How to avoid mentioning an embarrassing past

The decision of Dr Brooke Magnanti to out herself as the blogger behind Diary of a Call Girl is brave. She describes her colleagues at the Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health as “amazingly kind and supportive”, but I wonder if she would get the same reaction if she weren’t a respected scientist.

Hers is an extreme example of an unusual / unsavoury work history, but how could you avoid mentioning an unhelpful or embarrassing previous job without resorting to deception or an outright lie?

Exclude it from your CV
If it’s more than ten years ago, you probably don’t need to put it on your CV. If it was temporary, part-time, cash-in-hand or otherwise “untraceable”, consider whether you really need it to prove your work ethic or earnings ability. Unless you learnt valuable work skills, you’re probably safe in omitting part-time student jobs or short-term temp agency contracts from your work history section.

Emphasise skills or sector rather than job title or company name
Choose work skills from previous jobs which are relevant for the position you’re applying for. You can highlight these either in your initial professional profile, or in a skills section. In your work history section you can group together jobs that are similar or temporary, along with dates, but you don’t need to list each one separately, or give your title for each. Use headings such as “Retail experience” or “Hospitality” then give relevant examples of how you increased sales, customer satisfaction, etc.

Brazen it out
There’s no shame in taking a “survival job”. If the job was recent enough (or it’s still current) you’ll most likely need to list it on your CV. Make it clear in your covering letter why you’re looking for more appropriate opportunities, but don’t apologise for doing something under your skills or experience level.

Position yourself for the job you want
If you’re currently stuck in a job which has no relevance to what you studied or trained for, ask for references from previous managers, colleagues or clients which attest to the working strengths that you want to highlight. Put one or two-line quotes under your profile so that they can be clearly seen.

Make sure that everything else potential employers can see about you (Google name search, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profile, CV focus) points to the job you aspire to – not the job you once had. You might never be able to completely conceal what you once did, but you can project an otherwise “pristine” image.

Photo credit: Clar@bell