Your Current Employer
If you're currently employed, you are not eligible for unemployment benefits unless your hours have been reduced or there are other circumstances that have impacted your job. If you file for benefits, your employer will be notified if you file a claim.
Your Previous Employers
Your last employer, and possibly other former employers, will be notified that you have filed for unemployment and will verify your dates of employment and earnings. Your former employer can contest your claim if they don't believe you're eligible to collect unemployment.
Companies You're Interviewing With
How about companies you're interviewing with? Can prospective employers check your unemployment record to find out when and for how long you were unemployed? What about when you have started a new job? Can the boss find out that you have been collecting unemployment?
The short answer is sort of, but they won't get that information from the government. There's no secret file out there with your name on it containing your entire work history and its ups and downs—at least, not one that employers can access.
What Unemployment Offices Can Disclose
The unemployment office can't disclose any information about you because it's illegal for government agencies to divulge information regarding the unemployment benefits that individuals have received. Unemployment records are not public information.
In other words, if a prospective employer wants to uncover the gaps in your employment history, they can. However, they have to be willing to dig for it. The bad news is that it's pretty easy to find out whether a candidate has been continuously employed. So, if you were hoping to keep that under wraps, it's time to make a new plan to address any concerns that might come up during the interview process.
What and How Employers Can Check
Employers or the third parties with whom they contract to run employment background checks can research your employment history and uncover any gaps in employment that way.
Using that information, an employer can compile your work history, and the time you weren't working will be obvious. If there are missing dates in your employment record or your resume doesn't match up with the information the employer is getting from you, it will, at least, raise some questions about the accuracy of the information you have shared.
Be Prepared to Address Employment Gaps
The best thing to do if you have gaps in employment is to proactively cultivate and supply positive recommendations to counter any potentially negative information that might be uncovered if an employer checks your employment history.
It is often advisable to anticipate employer concerns about significant employment gaps and address the gaps you have with a good explanation for them during the interview itself.
Job Searching When You Have Gaps in Your Resume
Finally, although you should expect your employment gaps to come to light during the interview process and be prepared to explain to them, you don't have to volunteer the information during the job search process.
One way to make sure a potential employer focuses on your skills and qualifications and not the months you've been unemployed is to prepare a functional resume rather than a chronological one. This type of resume highlights what you can do without offering a linear work history.
While a prospective employer could—and probably will—uncover the gaps in your employment history during the background check phase of the process, a resume that shows off your skills can get you an interview.
Why It's Important, to Be Honest
The ease with which employers can uncover this information is one good reason why it's a bad idea to lie on your resume or job application.
Furthermore, even if you get away with fibbing about your work history and get an offer, you'd have to commit to covering up that lie for the rest of your career, long after you've left the job you were interviewing for. That's a lot to carry in addition to your regular job responsibilities, and people have lost their jobs once their past resume fictions came to light.
You don't want to work your way up the organizational chart only to get caught once you get to the corner office. If you do get caught, even years after the fact, you can be fired from your job.
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