Hello,
I have a good resume put together, but in 2006 I quit a corporate job and worked selectively with my father as a business consultant. I moved from Dallas to Houston with a Fiance and then stopped work to some extent, but I would do websites, brochures and business cards for small businesses (this was my shopping money). I don't have IRS info from 06-now - my ex and I had a business and I was just a board member and pulled no salary. Before that I cant remember the exact dates between my jobs from 96-2006. I worked for three companies during this time and worked at each 3-4 years. Is there a way for me to get the exact dates and what do I say about how I supported myself the past few years? I've continued to do websites and have my savings from when I worked in corporate america.

All my positions were managerial, but I would work as an exec. admin, or marcomm agent, I just need work! I applied at my apartment complex and got the "your over qualified" line too. I also want to let them know that regardless of how much I made before - I am re entering the workforce and willing to start much lower.

So many problems!

The best way for you to get interviews is this:

* Send a letter to the hiring authority, telling her/him about some of the benefits and advantages you can bring to the table to help her and the business reach their financial goals...as the RESULT of your background.

The hiring process is more about elimination than selection, so employers use resumes to look for a reason (excuse) to screen people out.

HR can't hire you, but they can screen you out. A strong marketing letter lets you get judged on criteria you can WIN on. A resume causes you to be judged on current job title, industry, your short tenures, having been self-employed etc. Any of which can get you eliminated from consideration.
But a letter can get your foot in the door, and when that happens, the hiring authority is more likely than not to be more understanding about your situation, unlike HR.

Thanks that is good advice, any ISP for getting my exact employment dates?

Sorry, I don't know of an ISP that will give you that. Social Security might be able to, and you can find out easily if they can, by calling them at 1-800-772-1213.

In my profession opinion, your main concern should be on getting interviews with people that can hire you. If you still think your problem is a resume, I'm sure you can get someone here to tell you how to handle your employment dates issue. You didn't really say exactly why you think that's a problem, so I would need to know more about your situation before offering any advice about something like that.

One of the reasons why you should bypass HR is precisely because they ARE picky about stuff like that, but hiring authorities generally aren't, unless they have some other concern that relates to employment dates.

I may reformat and make the dates invalid. Its a good resume, I just didn't want an interviewer to think I was not being honest about the dates I worked. One internet company went under and Todays Staffing was purchased after i left. Anyway, great advice thanks!

Hi almustin1,

CareerKeysMan gave you great advice and you should be able to glean dates from a social security earnings report (this normally incurs a fee).

Are you thinking about omitting dates on your resume? I don't recommend that, as employers will be looking for dates and trying to understand your career chronology. Can you recall the years of employment? Your resume doesn't have to include months. If a hiring manager asks for months and you still don't have them, just be honest like you were here.

I wrote an article on recovering your resume -- this was written following a natural disaster, but there might be some ideas that will help you:
Resume Recovery Tips

It sounds like you've been doing consulting work over the last few years, correct? If so, include your own business and give yourself an appropriate title. In the description, focus on the tasks that would be important for your job target. For example, for marcomm, you can include marketing communications projects such as brochures and business card development. For admin goals, you can emphasize clerical tasks, project management, computer skills, etc. It's a bit time-consuming because you will need to customize your resume for each of your goals, but this should help minimize the perception that you're "overqualified."

I hope this helps and good luck to you!

Kim as usual gave great advice on the resume. Now, you applied to your apt complex and was told overqualified. You may get that a lot. What they are usually saying is, we aren't a revolving door. Now with the complex you could have coveredvthis in your cover letter--in fact, address it in your cover letter whomever you apply to. For tghe complex it should be something like this is a great community and I not only want to live hereva while butvtry to improve it. Anywhere else, I wouldn't emphasize money so much as re-entry--youre lokking to build a solid career footing, not jobhopping at every better offer. And stand by it.

I worked. One internet company went under and Todays Staffing was purchased after i left. Anyway, great advice thanks!

From here on out, you need to save every paystub and all your work records.  The problem is that many companies use 3rd party verifiers and if they can't verify an employer or you have too large a gap, they won't hire you.  They won't tell you this either.  They will just find somebody else.

My sister worked for a bank that went belly up and she had to prove that she once worked there.  We both have all of our pay stubs going back ten years.  We save everything now.