On my resume, how should I refer to an ex-employer that no longer exists?

Right now I have quoted them in my resume. For contact details I listed my ex-boss (who no longer has a relation with A) for company A and an official phone number of company B (which is now a dead phone line).

Is there any better way to list employers in a resume, when they no longer exist?

Is putting contact details normal in your locale? I'd never put names or phone numbers of people on my resume.

@Mark - Let them ask. Gives you a chance to explain the both companies no longer exist. They can verify they did exist.

6 Answers 6

I have both types of companies in my history and just had to deal with a problem caused by a defunct company.

Where I live it is not normal to list contact information for companies on the resume, so I just list the company names. (For the ones that were acquired, I add a parenthetical note about that -- "Foo Inc was acquired by Big Co in $year".) Separate from the resume is the employer-specific application, which asks for contact info. For acquired, still-existing companies I supply current contact info; for the defunct company I say "N/A" and find some place to note that it no longer exists.

I just accepted a new position and, as is normal in my location and field, the hiring company had a third-party company do a background check on me. That background check turned up a red flag because of the defunct company; they had no way to verify my employment because there was no office they could call. I sent them copies of my offer letter and "you're all laid off" letter (both dated) and that satisfied them. What I learned from this is: (a) it's important to keep stuff like that forever, and (b) next time I'll anticipate the issue and ask the hiring company what I should give them before they hand the job over to their background-check people.