Latest Lists

Should I list working for my parents on my resume?

My parents used to own a retail store. I worked there for at least 7 years. I want to list this on my resume because I am applying for a job at American Eagle and this is very relevant experience. How should I list it? I am afraid that it will look suspisious because I started working there when I was 12 until I was 19, and it is only legal to work at 12 if you are working for a business owned by your family. Should I tell them that my parents owned it?

Public Comments

1. Don't mention that you were working for your parents, just mention that youworked for " such and such " company and what your position and duties were.
2. To be legal, yes, tell them it's a family owned business. Your experience should be a big help in getting the job you're after. Good luck to you.
3. I worked for my dad and his business since I was young also. Be sure to list it, it is a great 7 year work history. I think employers enjoy it when their employees work for family members, because your work ethnic is different. I know that my dad was really customer service oriented and I learned how to treat and deal with the public. I am thankful for that opportunity.
4. You may list your experience of seven years in your resume and you should tell the employer that the retail store is owned by your parents.
5. considering im a formal assistant manager at an AE, experience is just a plus on training, we hired no-experience folks, and often resumes werent required (cept for management possitions). you dont wanna over show-off. i work in a restuarant now, and a young girl the other day brought in her application, with a resume, we read it over and trashed it (but kept the application by law, of course) some jobs just dont work well with resumes. it overshot herself for the possition she was applying, remember you can be overqualified and underqualified (if you have a B.A. mcdonalds wont like you too well, example) but if you insist, instead of just yelping your parents owned it, yada yada i worked at 12, just list it as two different job courses, pre-16 was "volunteer" and thereafter was waged work. be sure to be detailed so it doesnt look like you were in too big of a hurry and listed the same job twice, if you feel your cheating AE by doin this, then on both, list its a family owned and opperated business. but still list them as two catagories. remember, volunteer work looks better than waged work. simply put, it shows your eager to work, reguardless of the end result (payday). always kicks out the competition. =)