Employment history is a record detailing an individual’s past jobs, including dates of employment, company names, and job titles. Individuals often need to verify this history when applying for new employment, securing a mortgage or other types of loans, or determining eligibility for government benefits such as Social Security. Compiling a complete and accurate history is necessary, and several distinct pathways exist for retrieving this professional data.
Gathering Your Personal Employment Documentation
The most immediate and accessible source for verifying employment data resides within an individual’s own files. Utilizing financial and tax documents provides a reliable starting point for reconstructing a professional timeline. Documents such as W-2 forms for wages earned or 1099 forms for contract work serve as official records of income and the corresponding employer for a given tax year.
Old pay stubs, particularly the year-end summaries, contain precise details regarding employment dates, job titles, and the total earnings reported by the company. Personal tax returns, specifically the attachments that detail income sources, can also help confirm the names of employers and the span of time worked. For self-employed individuals, a Schedule C form attached to a tax return provides evidence of the business activity and income earned.
Even non-official documents like outdated resumes or past job applications can help recall specific timelines and positions held. While these personal records cannot replace official verification, they create a framework against which externally sourced data can be cross-referenced. Organizing these documents chronologically makes the later steps of formal verification significantly more efficient.
Accessing Official Government Records
Government agencies offer the most reliable long-term records of an individual’s work history and earnings. The Social Security Administration (SSA) maintains an official earnings record documenting all income on which Social Security taxes were paid. Creating a personal “my Social Security” account allows users to view their complete earnings history, which is used to calculate future retirement and disability benefits and serves as a definitive source for verifying employment and income.
For a more granular view of specific tax filings by former employers, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) offers a separate pathway. Individuals can request a wage and income transcript, which provides the data reported to the IRS on informational returns like Forms W-2 and 1099 for up to ten past tax years.
Requesting this transcript can be done online through the IRS’s Get Transcript service or by submitting Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return. The resulting document lists the payers—the former employers—and the income they reported, confirming the period of employment. This government-held data is frequently accepted by lenders and benefit administrators as evidence of an individual’s work history.
Directly Contacting Previous Employers
Reaching out to former employers is another direct method for obtaining a professional history, though the scope of information provided can vary. Most medium to large companies centralize this process within their Human Resources (HR) department or a dedicated third-party verification vendor. The company typically adheres to a policy regarding the data they release when an employee or former employee requests their information.
Companies usually confirm only factual details such as the dates of employment, the job title held, and whether the employee is eligible for rehire. Due to concerns about legal liability, many employers have a policy against disclosing specific salary information or performance reviews. The process generally begins by locating the general HR contact information or the specific verification procedure detailed on the company’s website.
Acquiring records from smaller, older, or defunct companies presents a distinct challenge. If the business has closed or been acquired, the employment records may have been transferred to the successor company or a specialized record retention service. In these cases, the search often involves tracking the corporate history to identify the entity currently responsible for housing those archived personnel files.
Utilizing Commercial Employment Verification Databases
Modern employment verification is often managed through large, centralized commercial databases that serve as automated third-party clearinghouses. The Work Number, operated by Equifax, is a prominent example of this type of service, compiling records from millions of employers who outsource their verification needs. Employers utilize these services because they provide instant, 24/7 access to employment and income data for verifiers such as banks or prospective landlords.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) grants individuals the right to request and review their own file from these commercial reporting agencies. This self-service access allows a person to obtain an Employment Data Report, which consolidates their history from all participating employers. Reviewing this report reveals exactly what information a verifier would see when checking a person’s background.
This pathway becomes particularly useful when seeking information from a company that has a policy of not providing direct verification, as the commercial database holds the official, employer-provided record. The report also lists every third party that has accessed the employment data in the recent past, providing an audit trail for the individual. If an error is found, the individual can initiate a data dispute directly with the verification service.
Reviewing and Correcting Your Employment History
Gathering employment history from various sources requires quality control to ensure all records are accurate and consistent. Discrepancies between personal records, government documents, and commercial reports can potentially affect loan applications, background checks, or future benefit calculations. If a review of the SSA earnings record shows missing years or incorrect wage amounts, the individual must act to dispute the error.
Correcting an SSA earnings record requires submitting Form SSA-7008, Request for Correction of Earnings Record, along with supporting documentation like W-2s or pay stubs. The SSA will then investigate the claim and work with the former employer to amend the official record. There is a time limit for correcting earnings records, making timely review of the “my Social Security” statement an important practice.
Similarly, inaccuracies discovered in a commercial verification report, like those from The Work Number, must be addressed through a formal dispute process regulated by the FCRA. The individual files a dispute with the reporting agency, which is then legally obligated to investigate the claim with the employer who submitted the data. Maintaining the accuracy of these records ensures that all future financial and professional verifications reflect a complete and correct work history.