Create a Custom Property for Former Firm

1. Single-Line Text Property (e.g., “Previous Employers”)

What It Is:

• Create a custom Single-Line Text property (e.g., “Previous Employers”) under Contact properties.
• You manually type in the relevant employers (e.g., “McKinsey, Bain, Amazon”) whenever you add or edit a contact.

Pros:

• Flexible: You can list any combination of employers, no matter how many.
• Quick to Set Up: Only one property to create, and you’re done.

Cons:

• No Standardization: Everyone might type “McKinsey” differently (e.g., “McKinsey & Co.” vs. “McKinsey & Company”), making filtering and segmenting harder.
• Limited Segmentation: You can still filter on “contains McKinsey,” but you won’t have the neat reporting or checkboxes that let you see counts at a glance.

Best If:

• You only occasionally need to filter or segment by previous employer, and you’re willing to manage consistency in spelling and formatting yourself.

2. Multiple Checkboxes Property (e.g., “Prior Consulting Firms”)

What It Is:

• Create a Multiple Checkboxes property containing a curated list of employers you care about (e.g., “McKinsey & Company,” “Bain & Company,” “Boston Consulting Group,” “Goldman Sachs,” “Google,” etc.).
• You can add “None” or “Other” as extra options for edge cases.

Pros:

• Easy Segmentation: Because each employer is a distinct checkbox, you can filter or build lists on “McKinsey & Company is selected” or “Bain & Company is selected.”
• Data Consistency: You avoid spelling discrepancies because you’re selecting from a fixed set of options.
• At-a-Glance Viewing: Quickly see which relevant employers a contact has in their history.

Cons:

• Limited to Your List: As your needs expand or new “target employers” emerge, you’ll have to edit the property to add new checkbox options.
• Property Clutter: Too many checkboxes can become unwieldy if you track a large number of firms (e.g., dozens of big tech or finance companies).

Best If:

• You have a defined set of target firms you consistently care about (e.g., top consulting, big tech, key investment banks).
• You like easy one-click segmentation and precise reporting.

3. Boolean + Single-Line Text Combo (e.g., “Has Prior Consulting Experience?” + “Which Firm?”)

What It Is:

• Boolean Property: “Has Prior Consulting Experience?” (Yes/No).
• Single-Line Text Property: “Which Firm?” (allowing open text entry).

You can add other Boolean/text pairs for big tech, investment banking, etc.

Pros:

• Straightforward Filtering: Filter by a simple yes/no to see who has consulting experience.
• Flexible: If “Which Firm?” is an open text, you can capture any firm name.

Cons:

• Partial Standardization: You get a Yes/No structure for quick segmentation, but “Which Firm?” reintroduces the risk of inconsistent spelling.
• Multiple Properties: You might need a separate pair for big tech, banks, etc., leading to more properties on each contact record.

Best If:

• You primarily care about whether they have experience in a category (consulting, big tech, finance), not necessarily all the details.
• You still want to note the name of the firm but accept some manual overhead in standardization.

4. Custom Object for Employment History

What It Is:

• If you have a HubSpot tier that supports Custom Objects, you could create a “Previous Employment” custom object. Each record in that custom object would link to a contact and hold properties like “Company Name,” “Start Date,” “End Date,” “Role,” etc.

Pros:

• Highly Structured Data: You could track multiple previous employers per contact in a standardized way.
• Scalable: If you start caring about many different roles or want deeper analytics (e.g., how many contacts had 2+ consulting stints?), you can do that easily.

Cons:

• Complex Setup: Requires a higher HubSpot subscription (Enterprise) and knowledge of how to create and manage custom objects.
• Overkill: If you really just want to note “McKinsey/Bain/BCG/Google,” a full custom object might be more than you need.

Best If:

• You have an extensive or detailed use case, want to track start/end dates, roles, multiple companies, and plan to do robust reporting or automation around it.

5. Creating a Custom Property with a Pre-Defined Dropdown (Similar to Multiple Checkboxes)

What It Is:

• A Dropdown Select property with each relevant firm as an option. Users can choose only one from the dropdown.
• Could be repeated if you want multiple properties, but that quickly becomes cumbersome.

Pros:

• Data Cleanliness: Controlled entries, no spelling issues.
• Simple to Use: Only one choice per contact.

Cons:

• Limited to One Employer: Doesn’t work if you want to capture multiple previous employers, unless you create multiple properties (“Previous Employer #1,” “Previous Employer #2,” etc.).
• Expands Quickly: If you want to track many big tech or banking firms, the dropdown gets large.

Best If:

• You know each contact has only one major “prior employer” you care about, such as a single top consulting firm.

Which Option Is Best?

Given that you’re primarily interested in noting if the individual ever worked at a short list of key firms (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, certain big tech or finance), most independent consultants find a Multiple Checkboxes property to be the sweet spot.

• It lets you easily see and filter who worked at which firm.
• You don’t have to worry about inconsistent text entries.
• It’s simpler to maintain than a custom object or multiple text properties.
• You can add or remove an employer from the master checkbox list as your needs evolve.