I’m filling out a background check for Sterling, and the form only allows me to fill out 3 employment stints. My past 4 employment stints have been 1 with company N (April 2024-Present), 1 with company C (Jan 2024-Feb 2024), and 2 with company B (Jan 2022-July 2022, and May 2023-July 2023). Note that I got fired from C, and my job with B was an internship, hence the weird employment dates. Given that my resume ONLY includes 1 stint at company N and 2 at company B since those are the my most relevant positions to the ones I am applying to, is it reasonable for me to leave my job with company C out? Or could that be perceived as deceitful?

I’m of torn, because on one hand, I work in defense where security clearances are required, so trying to hide mistakes can look really bad. On the other hand, admitting that I got fired is a bad look no matter what.

I was thinking about doing a middle ground in which I put my job with company C and list my reason for leaving as “other” (would put mutual separation but that’s not an option). Although I did get fired, I had already been looking around and already had a job offer in hand by the time I was terminated. In my final conversation with my boss, he told me he could tell it wasn’t a good fit, to which I agreed and said I had been looking around and that I had options. Idk if that’s enough to say it was mutual though.

Just to address something, people are inevitably going to say that most companies have a policy not to reveal that an employer got fired. However, my previous employer is VERY small, with only 15ish employees, so they likely don’t have anything like that and I’m afraid whoever picks up the phone is gonna reveal too much information if I put them down.

Can they even find out I worked there if me working there isn’t listed on my resume, background check form, or LinkedIn? Man, I wish I had just quit instead lol