Truth or lie?

[twice_nightly]

I've had a five year break away from IT but now want to return to doing something I know and like. Basically following redundancy I started my own business which struggled for three years before finally going belly up, in the months after I was desperate for money so took a part time job as a postman..trouble is I've been there ever since.

Question is do I put on my CV

a) 1984-2007 worked in IT, 2010-present postman
b) 1984-2007 worked in IT, then appear to be in prison for the last seven years
c) 1984-2012 A high flying IT executive who's never out of work

The 'experts' say anything on your CV is relevant and show you have experience in a wide variety of things, but a failed business and shoving letters through doors?

[oscarose]

I've had a five year break away from IT but now want to return to doing something I know and like. Basically following redundancy I started my own business which struggled for three years before finally going belly up, in the months after I was desperate for money so took a part time job as a postman..trouble is I've been there ever since.

Question is do I put on my CV

a) 1984-2007 worked in IT, 2010-present postman
b) 1984-2007 worked in IT, then appear to be in prison for the last seven years
c) 1984-2012 A high flying IT executive who's never out of work

The 'experts' say anything on your CV is relevant and show you have experience in a wide variety of things, but a failed business and shoving letters through doors?

Always the truth.

[northernladuk]

Always the truth.

Totally this. Start lying and you will end up somewhere needing some kind of financial check or background check and you will get caught. Rememeber, to you it is a lie, to the law it is committing fraud.

[garethevans1986]

+1 for telling the truth...I would rather somebody be honest with me and say they started a business and it went belly up - your previous experience may come in handy one day.

GE

[moggy]

I've had a five year break away from IT but now want to return to doing something I know and like. Basically following redundancy I started my own business which struggled for three years before finally going belly up, in the months after I was desperate for money so took a part time job as a postman..trouble is I've been there ever since.

Question is do I put on my CV

a) 1984-2007 worked in IT, 2010-present postman
b) 1984-2007 worked in IT, then appear to be in prison for the last seven years
c) 1984-2012 A high flying IT executive who's never out of work

The 'experts' say anything on your CV is relevant and show you have experience in a wide variety of things, but a failed business and shoving letters through doors?

5 years!

[ChimpMaster]

There's a way to paint the truth so that it shows that you have taken something positive from your experiences.

There's no real need to mention that your business was a 'failure'. You can simply imply that it didn't generate as much income as you hoped and so you decided on another direction. In the meantime you learned a lot about the supply chain and about business as a whole ... and of course how IT can be used to streamline operations etc etc.

As you're a postman with IT experience, could you not ask for an internal transfer into Royal Mail's IT department? Any IT related job there will give you a springboard for a better move in the future.

[Taita]

There's a way to paint the truth so that it shows that you have taken something positive from your experiences.

There's no real need to mention that your business was a 'failure'. You can simply imply that it didn't generate as much income as you hoped and so you decided on another direction. In the meantime you learned a lot about the supply chain and about business as a whole ... and of course how IT can be used to streamline operations etc etc.

As you're a postman with IT experience, could you not ask for an internal transfer into Royal Mail's IT department? Any IT related job there will give you a springboard for a better move in the future.

Well said!

[SimonMac]

5 years!

I assume he got time off for good behavior

[Bunk]

I assume he got time off for good behavior

Or he still has a couple of years left to serve and he's just planning ahead.

[gables]

+1 for Chimpmaster... this was my position in february 2007, I'd left IT to start a retail business in feb 2002. Whilst it generated profit it wasn't providing the lifestyle we wanted so we closed down. It goes on the CV with the learnings regarding customer service, managing product\finances, people skills...

That was feb 2007, I took on a wee 6 month bike related project run by the council whilst I looked for work.

It was indicated that it might be a struggle to get back into IT as things move very fast, change blah blah blah.. anyway 5 job interviews later and I was back in IT started Decmember 2007 and I found that things hadn't really moved on THAT much.. but then I did keep track of what was happening in IT whilst running the shop...