Things You Will Need

  • Contact information for previous employers

  • Letters of recommendation

  • Applicant's income tax returns and W-2's

Are you looking for the best way to verify someone’s employment? Most employers take it upon themselves to carefully review someone’s employment history before offering them a position with their company or organization. When an employer verify someone’s employment history he is usually able to find out things like how long that person worked for the company, his exact position and specific job duties, the department he worked in and salary information. Luckily, there are a few ways that you can actually verify someone’s employment before making a hiring decision.

Ask the applicant to provide you with the contact information for each employer. Be sure that the applicant gives you her specific job title and dates of employment, along with the company and supervisor’s name, telephone number, mailing address and email address for each employer. All of this information can help speed up the employment verification process for you.

Contact each employer listed on that person’s application. Try calling each employer first and if you do not receive an immediate response, you may follow-up with a simple email or send a letter to the employer. You may choose to speak with that person’s former supervisor at each company, or perhaps you can contact the Human Resources department to verify someone’s employment.

Find out if the applicant has a letter of recommendation from each employer. Sometimes employers may choose to write a letter of recommendation for employees, which usually includes information about someone’s job duties, how long that person worked in the position and details about his qualifications and skills. Make sure that the letter is on a professional company letterhead, with contact information and a signature.

Look at the applicant’s income tax returns. If you are unable to reach someone’s previous employers, you may ask the applicant to show you the income tax returns and W-2’s for each job. The tax returns and W-2 forms can provide you with enough information to verify someone’s employment history.

Visit employment verification websites on the web. There are a variety of employment verification websites which can provide you with fast and accurate information about someone’s employment history. Websites such as The Work Number and Investigate-person are very helpful resources for employers to use to verify someone’s employment history.