Job applications requiring old names.

[Renate]

If you've changed your name, you've probably run into this situation.

You're filling out a job application for a job that you want.
You read their wonderful policy that they don't discriminate against anything in the world
and that you shouldn't mention anything that would indicate you belong to any sort of specific group.
Then, in the middle of the second page, comes the question, "Please indicate any other names that you have worked under."
What do you do?

[Dennis]

I would take the instruction that you shouldn't reveal anything that says you belong to a particular group as primary and leave the name question blank.

Or, if you changed your last name, just put your old last name.

Dennis

[JennMW]

If your previous employers are going to be contacted as references and they have you on record under your old name, you don't have much choice.

If they pull a credit report on you and it lists your old name, you don't have a choice.

If they check academic or professional credentials and they are listed under your old name, you don't have a choice.

If you fix all of those, you might stand a chance of not listing your old name on a job application.

It is up to them if they discover your old name and want to use that as a basis for terminating your employement.

As far as I'm concerned, if motor vehicle dept, credit reporting agencies, Social Security, IRS, and state tax all agree that my current name is my one true name then it is none of a prospective employers business as long as I am not using my current name with an inent to defraud.

The only weak point for me is my birth certificate but once that is changed, I SHOULD have no cause for concern only reporting my current name. I'm working on that next.

I wrote the big three credit reporting agencies last month with a slightly modified letter based on http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/forms/credit-report-name-change.asp

I got a letter back from one yesterday that indicated that they had done their own investigation and stated that my old name would not appear on any future credit inquiries.

On the same day, I received a copy of my credit report (minus credit score which they charge for) from another agency and a cover letter also stating that only my current name would show up on any credit inquiries.

I am not a lawyer and am only sharing my own experience and intentions.

Jennifer