s/o: Just curious. . . "disappearing background"

[MoJo]

Seeing the request from another poster asking for help tracing her OWN background made me wonder how many other people are in this position.

Most of my own "background" has disappeared almost as soon as I left.
My last job. . . the group split, the firm sold itself to another, then the bank that owned them was bought out. My immediate supervisor didn't survive with any of them, and I doubt my records did. I am still in contact with a few of the other people I worked with and could probably find out, or would find enough people who would vouch for me.

My job before that. . . bankrupt and closed.

My job before that. . . is being run under a different name &/or by different people (I'm not sure because now I'm back to 14 years and two states away).

My last residence. . . is no longer there.

Both of my elementaries are gone, and my middle school is closed.

Does this happen a lot, or is it just me?

[crl]

Well, my post law school jobs were with the government. So my records are still there presumably. But many if not all of the people I worked with have retired or moved on.

AFAIK, two of my three my junior highs have closed but the rest of my schools are still operating. I wouldn't really know for sure about some of my grade schools, I'd have to go look. My college has changed its name, which is rather a pain for my resume, but it is still operating.

But if it makes you feel any better my dh was born in a county that no longer exists.

Catherine

[gatorsmom]

Well, hmm, I'm not sure. Seems like that is a lot of turnover. Are you jinxed or something? Just kidding. :).

The dry cleaners I worked for in high school is still there but the same people no longer own it, although somw of the same employees are there.

The company I worked at in college is still there, owned by the same family, many of the same people work there (I stay on touch with some of them).

I get Xmas letters every year from the family I au paired for in France and even some people I taught English to. That was 15 years ago.

2 of the companies I worked for in the last 15 years are no longer around and they were rather large (one of them being Compaq). I'm not sure of the last company. It was a venture capital start up that was desperately seeking more VC. I wasn't there very long.


My kindergarten, high school and university are still around but my grade school is no longer around. The records all went to the diocesan office, I'm sure.
Interesting little jaunt down memory lane....

[american_mama]

>> Does this happen a lot, or is it just me?

I would say no, it doesn't happen a lot, but perhaps the replies to your post will prove me wrong. I imagine it is more common in some professional fields than others, since some types of businesses are more prone to mergers and closings. But you've also had a number of closings and changes in your personal life too. My life has not followed that course at all.

[ellies mom]

Not so much places I've lived or went to school but almost my entire adult working life is gone. The last company I worked for closed the facility I worked at. I don't know where my last boss is but all I know about the one before him is that he is in Arizona. The company I worked for before that closed and the facility is used by another company. And the company I worked at before that (11 years ago) is still there, and I'm still in touch with a ton of people that work there including my old boss but they changed names last year.

I probably wouldn't care so much except that I'm looking for a job and they always ask if they can contact my former employers. I wouldn't care if they contacted them. I did good work but there is just no one to answer the phone. They need to go back 11 years to find someone.

Interestingly, the HR manager who laid me off the first time was hired by the second company where he got to lay me off again. But during the last lay-off I did qualify for retraining benefits which I used to go to nursing school.