Hi all. Could anyone advise me on whether there is a generally accepted principle on whether client names should be included on a CV? I only ask because - and those who work at my company will know this - when viewing our "company CV" we have a choice of viewing it "Internally" with Client Names - or "Externally" - without Client Names.Any advice would be great.Cheers

My understanding on this issue from my clients (both consulting and industry) is this. Details of client projects are generally expected to be confidential. The risk, therefore, is that you are perceived as being indiscrete if you put the names all over the CV - you can get the messgae across without running this risk, I would have thought. I would err on the side of caution and go for "multi-national energy provider"/"international mobile operator" type of touch.

capgemini eh?

Nope - but glad to see it's a common trait :-)

Depth of experience in a given sector or vertical, evidenced by exposure of x,y,z projects in that sector/vertical is the important piece; it really dosen't matter too much whether that major change programme (or whatever) in telco/mobile was with Orange, Vodafone or BT - if the client is FTSE100 say so, if its FTSE250 say so (and big it up a little).Never disclose confidential clients on a CV; if you meet with a senior hiring manager at interview and they want the information you could tell them verbally.

No! My advice is to NEVER release confidential information if it's in any way current, even informally during hiring interviews.It's a small world out there. If something's confidential, then that means "don't tell anyone". There's a good reason it's confidential.

There can be an implication that a potential employer wants to know your track record, confidential or not; where necessary disclosing this verbally in a 1 to 1 meeting is the best option - easy to deny if questioned and frankly most in the industry would respect that such information is in the strictest confidence and dislosed only for certain circumstances.I take your point anon but with respect get real - this is a commercial world, and information is money.

It depends really just how confidential the information is.If he's working on a takeover that has yet to be announced, or if he's working on an internal sales pitch for a new client - then I think he'd be acting unprofessionally not to mention jeopardising his personal position if he gave out any specifics.If on the other hand the project was completed a year or so ago and is now public knowledge but was confidential at the time, then there's no issue in my view.Particuarly at senior levels, it's not unknown for people to fish for potentially valuable information about competitors when carrying out interviews.

Obviously I assumed we are talking about prior client experience, not current projects of which HNN has immediate - and highly sensitive information.And you're right anon - at least 1 major consulting firm I know of uses this as a tactic with most of their senior candidates (whom in fact are then rejected for various spurious reasons).