On my resume I have a one-year experience as a financial advisor assistant at a well-known investment firm. I wrote next to the job title: part-time unpaid internship.
The reality is that a friend of my parents was a financial advisor and I spent one year while I was still at skul going to his office once a week working with him. What I did include selecting stocks, preparing PPT presentations, etc. Basically everything I wrote on my resume was what I did. But I wasn’t officially ‘hired’ cuz there wasn’t this process: sending out resumes, getting interviews, getting accepted, signing contract…It is just an agreement between this friend of my parents and me.
Therefore, I am wondering if it is ‘legal’ or ‘ok’ to write this experience on my resume. Cuz I dunno how employers conduct background check. If they cannot find my record in this investment firm’s files, am I considered ‘lying’?
If this is not the right way to do, what would be then? Is there any legal way I can put this experience on my resume?
What it really boils down to at the end of the day is what type of person is your boss, and your relationship with the person. They can make small mistakes seem like greek tragedies and make you look like a utter moron. Or they can cover for you when things go really bad.
Generally, as long as the job isn’t too bad, people will stick around much longer for a terrific boss, or turnover fast under a bad one.
Once in a while, a company will wake up to the fact that bad performance wasn’t because the soldiers were bad, and that it’s the commander that’s the problem.
@ZFX - Did your “boss” (or whatever you call him) work for himself? Or did he work for a big wirehouse like Merrill or Morgan? Or somewhere in between?
I think our answers will change depending on the answer.
Odds are high that the individual office makes these kinds of decisions, not the HR department in New York City. And if it was an unpaid internship, NYC probably doesn’t even have the records anyway.
I’d put it on my resume, and put your “boss” as the reference point. Chances are that they’ll never check with anybody but him. If they question you about it, be honest.
Personally, I think it shows a lot of initiative that you took your own time to learn something new without getting any tangible reward in return. I would look highly on that if I were a hiring manager.
Is there a reason why ppl dont just drop the name of the firm or bank theyre talking about…we cant find you you know…and plus you dont “work” there anymore. I can see why ppl would not say where they currently work.
It occurs to me that I’ve never had an unpaid internship as I am a cheap bastard who would rather flip burgers than work for free. Also, most people wouldn’t put that an internship was unpaid on their resume (and I probably wouldn’t ask that of someone in an interview).
Yes most people wouldn’t, but you missed the point. It wasn’t a legit-company-recognized internship. He’s worried about people calling the company to check he worked there, and the answer is “no”.
So by putting “unpaid” you can say that was the reason it didn’t come up in a background check.
I had to quit my paid non-finance job in junior year to take two (one unpaid and one min wage) finance internships. Best decision ever as it helped me land a decent summer position after that.
This seems to be true with lots of people. Paul Ryan said the same thing himself. He had to do an unpaid internship. Then his first gubmint job apparently paid slave wages.
This is nice if you can afford it. Unfortunately, some of us can’t afford not to work. (And never could afford it, even when we were in college.)
I never received a job offer from this company and they did provide a reason (other candidate had more direct experience). They asked me to provide information for the background check only a couple of weeks (in a 3.5 month process) before they made their decision. I just wanted to get some thoughts on how a hiring manager might react to a candidate being much older than he appears physically, as well as on paper, so late in the interview process. If/when I should volunteer the info.
Sometimes i feel age can work for you or against you depending on the employer.
Some will always prefer the naive fresh grads, some will always prefer the experienced, some will always prefer the matured, stable, family-oriented, unambitious workers.
So as a manager if i see a candidate who is older than i thought, i actually don’t mind and probably prefer it. but that’s just me.
Certain positions, managers want a certain type of person. Entry level finance jobs IB,ER etc…, managers want a young, cheap, unattached, willing to slave away, work first / life later, new graduate.
So, yes if they suddenly realize you’re 10 years older, and there’s a comparable person on paper and in the interview, you’re probably out of the running.
