Just found substantive typo on resume, freaking out Forum

[Anonymous User]

Accidentally expanded my tenure at a pre-law school job by an entire year. The job is not that important, which is why the typo slipped past me. In fact, I took the job off of later versions of my resume and did not discuss it at all in interviews. Some firms I'm interviewing with (and the one firm where I have an offer) have the version with the mistake on it and the "newer" version without the job.

I know firms verify employment dates. Am I completely fucked? What do I do?

[Anonymous User]

I should note that expanding the job by a year looks better than the reality (which is a relatively short stint at a job, then laid off because of verifiable circumstances beyond my control, then temping, then my pre-law career).

I made the mistake because I collapsed the job into one resume item with my temp work. I was doing the same thing at all the different jobs and it made sense to just label everything as "temp office work" or whatever instead of trying to explain that there was a natural disaster that fucked my first post-college job. It's literally one line on my resume.

[thegrayman]

At my firm, I filled out an application with all my work history after accepting the offer. I would bet that what I filled out post-acceptance was what they used to verify my employment, not my resume. You could probably accept the offer and then make the correction on the documents you fill out afterwards and it would never get discovered.

It's a tough spot because being proactive in your case can bite you in the ass in terms of making you look sloppy or look like you're trying to hide something given being laid off. I'm not sure if I would bring it to their attention if I were in your shoes, but I'm also not sure about whether that's the right call.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks. I'm worried that a discrepancy between my resume and my application will look like a C & F issue.

I hate this profession. I have never been so close to dropping out, and I have an offer. The level of stress over stupid bullshit is just insane.