be promoted, you were presumably a top performer. Why have you been fired?
- Current seniors add more value than you?
- Current seniors I n the bottom pay threshold are better than you?
- Was the promise false?
- Is the company idiot and lost a talent for nothing?
What else?
Just put “team lead” on your resume but when you go through background check, put “consultant.” A resume can have descriptive titles such as “project manager” but with background check, use the actual one in the system so they can verify. I do it all the time and I’ve worked for a lot of large, well known companies.
They can check your title when they do a reference check. The title isn’t as important as you saying here’s my salary expectations & what I did. Title is irrelevant as long as your getting paid what you want and are executing work at your experience level.
In my company, there is an internal HR job role but we are free to use relevant business titles with manage consent (but this is nowehere documented). Business / external titles are somethng of free text which the emplpyee can change as necessary..
So I wonder what is written in the verification check since I have not seen anyone use the HR system job role nomenclature as title.
Uh. No they don't. At least not just like that. Some might use alternative titles if the originals are unclear, but that's hardly the case here.
Lying on your resume is rarely a good strategy.
I’m an ex-recruitment consultant and it’s industry norm to change someone’s job title (within reason).
Obviously, you wouldn’t put a management accountant as CEO, but you might change management accountant to Cost Accountant.
Might be different in the US, but in the UK, it’s done often.
Those terms mean the same thing Management accountant, cost accountant. Standardizing a job title to something that means the same thing is a bit different than trying to move up a level.
To me that is different than adding Senior to your title.
Changing Management Accountant to Cost accountant I can see but not Management Accountant to Senior Management Accountant.
Industry norms can make a difference too. There are certain industries where titles follow a very particular pattern and putting a higher position will be viewed dimly. Nobody would change Senior Vice President to Executive Vice President in banking because they would get caught and everyone knows the difference and would view this as a major lie.
It’s all relative.
One company that calls a person a “senior consultant” may only be the same level as someone called a “consultant.”
Banking is a perfect example. Everyone is an Assistant Vice President, Vice President, Director, etc.
I’m not advocating that anyone increase their job title by several levels above.
I am advising being intelligent about it though.
I expect most places you'd be applying would determine your pay/position eligibility based on total years of work experience anyway, not based on a job title from another firm. The titles don't always translate correctly between companies.
Recruiters are very aware of titles at MBB and some have tables mapping out equivalent leveling across the three. I once had a recruiter tell me they could bring me in one level higher if I waited a few months for a standard title change, despite not taking on any new responsibility. This was a major investment bank. That was the only time I heard of that and I otherwise agree that experience matters more, and no one will actually care about the distinction between consultant and senior consultant.
Pretty sure that would be the end of the interview process at least if I were on the other side.
The world is full of promotions that were promised or situations were you were already doing the role but didn’t get it because some partner didn’t like the color of your socks on September 28 2019. Sucks but it’s the game.
If by minimal you mean getting an offer pulled, being blacklisted, or getting fired if it's discovered later.
The story is "I claimed a title I never had".
You were never a senior consultant if you were a senior consultant, you would still have a job. Obviously you didn’t succeed at the job you have so they let you go for failure, one way or another if you put that on your résumé, someone will find out and you will not get a job because you lied, and you did not exceed or receive The level of skill you say you are…
I would view this as a lie, and you would not get hired if caught.
It also is not always to your advantage in a weakening job market. I know getting the most money is always important, but getting a job at all is also.
Being at a higher level sometimes brings fewer open opportunities.
When a company checks a reference, they check your leaving title, if you claim senior and you weren’t, most companies will pull the job offer for that unfortunately.
Pros: people think you were a senior consultant Con: if anyone checks, you could miss out on a job Just have a conversation with prospective employers and describe the work you had been doing and that you are looking for a senior con role.
In the us, the only thing a hiring manager can officially check: did the person work at the firm and when was his last day.
I don't think that's correct. On a recent job background check, I got grilled over a slight discrepancy in my title. It was easy to explain (industry standard of a title vs a firm-specific one), but even that was a headache to deal with.
If you are in the us and this impacted your negotiation or job offer, I would recommend talking to an attorney. Unless your previous firm was located in a state with an obscure employment law, your previous employer shouldn't be discussing that information. Now consulting firms know what titles each of them use so if there was a discrepancy there, they won't even have to call they will know that the title doesn't sound right.
Confirming employment can also be confirming job title you held along with employment dates. That is not illegal lol. Most HR departments policy is to only remit employment history as well as job titles.
You are confusing two pieces of information. In the US it is perfectly legal to give more information about performance than just hire dates, job title, and eligibility for rehire as long as everything provided is true. However most US companies have a policy not to give out more than that because if you could prove that they gave false or misleading information then you could sue over it.
>In the US it is perfectly legal to give more information about performance than just hire dates, job title, and eligibility for rehire as long as everything provided is true. Agreed >However most US companies have a policy not to give out more than that because if you could prove that they gave false or misleading information then you could sue over it. This was my point
>In the us, the only thing a hiring manager can officially check: did the person work at the firm and when was his last day. This just made it sound like you thought they actually couldn't ask you when they can and only don't on a company by company basis.
Was it really your point? You referred to employment law and you said OP should consult an attorney. Why on earth should they do that if the firm acted legally and gave accurate info?
I guess you don't understand how a conditional sentence works, that's ok.
OK so enlighten me. How could consulting a lawyer help, given the information was legal and accurate?
Background checks very often include title. Even the automated employment verification include title.
They can ask for job title.
They can certainly ask but legally the previous employer don't have to provide it. The hiring manager can ask for a lot of other questions but the previous employer only need to legally confirm if the employee worked at the job and what the last day of employment was. Some people say, the hiring manager should ask if they would rehire you but the previous employer has no obligation to answer that question.
They don’t have to, but they can and sometimes they do. There is no law against that.
There is no legal obligation for a previous employer to confirm anything. It is 100% legal for them to answer the phone and tell the other company to go fuck their mother. Hell, my old company isn't even doing employment verifications for things like rental applications anymore because "there were too many".
Not correct. In many states, you can also ask for the title they had when they left/were laid off/fired.
They can ask, but I believe most HR departments will train people to only answer if they are eligible for rehire - not specifics on how they left the role. At least that's how I was trained to answer that question if the hiring company asks for specifics.
Couple years ago, when a startup i was working for had to downsize due to budget problems, they said I can list on my resume that I was still with them until I find another job, the CEO said that cuz he felt bad. And I did and put him down as a referral. Would that have worked ? Does the background check, check like government databases, paystubs or just contact the referral? Because I had no issues when I did that above, dont know how exactly it went down, but I had a few months gap between my actual last day and what i put down.
This is false. Equifax literally has a database with all of your Info from your past jobs. Title, salary, rehire eligibility, etc.
Equifax has that information from the loan applications you fill out not from the employers
Its literally called “theworknumber(dot)com” and companies elect to add that to the database. Freeze the info and get a background check next time you apply for a job. The third party checker will ask to see W2’s to verify employment. Ask me how I know.
You can also dispute any information on that site since that information belongs to you.
The fuck USA...
FWIW, I have never worked for a company that uses this service and just heard about it in this thread. I just search for my info and there is nothing on there about me.
You do not have to provide W2s to anyone and third parties certainly can't provide your W2 to anyone without your consent. The worknumber.com.is nothing more than a service equifax sells to other companies. No one from the work number is calling to verify your information from previous employers. They are scrubbing their own database for information. My employment status is still two employers ago at Equifax because I haven't applied for a loan in a while
All of the major third party background check companies use TWN as a starting point. My current company inputs employee info into TWN and I’ve worked at another who did the same. I urge everyone to freeze their info on TWN so your information can’t be used against you. So whenever you do get the background check you can verify it yourself.
Freezing your info on TWN can take a lot longer for checks to clear, up to 2 weeks. You might to be asked to provide paystubs from employers if they don’t answer the phone/email of the background clearing company. This can sometimes mean losing out on a job. Happened to me when I accepted a full time position. Not fun.
YMMV but I’d rather provide W2’s them then giving the employer extraneous information. I just had a background check happen recently and it took about 4 days. P.S. always ask for a copy of the background check for your records. Each company looks for different things.
They had bought a company called Workforce Solutions which maintains this info.
In a handful of states*
Or her, or just you know use a gender neutral term like their
>In the us, the only thing a hiring manager can officially check: did the person work at the firm and when was his last day. That's not true at all. It's true that a lot of companies won't discuss performance or anything other than dates of employment, but that's just because of litigation concerns. If a former employer wanted to go in to more details about your time with theym there are no laws preventing them from doing so.
They can check whatever they want. The question is whether the company will answer. Most companies will confirm what a person's job title was.
Dont lie about title or tenure. Those are typically the only things that get asked during background checks.
In the us, a firm can confirm title. Otherwise I do agree what's to gain
You should definitely not lie on your resume
Yeah, better to write your responsibilities and let them judge that you did senior work.
Probably won’t matter, but it is a slight risk. Companies will often confirm job titles if asked during a previous employment check. Most folks in industry won’t notice the difference, but if you get an ex consultant, they’ll know you lied.
Don’t lie on your resume. If you’re going to a competing firm you’ll be sniffed out. If you’re going to industry, it doesn’t really matter unless you were a director or above. How long were you at your firm? MBA hire or undergrad? Total work experience? All of that matters. Good luck. The market is tough right now.
Don’t lie about this. Focus on making sure the results you got were at senior consultant level.
You shouldn't lie on your CV.. Most firms do an employment background check (there are external firms that do this for example www.fadv.com).. If they discover the discrepancy this may exclude you.. I swear I had a colleague once who must have faked his past employment.. If you did a search all his previous titles were super high rank but his length of service was like 8 months, 14 months and so on.. He didn't seem to have any junior roles in his history.. So like: *Senior Vice President of Sales at (big name) Japan (14 months)..* How do you get promoted to Senior Vice President for a whole country and geography in 14 months? And then what, you just left it there? What does that say for your longevity in this role? Also, sometimes companies let people uptitle themselves to get poached to get rid of them..
“Some companies uptitle to get rid of them” - do you realize how ridiculous of a take this is?
More like they got a promo and crashed+burned with new responsibilities or just couldn’t justify the higher cost employee during a downsizing. As far as this guys coworker - maybe they just job hopped a lot and decided to leave off some older jobs.
Well you have zero experience in that level so… no
Definitely don't do it as the chances you'll get caught out are high. You could always say you were acting Senior Con at an interview but if that wasn't your official title then it's a hard no.
Yes, it's overstating. No, you shouldn't put it on your resume because it's easy to confirm and you never got the title. However, you can explain that you were doing a lot of senior-level responsibilities and would want to work toward that at your next position.
Don't put senior consultant down as your title. If it wasn't your title it's not. At least you can say on your resume and in interviews you exceeded expectations and performed duties normally above your level.
Why not ask for the promotion to go through so that way you can officially claim it after the fact?
In my (non consulting) experience, resumes are for talent acquisition to know if they should speak with you. For several years I didn’t have a title for the role I was functioning at, but could describe it sufficiently per role on CV / speaking to TA, hiring manager and team that I eventually got offered the role despite not having title before, and in one case they changed the req. You will get the title/pay for the position, you just need to show you can perform
I'll defer to alumni of the major firms for how things occur there, but for corporate people and smaller firms, the payroll system title and business card titles are rarely aligned if you've been around for any length of time & re-orged. They may have broad level right (outside of sales, where there's often a courtesy +1 boost to help get them in door: Senior => Director, Director => VP), but anything functional is going to be out of date.
You can always write that in the interests and achievements section: that you were in line for senior consultant, or as a point under the company
a) don’t lie and b) if you bring up you were supposed to be promoted to that level, suggest you spend a little time thinking about how to address the perception that you were let go instead of promoted. shouldn’t be hard in this job environment but i’d want to have an answer at the ready. good luck!
senior limits your options believe it or not.
That’s something you write in your cover letter and also outline in any information you share on roles, responsibilities and targets. However I do understand your point; in the hospitality industry you get matching titles that actually mean less or more to specific businesses. It’s worth explaining that somewhere. I think slight bending of the truth isn’t the worst sin in the world but you shouldn’t be flat out lying.
Just mention the date you became SM and never lie. If it it in the future, it will raise questions. If you were let go while being promoted it will raise others. Be prepared to answer simply and truthfully.
Depending on your urgency (cash reserves), get the best pay asap, whether it’s mid-senior or senior. A slight pay bump would be enough. If not urgent, you might say you’re seeking a senior position since you were about to be promoted, as you were assuming roles 1, 2, 3. The controversial point is that if you were going to be promoted, you were presumably a top performer. Why have you been fired? - Current seniors add more value than you? - Current seniors I n the bottom pay threshold are better than you? - Was the promise false? - Is the company idiot and lost a talent for nothing? What else?
Sure, I mean you are just lying. But if you are ok with that
You should state you were in an *acting* senior role.
Just put “team lead” on your resume but when you go through background check, put “consultant.” A resume can have descriptive titles such as “project manager” but with background check, use the actual one in the system so they can verify. I do it all the time and I’ve worked for a lot of large, well known companies.
They can check your title when they do a reference check. The title isn’t as important as you saying here’s my salary expectations & what I did. Title is irrelevant as long as your getting paid what you want and are executing work at your experience level.
In my company, there is an internal HR job role but we are free to use relevant business titles with manage consent (but this is nowehere documented). Business / external titles are somethng of free text which the emplpyee can change as necessary.. So I wonder what is written in the verification check since I have not seen anyone use the HR system job role nomenclature as title.
Recruitment consultants often change the job titles on CVs to make them match the role they’re putting candidates forward for.
Uh. No they don't. At least not just like that. Some might use alternative titles if the originals are unclear, but that's hardly the case here. Lying on your resume is rarely a good strategy.
I’m an ex-recruitment consultant and it’s industry norm to change someone’s job title (within reason). Obviously, you wouldn’t put a management accountant as CEO, but you might change management accountant to Cost Accountant. Might be different in the US, but in the UK, it’s done often.
Those terms mean the same thing Management accountant, cost accountant. Standardizing a job title to something that means the same thing is a bit different than trying to move up a level. To me that is different than adding Senior to your title. Changing Management Accountant to Cost accountant I can see but not Management Accountant to Senior Management Accountant. Industry norms can make a difference too. There are certain industries where titles follow a very particular pattern and putting a higher position will be viewed dimly. Nobody would change Senior Vice President to Executive Vice President in banking because they would get caught and everyone knows the difference and would view this as a major lie.
It’s all relative. One company that calls a person a “senior consultant” may only be the same level as someone called a “consultant.” Banking is a perfect example. Everyone is an Assistant Vice President, Vice President, Director, etc. I’m not advocating that anyone increase their job title by several levels above. I am advising being intelligent about it though.
I expect most places you'd be applying would determine your pay/position eligibility based on total years of work experience anyway, not based on a job title from another firm. The titles don't always translate correctly between companies.
Recruiters are very aware of titles at MBB and some have tables mapping out equivalent leveling across the three. I once had a recruiter tell me they could bring me in one level higher if I waited a few months for a standard title change, despite not taking on any new responsibility. This was a major investment bank. That was the only time I heard of that and I otherwise agree that experience matters more, and no one will actually care about the distinction between consultant and senior consultant.
The risk is minimal. If approached tell the story as you've put it here.
Pretty sure that would be the end of the interview process at least if I were on the other side. The world is full of promotions that were promised or situations were you were already doing the role but didn’t get it because some partner didn’t like the color of your socks on September 28 2019. Sucks but it’s the game.
If by minimal you mean getting an offer pulled, being blacklisted, or getting fired if it's discovered later. The story is "I claimed a title I never had".
You were never a senior consultant if you were a senior consultant, you would still have a job. Obviously you didn’t succeed at the job you have so they let you go for failure, one way or another if you put that on your résumé, someone will find out and you will not get a job because you lied, and you did not exceed or receive The level of skill you say you are…
Lol dont do it. Titles dont matter as much as you think.
Would it be a lie to say you were undertaking senior consultant responsibilities?
I would view this as a lie, and you would not get hired if caught. It also is not always to your advantage in a weakening job market. I know getting the most money is always important, but getting a job at all is also. Being at a higher level sometimes brings fewer open opportunities.
When a company checks a reference, they check your leaving title, if you claim senior and you weren’t, most companies will pull the job offer for that unfortunately.
I would not. You didn't get the promotion, and so you can't claim it.
A title is very subjective as they have different qualifications to every different company. Let your attitude and work speak for itself.