Strategies for Finding Your Employment History

Whether you are applying for entry, mid-level, or senior management roles, companies use your employment history to assess your suitability for their role, organization, and industry. Many recruiters want to know where you’ve worked before and why you left former employers, and the employment history helps them do that. If an employer takes background checks seriously, they may require a comprehensive work history that spans several years. But employment histories are not only useful for applying to jobs. If you’re unemployed and want to apply for unemployment benefits, you have to provide a work history.

Here is how to get your employment history by checking your Social Security records:

Fill out a Request for Social Security Earnings Information form

All the details of your employment history are linked to your Social Security number. Going this route means you have to fill a Request for Social Security Earnings Information form, otherwise called Form 7050. The form is available on the Social Security Administration’s website. You can either complete it online and print it out, or you can print it and complete it by hand. The following details are usually required when completing the form:

• Social Security number
• Name
• Birth date

When filling the form, indicate that you need a document outlining your earnings for a specific time period.

Pay a Processing Fee

The Social Security Administration typically charges a fee for processing a Request for Social Security Earnings Information form. Depending on various factors, this fee can range between $92 to $122. There can sometimes be a processing period of a few months before you get your employment history records.

Here are steps to get your employment history from the unemployment office:

Apply for unemployment benefits

When you apply for unemployment benefits, the unemployment office will request for the contact information of all your employers for the past 18 months. They then send a benefit determination letter that contains a breakdown of your work history, including wages paid by specific employers.

Request your case history

If the employment office denied you benefits, you can appeal the decision. The appeal gives you access to your unemployment case history. The case history includes data from employers and, therefore, provides your work history for any job you held in the past.

Credit reports are particularly helpful for finding your employment history if you provided employment information when applying for a credit facility. If you wanted to apply for a loan or credit card and entered your employer’s information, that info goes into your credit report. Here is how to get your work history through credit reports:

1. Use a reputable site to access your credit report. Big credit reporting agencies such as Equifax typically offer one free annual credit report.
2. After viewing your credit report, contact the credit report agency if you notice anything amiss. For example, your credit report could have inaccurate information that you want removed.

Your IRS records offer a trove of information that can help you piece together a comprehensive work history. Here are steps to get your records from the IRS:

Check through past W-2 forms

The W-2 forms you filed for past employers include the following information:

• Name of employer
• Address of employer
• Date of employment

Irrespective of your employee status (like a full-time or temporary employee), your employer has to make a W-2 form available to you. You have to provide the W-2 form when filing your year-end tax returns. If you have copies of past tax returns, you can quickly look through your W-2 forms to get your employment details. For tax returns prepared online, you may be able to view them via the web by logging onto the service portal. However, some may charge a fee for downloading old tax returns.

File a Form 4506 to get old tax returns

The IRS offers the opportunity of getting old tax returns to those who fill Form 4506. Completing and submitting the form usually gets you access to past employers’ details, including their names, addresses, and your dates of employment. You can download Form 4506 from the IRS website and complete it online. Alternatively, you can print out the form and complete it by hand. When filling Form 4506, you have to enter your name, address, and Social Security number. Then you need to state how many years’ tax returns you want. The average fee charged on processing a year’s returns is $50, so take this into consideration when applying.

These days, people keep most of their personal information, including employment details, online. Here are ways to find your work history via your online information:

Search through your social media and professional online profiles

If you update your professional social media profiles regularly, it should have details of your past jobs, including the employer’s name and period of employment. Your activity on personal social media accounts could also point to information that could help you prepare a comprehensive employment history.

Keep updated copies of your resume

You can save a master copy of your resume on your hard drive or in the cloud. Update this resume as you change jobs. This can make it easier to provide a prospective employer with your employment history in the future.