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The context is you're casually telling a person where you've worked in the past.

I was thinking something like: IBMで働いた or IBMで仕事した.

But it didn't seem right. In English, the conversation would go something like:

A: Where did you used to work?

B: I've worked for IBM. And also, I've worked at Best Buy.

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〜で働いた is fine for literally "worked at". But I more often hear 〜に[勤]{つと}める meaning "employed for/by 〜"; usually in the 〜ている form ("am currently employed for/by 〜"). In this case, I think you'd just use the simple past tense.

IBMに勤めたことがある。そして、BestBuyにも。

Also, see this post about a unique employment situation: Employed by one institution but work for another.

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  • Is there a difference between using で働いた or に働いた? Any nuances? And you could use で勤つとめる or would that be strange sounding?
    – dotnetN00b
    May 8, 2014 at 17:06
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    "IBMで働いた", "IBMに勤めた", and "IBMで勤めた" are all correct, but "IBMに働いた" is wrong. (don't ask me why, please).
    – naruto
    May 8, 2014 at 17:12
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    I've never heard 〜で勤める, and it sounds incorrect to my ear, but that's not to say it is.
    – istrasci
    May 8, 2014 at 17:14
  • Googling gives many good examples of "～で勤める", though I agree it's less common than "～に勤める".
    – naruto
    May 8, 2014 at 17:49
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In casual conversation I think you can say:

A: (前は)どこ(orどこの会社)にいたの？/いたんですか。
B: ((ずっと)前(は))IBMにいた/いました。あと、BestBuyにもいた/いました/いたことがあります。etc.

... using the verb いる(居る), or

A: (前は)どこに(orどこの会社に/どこに仕事(に)/仕事(は)どこ(に))行ってたの？/行ってたんですか。
B: ((ずっと)前(は))IBMに行ってた/行ってました。あと、BestBuyにも行ってた/行ってました/行ってたことがあります。etc.

... using the verb 行く.
Of course you can say:

A: どこに勤めてたの？/勤めてたんですか。
B: IBMに勤めてた/勤めてました/勤めてたことがあります。etc.

A: どこで働いてたの？/働いてたんですか。
B: IBMで働いてた/働いてました/働いてたことがあります。etc.

... using 勤める/働く. I think using いる/行く would be more colloquial.

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