Whistle blowing!

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 - CV Writing

Esther asks: Should you include a whistleblowing experience on your CV/Resume?

In Answer:
No – but save it for an interview under the “morale dilemma” category!

CV/Resumes sell you to the employer for an interview. You have four pages of paper maximum (1xcover letter, 2xCV/Resume, 1xqualifications), and trying to cover a whistle blowing event fully will take at least half a page plus, and still leave many HR people with a “cold” feeling due to the individuality of such a choice: ie – are you a team player?

If your concern is that you blew the whistle, and leave an unexplained 6month+ gap in your CV/Resume, don’t worry – technically you may have been sacked/suspended at that point or back to that point, but you could wholly and justifiably state you left when the case was resolved. If the whistle blowing went in your favour – ie, you were right; then even an employer who says you can’t come back will reference to that date.

I would leave it out, save it for the interview, and get a really great reference lined up around that point – your old boss, or his boss, or another manager around who saw the good you did – and create the great impression that your courage resulted in, not the questions the words could leave in any potential employers mind.

Good Luck!

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One Response to “Whistle blowing!”

1. Ethics Whistler Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   Interesting post. I’d never considered using a whistleblowing experience on a resume, but it’s something to think about.

   I was just reading an article in The Washington Post about a lawsuit which is questioning the constitutionality of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires publicly traded organizations to establish a process to manage whistleblower complaints. According to the Post, it seems likely that the Public company Accounting Oversight Board, who created the act, will lose their case. This could have an interesting affect on federal whistleblowing regulations and technologies, so it should be an interesting story to keep your eye on.