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What if they do a background check?

Your new employer will almost certainly want to do some sort of background check on you. Even if it’s just your last employer

A thought to bear in mind is your previous employer will not be very happy to provide details of what a bad person you were, even if it was true, because they will fear the threat of law suits from a disgruntled employee.
All that most will give is basic information about start dates, duties performed and punctuality or attendance details.

One good way to make it a bit more difficult is if you have, or claim to have, worked abroad.
If the company head office is in a foreign city, making contact will be that much more difficult.

If your last employment is something you would rather forget, saying you were self employed is a good cover up.
But if you use this one, be aware you maybe asked about remuneration and tax arrangements which are usually different for self employed.

Another ploy is to claim your past employer was a small company who went into liquidation. Be aware you can’t use this on more than once, because they will smell a rat if you say that you last three employers went bust.

If in your last job you were totally useless, a check will find this out. To cover this say that you are happy to have you old boss contacted but that you and he had a clash of personalities and did not see eye to eye.

If you have a friend who runs a business and is happy to cover for you, say you worked for them in some capacity.

If you really want to go to extremes, register a business for a nominal amount, have an accommodation address and letter heads printed.