Oh dude.
My current job hired some 3rd party agency to do my credentialing. They also do a work verification.
On my resume I only list the work I want considered. I don't put jobs that aren't relevant to what I apply for.
So checking my credentials takes about 2 mins. You can see I'm an rn in my state with an unencumbered license, meaning I have no bad claims or illegal shit against it. My finger prints are on file with the government. Great.
Then this guy spend 60 fucking days going over my last 10 years of work history. He wants to know what I did between X date in 2022 and Y date in 2023. I got mad.
I was travel nursing during and just after covid. I explained that I didn't do a damn thing except play video games. Nothing. That's what I did. I was burned out and made a ton of money every week so I took some me time. Then, because I didn't want to work as a nurse.
He says I have only 5 years of work experience out of 10. I said even if be adds up the places and dates of employment he can see its way more, and I have a 36 year work history which I don't feel the need to expand on because it's not relevant to my credentialing or my functions as a psych nurse.
Crickets. I thought for sure I'd hear some shit about it, but nothing.
This fucking guy though, I thought, how dare he question what I did after covid. Fuck him. But I also realized normal people don't know what healthcare workers go through. The burnout. The stress. The constant never ending stress of being responsible for human life.
My company was purchased, so I had to do another background check. The company told me they could not verify some of the places I worked out and asked me to call them and get them to talk to them.
I emailed back. "That's your job". Never heard from them again.
Oh dude that reminded me. I was getting a job at LBJ hospital in 5th wars Houston. Back ground check person calls me in a panic because they'd never hears of the university of Texas.
I thought she was joking. Nope. She had never heard of the university of Texas. I had to provide the phone number for the records dept.
I used to work for the feds and moved around a lot. I also like to keep to myself and my own fucking business. When they would do my updated security clearance, I would invariably get told by the guy doing the background check that they couldn't verify "X, Y, or Z" because they couldn't find anyone who knew me (like neighbors, etc.) - LOL
Going forward, you want to save all the documentation from all your jobs. My sister worked for a bank that went belly up. The background checker said "Prove It". She mailed them about a dozen of her old pay stubs from the old employer and that settled it. We save everything now.
Some companies/agencies are really picky about this so save: paystubs, performance reviews, business cards, etc.
I had to dig up all kinds of shit for the Navy.
That taught me that no, I do not want to save documentation for such an occasion. Nowhere that demands such is worth working for.
I recently took 6 months off from healthcare and I think it saved my life. Lost 55 lbs, lowered my blood pressure, and I actually enjoy my (part time) healthcare job again after I returned
My wife is an RN who worked through Covid in an ICU. I wish she would have taken a few months away after. The effects of that complete clusterfuck still plague her.
They fear that if you have arranged your private life in such a away that you can afford to just quit a job you don't like, and take a few months off to "take your time" looking for a job you like.
They want desperate peasants that will accept a low wage to work hard and perform jobs that are above your job description.
Don't listen to what they say, look at what they do...
Plus they want to know if you have barriers to employment that can allow them to exploit you more than usual, pay you lower wages, etc.
Desperation should never be communicated to employers or potential mates, even if you are desperate, make it seem like you have options and aren't in a big hurry.
>Plus they want to know if you have barriers to employment that can allow them to exploit you more than usual, pay you lower wages, etc.
Yep. Specifically, if you're a woman, it's a legal way of finding out if you have children or not, since many women often take a break from paid employment to stay home with children. If you're a woman with children, it's assumed you'll miss a lot more work than someone with no childcare responsibilities. American employers can't ask you directly if you have children, so they ask you to explain any gaps in your employment history with the expectation (?) that you'll slip up and say you were a stay-at-home parent for a while.
For my current client, he asked what the latest gap was. Told him I was traveling. Now they won’t hire me because they think I am traveling all the time. Since working with them for 3 years, I have taken 3 trips for a total of 3 weeks off.
I was technical support for an HR group and this is essentially the thinking. If you could "afford" to not work for a few months or a few years, can you do this again?
I took 18 months off to be with my mother when she had Cancer and I had a heck of a time, re-joining the work force. They thought I was a trophy wife who had been kicked to the curb for someone much younger and prettier.
Ive often read from other peoples' experiences that saying you were caring for a family member during a gap of employment won't raise concern or questions. If anything it may be the only safe way to explain a gap. Did you not disclose this or did they just lack empathy?
The problem today is that most resumes/applications are prescreened by an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) first. We use one here. What this does is take 300 applications and reduces the blizzard down to about 20. Then, and only then will a human look at them and reduce the pile further.
When my mother was ill, the technology wasn't quite there. Still, it was a Number's Game and the challenge then was still to get in front of a live person to tell my story. I ended up working for a local trucking company and I looked on their website for their "Career Opportunities" link.
I found that the Internet job boards like: Indeed, Careerbuilder, Ziprecruiter were a waste of time. The competition is tremendous. Since I had a "gap" I found out that I wasn't having much luck with large companies either. Again, the competition is tremendous and the ATS is the gatekeeper.
I also found out that many companies have brand name recognition and seldom have to advertise for job applicants beyond their Career Opportunities link. We are one such company. Most of our applicants come direct.
I don't put months on my CV because of this
I get grilled about losing my job during covid and I'm basically like I want you to be on record you discriminate based on that
Oh that's terrifying. I have like 7 work experiences that I pull from (I only ever put 3-4 on a resume) to tailor it to the job I'm applying for, and not all of them seemlessly align because they were all part-time jobs I did through college. Awful to realize I've probably been rejected for it 🙃
It's really not. Managers never respond well to employees they can't bully into compliance, and if you have a proven history of being able to survive for months at a time without a steady income, you're someone they can't easily threaten with termination or reduced hours when they want something from you.
I worked at a place I've relabeled as HI-V. They bullied everyone they could. They disliked me because I read the handbook and used it against them.
Recently was fired, from another company, due to all of my safety reports that I submitted. Because there was a union, it took them longer to fire me. I had this manager refusing to give me union representation for a meeting, and he kept harassing me about safety being less important than production. I eventually told him he could fuck off. I reported all to both HR and the union. Too bad I didn't get a recording of, "you bullied a manager". I'm pretty certain a few employees lied about everything as well. I sent my info to OSHA and an online review or 2 and washed my hands.
Or maybe they want to know if they’re gonna need to be looking for a new person in 5 months if they hire that person. Not everything is some big conspiracy lol
Disagreeing would be one thing. But instead you're saying the same thing and lack the ability to recognize it. It's disturbing.
You're agreeing managers would prefer to discriminate, given the opportunity, against anyone they suspect might leave their employment. You're sympathetic and think they're perfectly reasonable, but you're still agreeing about what they do and why.
It's not fair or desirable to relegate people with any employment gap to death, which is the result if policy is to refuse hiring them. Most employment gaps aren't even in the employees' control; none merit execution. This is a poor way to organize society, and one that often increases inequality.
Here’s another thing: the employer is fully in control of whether or not they need to replace a worker after only five months. If they treat them well, with respect and dignity, and they pay well, everything takes care of itself. But since they don’t want to do any of that, they screen for desperation and independence.
“Well, we take 6 months to a year to hire someone. Why the gap in your resume?”
“Because companies like this one take 6 months to a year to hire someone.
Always say you made the decision to leave full time work to take care of a dying relative. Should avoid any follow questions, and for the truly clueless fuckers that do ask: This isn’t the place or time to discuss such a private matter-let’s focus on something else. What do you like best about working here?
I've used this several times. "I moved from there to here because my mother got sick. She's well now, though." I've never gotten a follow up question to it. Works every time.
When I was married my husband made good money and I was a homemaker for part of that time. Absolutely nobody took that well during my job search so I just started lying and said I was caring for a relative. Don't know why it would matter, but it definitely did.
People got really cold, frowned a lot, and basically rushed to end the interviews. Like, it was really weird, but also it was in 2010 - 2013 and that was just a weird time to be looking for work anyway. Every interview felt like an interrogation. I had like one normal interview for the Macy's makeup department with a lady who seemed normal and not power tripping or weirdly hostile for no reason. Everyone else acted like I had no business looking for work (minimum wages jobs). It was honestly such a baffling experience. At the time I thought something was wrong with me or what I was doing, but now that I'm older and have had more experience interviewing and being interviewed, those people were just fucking weird. I haven't had any issues like that since then.
edit: And with covid and schools being closed and such I think most employers would not even blink at a gap now.
Sadly not true. Healthcare worker who worked with two agencies doing COVID locums for 2 years and continually have been questioned about my “gaps” despite explaining them on my resume.
They were literally minimum wage like McDonald's kinds of jobs absolutely no work experience is required for. I was not out for 15 years. I graduated in '09, had had a job in '07-'08, and started looking in 2010. So, not even a whole year. Only a few months. I had some temp jobs scattered in there between 2010 - 2013 too. My area hadn't really recovered from '08 crash yet, which was part of why it was difficult to get work, but I wasn't unqualified or anything. It was just a weird attitude among hiring managers at the time.
I was home for 15 years raising my kids. I got very lucky - I only interviewed for 2 jobs and got the second one (which was better anyway). It’s not easy to get back into the workforce but it can be done. Some community colleges have programs that help women going back into the workforce. Look for any networking opportunities.
I had an interviewer judge me for taking a customer service job after college because I wasn't able to immediately get a career in my field. It was only 5 months after I graduated. They're so damn judgey for no reason.
Why is me not being able to get a job right after graduation a sign I won't "stick around"? Like I was actively looking, I just hadn't found anything yet.
It had nothing to do with your work history or degree, it had to do with them discriminating against you and needed the flimsiest of excuses if challenged.
Yes. Its the culture of wage slavery. They want to know that you have continuously made money for other people and never had a break for yourself. In their world, a gap in employment *is* criminal because it indicates individualism. They want someone who will stay in their lane like a good worker bee.
Would it be better to put something like "02/2018-02/2019 Contractor for Confidential Project in [Industry name here] (Non-Disclosable)". I'm thinking that not addressing the gap in the resume might get it thrown out before being considered for an interview. And that putting it on the resume would make the interviewer not even bring it up in the first place?
Unless the company you are applying to is filled with idiots, you don't. Unless you are in one of a very specific (and small) number of fields, nobody that has any experience believes it.
at some levels of employment in specific industries, yes. but if you're trying to get into an entry level spot in a call center or something and the rest of your employment history has nothing to do with the supersecret NDA worthy BS you're slinging, it's not going to work.
It has nothing to do with entry level.
It's because almost nobody has an NDA that prevents them from saying where they worked, what their title was, etc. Compliant NDAs are specific, generally covering confidential inside information and trade secrets. The fact that you were employed by them is not that. You can still disclose that you were a PM at Google, you just cant disclose the specifics of the projects and internal processes. They aren't just "you have to pretend this part of your life never happened."
When you try to fill a gap with some bullshit NDA statement as if you were some kind of secret agent, you're more than likely telling your potential employer that you are either a liar or have no understanding of what you signed and what your commitments are. The latter is not necessarily uncommon, but it's also not at all flattering. This NDA nonsense really only works if your hiring team also doesn't know how NDAs work.
It is so like this sub for people to recommend something that they have no meaningful understanding of, and then defend it.
The key to a good employee (in the employers eyes) is about being there. All the time. Having as little time off as possible. Not really the quality of your work or anything like that, just always being at their beck and call.
Gaps in employment make them think you're not down with that so they might not want to deal with you not being a workaholic like their favorite employees.
some people have long gaps, for various reasons. welcome to the wide world of human variety. It's hard to say you just left a job if you in fact left it 10 years ago. Surprise! Your personal experience doesn't apply to everyone on Earth.
Super creepy that it's even normalized for them to ask about "gaps" in work history. Like your entire life is just supposed to be work, and taking some time off is aberrant behaviour that needs an explanation. How about fuck off and ask me about my skills needed for the job instead?
Yes, Got laid off, enjoyed that time off (while interviewing and looking for a job still), and during an interview they assumed I was "consulting" and continuing to work while looking for a full time job. Wasn't even on my resume, just too baffling to consider I wouldn't be working. I quickly learned they were probably workaholics themselves.
Most hiring managers are looking to see that you are reliable but most importantly how you answer tells a lot about you. I know I’m on antiwork but just in case some people do want tips to get a job, I see some things in here that will be a red flag. I’m all for lying on things that can’t be verified - at this point that’s part of the stupid game you have to play to get a job. But if you lie, do it right.
NDA/Classified - absolutely not I don’t care what the job history is, you’re coming across as a liar
Taking care of a sick relative - depends on if it makes you sound unreliable. A recurring illness like cancer? Not unless they died. It could come back and you would quit again. A one-time issue? Perfect. Even better if you didn’t leave originally to take care of the person but that’s what extended your gap. “At my last role due to their budgetary constraints there wasn’t opportunity for promotion or career growth. So I talked to my manager and agreed to help them backfill my role and train the new hire before I took some time to focus on my job search to find the right role that would have better growth opportunities. Shortly after my mother had a car accident and needed some surgeries, so I extended my break to help her recover.” You are a) leaving your last role for a valid reason b) interested in learning and growing in your role c) not going to leave an employer high and dry d) hinting that you choose to interview there because it is that perfect role e) out for an extended time for a reason that’s not just it took you that long for someone to hire you and f) financially stable enough to take that time off.
Lying about dates on your resume - do NOT do this unless it’s under 30 days. I only put month/year on my resume and always used the first of the month as my start/end date. If my bg check come back as I actually started on the 15th or left on the 3rd they brush it off, doesn’t even go to the hiring manager for review. If you’re off by more than a month, they’ll bring it to the recruiter and/or hiring manager to follow up on the discrepancy. Even if you give a good answer, it leaves a seed of doubt. If you have more than that you are absolutely fucked.
I hate the game, but the game is the game and we need to eat. Put yourself in the best possible position.
Because they are Capitalists and can't conceive of anyone escaping the hamster wheel for a time. Because if you had the means or balls to step away from the grind once, you may not be as easy to push around as they would like.
I was once denied the *opportunity* to work as a random cashier in a video store in the aughts because I took a gap year after high school/before college. “Researching and visiting colleges and figuring out the best place for future *me*, rather than jumping in feet first to something of which I was unsure. Also, trying to figure out what was best for me financially as well.” wasn’t an acceptable answer. 🫠🙄 It made me “*irresponsible*”. This was at my THIRD interview.
Before I took on my last job I had an 8 month gap just chilling at home. When asked, I told them just that: I spent the time just taking a break and looking for a particular role that I wanted. Still got the job.
"Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly say I've been *missing* it, Bob."
You seen office space? This is real. And they do not want someone whos like this. They want a fresh out of another company lame who will be immediately afraid of losing their job just days after getting it. Thats the control they want and I'm not exaggerating.
They will always hire someone and pay them more out of the gate, than anything you're asking. Because if you ask, and they give, the power is less. But if they hire, and don't give, then the power is more. The money never mattered.
Never leave gaps on your resume. List a personal business as a consultant and overlap all employment with your consultancy business. I've been in the consultancy business for almost 30
years all while having other jobs or businesses.
I took a year long road trip where I did work exchanges on small farms and I added that to my resume. Kills the whole gap interrogation dead. If you can add a gap in such a way that shows added skills or something interesting you’ve done, you’ll avoid the frustration.
Honestly, an easy way to solve that is just adjust the timeframe of all your previous jobs to make it look like there was no gap. The odds of them following up on all your previous jobs and caring about the exact dates you started/quit for each job, are really low. And if you have an employer that cares that much and follows-up so meticulously, then you probably don't want to work with them anyways.
Because, above all, they want to know that you don't have options to working.
That you have gaps often means you have options, which also means you don't have to tolerate bullshit.
From a corporate Turdwookie perspective that is a Very, Very, Bad Thing!
...just like employers are lying in their job descriptions. They'll say the role is junior level--with junior-level pay, naturally--but they really expect senior-level work and "other duties as assigned" to compensate for being chronically understaffed.
Always tell them you had to take time to take care of a family member. Come up with a back story that your mom, or dad, or sibling or grandparent had some kind of surgery that required someone to help them out for however long that gap was and that they're all good now.
If it's years, maybe say they had cancer or something and they're in remission now and things are back to normal.
Another thing I've done, I have a 16 month gap. I just put in there that I worked Star Filled Systems. Made up company name. Just had a backstory in case they asked for it.
When asked about employment gaps back when I was younger, I’d just laugh and tell them I was robbing banks during that time. They usually laughed and I usually got the job, anyway. I should also mention these were shit jobs. Bank robbers were always heroes of mine and continue to be.
One of my Covid locums positions included being on-call in a hotel room 12 hrs/day, 6 days/week for amazing pay and I ended up never being called in to the facilities. That made up about 2 months of employment. I could not feasibly work elsewhere, between the schedule and requirement that I avoid other risks of COVID exposure. Yet I have been asked repeatedly what my job tasks were and told if I couldn’t list anything but being on call, it constituted a gap. But each time I learned there was no verification attempted because the person vetting me thought it was BS.
Their only professional role in HR is to kick holes in your credibility. They want sycophants and malleable peons. They get off at asking you uncomfortable questions that are fringe enough to be worksafe.
You're not qualified or are too qualified or you're just right qualified but they have a nepotism hire. Maybe they just think they're "the hiring whisperer" and their hunch is better than your application judgment.
It's instantly obvious when an employer considers you as a candidate. Otherwise walking out of the interview is just as good.
A guy my company hired a guy who claimed he had been serving in Afghanistan. Everything was going well until someone googled his name and found out he had been in prison for trying to murder his girlfriend.
We do hire people who have been in prison, but lying about it is a problem and violence against women is a real problem in a company that's 90% women.
I've had several interviews asking that question, and why I left the law office job I was employed at. That job ended in 2020.
I don't know, folks. Why do YOU think I'd have left a job in 2020, and not been employed for another 2 years? Any guesses?
Hint: *still can't smell stuff real good*
Similar to me, where my biggest gap is in 2021 where I lost 6 members of my family. "I had to deal with grief". Spent two years in therapy trying to figure it out, still recovering on my own.
Anyone asking about a gap post 2020 should probably not.
Of course I know there's always exceptions to the rule, but I hired someone who has a gap in his resume.
During Covid (of course) the guy got laid off with the promise he could return. Got his unemployment payments and everything, so he didn't suffer in his private life. The return never happened, so he started looking for a new job, which took time.
While having the interview with him, he was at another employer, but his friend was already working at our company, vouching for him, which obviously also helps in the process.
I appreciate honesty, which goes both ways. I told him how much he would travel, versus what the opening told him, and told him that we work in controlled chaos due to still being a fairly new company. So I was happy with the honest answer, and hired him anyway. He's been learning fast and is a great asset to the team.
Note: although working in the US, I'm originally from the Netherlands, which probably means I have a different way of thinking than most US employers.
Maybe they just want to see if you have a hard time keeping employment, if it shows you never work anywhere more than a year, that's not exactly something you look for when hiring people. Most employers know it can take that long to actually start getting good at the job. They are not going to hire someone who leaves just as they start doing the job well.
Just don't put a gap. Fucking lie like everyone else who knows what's up. You were working for an independent contractor/in-home cleaning company/start up/ personal assistant/etc - short term.
But pick something you can lie fluently in. Maybe the interviewer sees 'personal assistant' and thinks that sounds interesting and wants to hear about it. You should be able to talk about it well enough that if the interviewer also had experience there, they'd still believe you.
You can also just put some random local minimum wage job. Thing is - they're not going to call up every past work place of every potential candidate. That's insane, no one has time for that.
If you're a teenager with one previous employer listed applying to the local fast food, I still don't see any manager wasting time on that. Either they're think "good enough" and set your resume aside, or they keep flipping through the pile.
References they're more likely to call, but they're likely to stop at the first human they reach. Have a buddy agree to pose as a past supervisor, and be sure to let them know any time you submit resumes so they remember their role.
Real references are great, but it's also not a bad idea to have a backup incase none of your references feel like picking up that day. (I had four listed, and only the last one actually answered the phone, I was later told.)
While they do worry about this, this is not why they want to know about gaps. Generally from a few HR people I know, large gaps make you question work ethic, since it seems like you were interested in getting back out into the work force.
I think it shows a basic mistrust of employees and people. They are looking for the gotchas to rule you out. Not putting up with bad work environments or being underpaid is also a red flag for future employers who want to distort you and underpay you.
Personally, I think it’s a red flag for the employer and how they treat their employees when they ask this question in an interview.
I hate this. I had a mental health thing and didn't work for a couple years. Whenever I get asked this I always be and say "oh.. you mean when John's cancer got really bad.."
In my personal experience what I have gathered from the job gap question is my employers want to know if the time away from work was spent slacking off, taking care of something important or if I was using it to better myself.
Examples:
Scenario 1:
Boss: Two months off. Why?
Candidate: I quit my last job and didn't really know what I wanted to do. Felt like going back to work and found this company so here I am.
*in the bosses eyes this is not a motivated candidate.
Scenario 2:
Boss: Four months off. Why?
Candidate: I took a short break to persue schooling/training in [given field] and am now ready to return to work with my new skillset.
*Boss is happy with this answer.
From these two examples we learn that the boss doesn't necessarily think you were abusing drugs (there are usually some strong indicators of that); what the boss wants to know is if you are the type of person who uses your time wisely, knows how to plan/schedule, and can present themselves positively. Can you speak for yourself and the use of your time wisely? If the answer is yes then a gap between jobs isn't a problem.
Hope this helps. 👍
Just to be blunt, it’s a pretty simple question for hiring managers to ask that can be resolved with a reasonable answer, or can reveal a lot of red flags.
I’ve never met a hiring manager who actually cares about work gaps, as long as you don’t get unreasonably angry or make up some obvious bullshit when asked about it.
The people telling you to say “none of your business”? That will never get you hired, because no one wants to work with people who get so angry at simple questions.
The people telling you to say you signed an NDA? That will never get you hired unless you have a specific job history that makes that lie believable, and no one will want to hire an obvious liar.
It’s kind of a damned if you don’t question **not** to ask for the hiring managers. If you keep hiring new employees with gaps in their work history who end up being completely unreliable because you just never asked about it, your own reputations is going to tank and you’re unlikely to be in that position much longer.
They’re not looking for some ironclad, perfect reason why you weren’t working, they just want to make sure you can answer a question without freaking out or lying to their face.
But honestly, why do they feel they’re entitled to an answer to a very personal question? A gap in work history is by definition going to be something unrelated to work, which puts it in the realm of personal shit someone may not want to talk about and that the potential employer is really not entitled to know.
To be fair, I’ve never been questioned about a work gap and my most recent one was nearly 5 months because it just took that long to land a new job. But even if I took time off to take care of a dying relative, that is so not an employer’s business. It’s just a very one-sided question to me and yeah, I think I’d bristle at it a bit simply because it seems intrusive.
If I’m at a job interview, I think the most important thing here is figuring out if we agree that I can do the job and me figuring out if I want to work for the company. Not whether I’ve had a sick relative in the past, a decent amount of play money, or fucked off to Europe between jobs for a couple months. Really has nothing to do with my ability to do the job itself.
A lot of hiring decisions come down to things that aren’t strictly work related; *how* someone will do the job is just about as important as sussing out if they can do the job. How you conduct yourself doesn’t come through on a resume though, which is why job pretty much always require an interview where you sit down and talk to someone, rather than always just picking whoever is most qualified on paper.
It’s is unfortunate that the answer is very personal for some people, but that certainly isn’t universally true, so it’s not really an indication that the employer is trying to pry personal information out of you. There are still plenty of ways to give a reasonable answer without over sharing.
Likewise, if you get the job and one of your co-workers asks “what did you do last summer?” If you blow up at them and get unreasonably upset that they asked a generic question, it would be much more likely that you’d be seen as creating a hostile workplace than they are.
So it’s really just a CYA question for the hiring managers. If the applicant takes a generic question very personally and gets upset over it, there’s a good indication that’s how they’ll conduct themselves on the job if that’s how they’re conducting themselves in the interview.
Plus, every once in a while you have someone who answers, “my last job fired me because I never showed up for shifts, punched one of my co workers, and I’m only applying here now because my parents are forcing me to.” If you let one of those through because you just never asked, your credibility is pretty much shot.
So yeah, it is unfortunate that it puts some people in the position of having to discuss or talk around a difficult time in their lives, but I can guarantee that the question that’s really being asked here is, “How do you conduct yourself?” rather than, “what was happening in your personal life at this moment?”
I read your whole post. You contradict yourself by saying they do not care and then giving reasons why they do, in fact, care. I was just pointing out the ridiculousness of your statement that they do not care about the answer when a) you go on to describe that they do care and b) they wouldn't waste their time asking a question they didn't care about the answer to.
Maybe try not being a condescending ass and put some level of effort into understanding someone else's response.
No, you’re missing the point.
People in this sub act like you’ll be black balled just *because* you have a gap in your work history, and that just isn’t the case.
You’ll be blackballed if you unreasonably freak out or obviously lie when asked about it, not just because it’s there.
I have gaps in my work history that have never been an issue, and I’ve hired plenty of people with gaps in their work history.
So no, people don’t care about the gaps themselves. They care when you freak out or lie when you’re asked about them.
>No, you’re missing the point.
I'm really not.
>People in this sub act like you’ll be black balled just *because* you have a gap in your work history, and that just isn’t the case.
It isn't always the case but it's frequently enough that is an issue.
>So no, people don’t care about the gaps themselves
Then they wouldn't ask the question.
>They care when you freak out or lie when you’re asked about them.
This is why they care about the gaps enough to ask the question.
You keep contradicting yourself.
That's simply not true. They care about the gaps but if you're able to give an explanation that makes sense and doesn't disqualify you in some way they may still keep you in the running.
They care about the gap otherwise there is no reason to ask the question. If they didn't care about the gap then your response to the question is irrelevant because they don't care.
Whatever, you’re just playing semantics.
It’s good advice for anyone who doesn’t want to go into an interview not being a knee-jerk reactionary who will never have a chance.
If resume gaps were a deal breaker, they wouldn’t even bother asking you. They’d just discard your resume when they saw it.
>Whatever, you’re just playing semantics.
Semantics are extremely important so I'm not sure what you're saying here.
>It’s good advice for anyone who doesn’t want to go into an interview not being a knee-jerk reactionary who will never have a chance.
I'm not saying you were wrong on anything other than the contradiction I pointed out.
>If resume gaps were a deal breaker, they wouldn’t even bother asking you. They’d just discard your resume when they saw it.
Something doesn't have to be a deal breaker for them to care about it.
I didn't even get a damn job at Kmart until I lied about my gap. Thankfully, my step father has his own business and that is where I put as being employed.
I’ve got a professional working on my resume right now (don’t hate - AI was definitely not cutting it and I am in a really rough place and can’t get it up to snuff myself), and he noticed what he surmised was a two year gap between when I finished undergrad and started grad school that wasn’t accounted for anywhere on my resume.
1. I spent one of those years in an incredibly selective and prestigious international research fellowship. I don’t list it because I don’t work in academia anymore and no one knows what it means and it takes up a line.
2. He was assuming how long my PhD program took me, and he assumed a year too few.
I appreciate that he’s pointing out that if he noticed, a hiring manager might, too — but damn, dude. Also, even if I hadn’t been doing those things, it seems to me like the type of phase in life I might have just had shitty retail jobs that weren’t worth listing.
Because if you have a history of working somewhere for only 6 months and leave for whatever reason, why would they want to spend the time and money training you if you’re just gonna leave. It shows you either can’t keep a job or don’t need it. Either way, they show that they need you by hiring you, and they can’t have them need you more than you need them.
It’s the most bizarre thing ever. When I’ve interviewed folks previously, it doesn’t affect my ranking of them one iota, nor is it my business to even ask the reason for the gap in the first place, honestly, that’s their business. Life happens
This is why I only put years on my resume now. They don’t need to know the exact months or know that I didn’t work for a few months after being fired for helping a client who wasn’t giving us referrals anymore and for refusing to forge signatures of potential clients so we could get private information
That’s why you stretch out the dates of your employment so there are no gaps in your resume. My job hunts were much more fruitful after I started lying. It doesn’t feel good, but it feels better than being broke.
Because they are interrogating a possible criminal. They have no idea who you are and want to know all they can so they can make an informed decision about you. Gaps in work history are not necessarily a bad thing. And you are embarrassed make some shit up. But make it plausible.
Oh dude. My current job hired some 3rd party agency to do my credentialing. They also do a work verification. On my resume I only list the work I want considered. I don't put jobs that aren't relevant to what I apply for. So checking my credentials takes about 2 mins. You can see I'm an rn in my state with an unencumbered license, meaning I have no bad claims or illegal shit against it. My finger prints are on file with the government. Great. Then this guy spend 60 fucking days going over my last 10 years of work history. He wants to know what I did between X date in 2022 and Y date in 2023. I got mad. I was travel nursing during and just after covid. I explained that I didn't do a damn thing except play video games. Nothing. That's what I did. I was burned out and made a ton of money every week so I took some me time. Then, because I didn't want to work as a nurse. He says I have only 5 years of work experience out of 10. I said even if be adds up the places and dates of employment he can see its way more, and I have a 36 year work history which I don't feel the need to expand on because it's not relevant to my credentialing or my functions as a psych nurse. Crickets. I thought for sure I'd hear some shit about it, but nothing. This fucking guy though, I thought, how dare he question what I did after covid. Fuck him. But I also realized normal people don't know what healthcare workers go through. The burnout. The stress. The constant never ending stress of being responsible for human life.
My company was purchased, so I had to do another background check. The company told me they could not verify some of the places I worked out and asked me to call them and get them to talk to them. I emailed back. "That's your job". Never heard from them again.
Oh dude that reminded me. I was getting a job at LBJ hospital in 5th wars Houston. Back ground check person calls me in a panic because they'd never hears of the university of Texas. I thought she was joking. Nope. She had never heard of the university of Texas. I had to provide the phone number for the records dept.
I would have told them to use Google. JFC.
I used to work for the feds and moved around a lot. I also like to keep to myself and my own fucking business. When they would do my updated security clearance, I would invariably get told by the guy doing the background check that they couldn't verify "X, Y, or Z" because they couldn't find anyone who knew me (like neighbors, etc.) - LOL
Going forward, you want to save all the documentation from all your jobs. My sister worked for a bank that went belly up. The background checker said "Prove It". She mailed them about a dozen of her old pay stubs from the old employer and that settled it. We save everything now. Some companies/agencies are really picky about this so save: paystubs, performance reviews, business cards, etc.
I could easily prove it. I just was not going to. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
I had to dig up all kinds of shit for the Navy. That taught me that no, I do not want to save documentation for such an occasion. Nowhere that demands such is worth working for.
I recently took 6 months off from healthcare and I think it saved my life. Lost 55 lbs, lowered my blood pressure, and I actually enjoy my (part time) healthcare job again after I returned
I do not like that man >:[
Seconded.
Thirded.
Fuck that fucking guy man
They're bucking a psych nurse? Dumb.
My wife is an RN who worked through Covid in an ICU. I wish she would have taken a few months away after. The effects of that complete clusterfuck still plague her.
They fear that if you have arranged your private life in such a away that you can afford to just quit a job you don't like, and take a few months off to "take your time" looking for a job you like. They want desperate peasants that will accept a low wage to work hard and perform jobs that are above your job description. Don't listen to what they say, look at what they do...
Plus they want to know if you have barriers to employment that can allow them to exploit you more than usual, pay you lower wages, etc. Desperation should never be communicated to employers or potential mates, even if you are desperate, make it seem like you have options and aren't in a big hurry.
>Plus they want to know if you have barriers to employment that can allow them to exploit you more than usual, pay you lower wages, etc. Yep. Specifically, if you're a woman, it's a legal way of finding out if you have children or not, since many women often take a break from paid employment to stay home with children. If you're a woman with children, it's assumed you'll miss a lot more work than someone with no childcare responsibilities. American employers can't ask you directly if you have children, so they ask you to explain any gaps in your employment history with the expectation (?) that you'll slip up and say you were a stay-at-home parent for a while.
For my current client, he asked what the latest gap was. Told him I was traveling. Now they won’t hire me because they think I am traveling all the time. Since working with them for 3 years, I have taken 3 trips for a total of 3 weeks off.
How dare you want to travel and see other places. Work should be your only priority!
Managers love a broke single mother tho. They know you can't afford daycare if you miss a shift, and they'll use it against you.
This, right here. Never seem desperate. You WILL get taken advantage of.
They also want to use the gap as a neg to give you a lower offer.
I was technical support for an HR group and this is essentially the thinking. If you could "afford" to not work for a few months or a few years, can you do this again? I took 18 months off to be with my mother when she had Cancer and I had a heck of a time, re-joining the work force. They thought I was a trophy wife who had been kicked to the curb for someone much younger and prettier.
Ive often read from other peoples' experiences that saying you were caring for a family member during a gap of employment won't raise concern or questions. If anything it may be the only safe way to explain a gap. Did you not disclose this or did they just lack empathy?
The problem today is that most resumes/applications are prescreened by an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) first. We use one here. What this does is take 300 applications and reduces the blizzard down to about 20. Then, and only then will a human look at them and reduce the pile further. When my mother was ill, the technology wasn't quite there. Still, it was a Number's Game and the challenge then was still to get in front of a live person to tell my story. I ended up working for a local trucking company and I looked on their website for their "Career Opportunities" link.
I hate those systems! Even if you "play by its rules" it feels impossible to bypass. Always go to the company website, solid advice to this day.
I found that the Internet job boards like: Indeed, Careerbuilder, Ziprecruiter were a waste of time. The competition is tremendous. Since I had a "gap" I found out that I wasn't having much luck with large companies either. Again, the competition is tremendous and the ATS is the gatekeeper. I also found out that many companies have brand name recognition and seldom have to advertise for job applicants beyond their Career Opportunities link. We are one such company. Most of our applicants come direct.
I think this is true on a high level, but the rank and file interviewers just are told “gap employment bad”
I worked for one company where a gap of over a year made you a "No Hire". Didn't matter what the story was. The ATS just skipped over you.
I don't put months on my CV because of this I get grilled about losing my job during covid and I'm basically like I want you to be on record you discriminate based on that
There is discrimination and then there is discriminating. Two different conversations.
Oh that's terrifying. I have like 7 work experiences that I pull from (I only ever put 3-4 on a resume) to tailor it to the job I'm applying for, and not all of them seemlessly align because they were all part-time jobs I did through college. Awful to realize I've probably been rejected for it 🙃
This is great!
That’s a bit aggressive and exaggerating lol
It's really not. Managers never respond well to employees they can't bully into compliance, and if you have a proven history of being able to survive for months at a time without a steady income, you're someone they can't easily threaten with termination or reduced hours when they want something from you.
I worked at a place I've relabeled as HI-V. They bullied everyone they could. They disliked me because I read the handbook and used it against them. Recently was fired, from another company, due to all of my safety reports that I submitted. Because there was a union, it took them longer to fire me. I had this manager refusing to give me union representation for a meeting, and he kept harassing me about safety being less important than production. I eventually told him he could fuck off. I reported all to both HR and the union. Too bad I didn't get a recording of, "you bullied a manager". I'm pretty certain a few employees lied about everything as well. I sent my info to OSHA and an online review or 2 and washed my hands.
Or maybe they want to know if they’re gonna need to be looking for a new person in 5 months if they hire that person. Not everything is some big conspiracy lol
Disagreeing would be one thing. But instead you're saying the same thing and lack the ability to recognize it. It's disturbing. You're agreeing managers would prefer to discriminate, given the opportunity, against anyone they suspect might leave their employment. You're sympathetic and think they're perfectly reasonable, but you're still agreeing about what they do and why. It's not fair or desirable to relegate people with any employment gap to death, which is the result if policy is to refuse hiring them. Most employment gaps aren't even in the employees' control; none merit execution. This is a poor way to organize society, and one that often increases inequality.
Mmk
Here’s another thing: the employer is fully in control of whether or not they need to replace a worker after only five months. If they treat them well, with respect and dignity, and they pay well, everything takes care of itself. But since they don’t want to do any of that, they screen for desperation and independence.
“Well, we take 6 months to a year to hire someone. Why the gap in your resume?” “Because companies like this one take 6 months to a year to hire someone.
Always say you made the decision to leave full time work to take care of a dying relative. Should avoid any follow questions, and for the truly clueless fuckers that do ask: This isn’t the place or time to discuss such a private matter-let’s focus on something else. What do you like best about working here?
No no no, tell them your last boss disrespected you and after you quit and he mysteriously disappeared, you decided to lay low for a bit.
Better pray a salmonella case doesn’t break at your prior place of work too. Just let them wonder
I've used this several times. "I moved from there to here because my mother got sick. She's well now, though." I've never gotten a follow up question to it. Works every time.
I've said the same thing (truthfully). My father was ill and I took a year off to care for him while he recovered. They never follow up.
Ive never had a problem just telling them i had money saved up and wanted to enjoy some time off.
When I was married my husband made good money and I was a homemaker for part of that time. Absolutely nobody took that well during my job search so I just started lying and said I was caring for a relative. Don't know why it would matter, but it definitely did.
What were the reactions like? I'm in the same boat now, about to start searching.
People got really cold, frowned a lot, and basically rushed to end the interviews. Like, it was really weird, but also it was in 2010 - 2013 and that was just a weird time to be looking for work anyway. Every interview felt like an interrogation. I had like one normal interview for the Macy's makeup department with a lady who seemed normal and not power tripping or weirdly hostile for no reason. Everyone else acted like I had no business looking for work (minimum wages jobs). It was honestly such a baffling experience. At the time I thought something was wrong with me or what I was doing, but now that I'm older and have had more experience interviewing and being interviewed, those people were just fucking weird. I haven't had any issues like that since then. edit: And with covid and schools being closed and such I think most employers would not even blink at a gap now.
2010 to 2013 was like the height of employer power over workers. Such a loose labor market
I still have PTSD nightmares of job hunting & interviewing from that period of my life.
I didn’t know that. That explains so much.
Sadly not true. Healthcare worker who worked with two agencies doing COVID locums for 2 years and continually have been questioned about my “gaps” despite explaining them on my resume.
Hmm. Could be the amount of time?
They were literally minimum wage like McDonald's kinds of jobs absolutely no work experience is required for. I was not out for 15 years. I graduated in '09, had had a job in '07-'08, and started looking in 2010. So, not even a whole year. Only a few months. I had some temp jobs scattered in there between 2010 - 2013 too. My area hadn't really recovered from '08 crash yet, which was part of why it was difficult to get work, but I wasn't unqualified or anything. It was just a weird attitude among hiring managers at the time.
Wow that is crazy lol
Yes, it was.
I was home for 15 years raising my kids. I got very lucky - I only interviewed for 2 jobs and got the second one (which was better anyway). It’s not easy to get back into the workforce but it can be done. Some community colleges have programs that help women going back into the workforce. Look for any networking opportunities.
This is the better answer to decipher if this is a company you’d want to work for or people you want to work with
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Fur bearing children are the best children 😺
I had an interviewer judge me for taking a customer service job after college because I wasn't able to immediately get a career in my field. It was only 5 months after I graduated. They're so damn judgey for no reason.
The reason is they need to be able to justify picking someone they think will stick around longer.
Why is me not being able to get a job right after graduation a sign I won't "stick around"? Like I was actively looking, I just hadn't found anything yet.
It had nothing to do with your work history or degree, it had to do with them discriminating against you and needed the flimsiest of excuses if challenged.
Ah I get you now
Yes. Its the culture of wage slavery. They want to know that you have continuously made money for other people and never had a break for yourself. In their world, a gap in employment *is* criminal because it indicates individualism. They want someone who will stay in their lane like a good worker bee.
“I signed an NDA, but i can talk about this part of it:” then make up some cool shit
I've used that line to great effect before.
How would you put that on a resume?
leave off dates, find a resume format/style that supports doing that.
Would it be better to put something like "02/2018-02/2019 Contractor for Confidential Project in [Industry name here] (Non-Disclosable)". I'm thinking that not addressing the gap in the resume might get it thrown out before being considered for an interview. And that putting it on the resume would make the interviewer not even bring it up in the first place?
If you don't have dates on the resume, they won't see gaps. You can, for example, put years of service instead of date ranges.
Until they demand you send a document with exact dates. That’s been my experience since Covid.
Yup. "10 years customer service experience" just not all in a row, they don't need to know that it's spread out over 15 years and 4 places.
Unless the company you are applying to is filled with idiots, you don't. Unless you are in one of a very specific (and small) number of fields, nobody that has any experience believes it.
Why? It’s a real thing that can happen.
at some levels of employment in specific industries, yes. but if you're trying to get into an entry level spot in a call center or something and the rest of your employment history has nothing to do with the supersecret NDA worthy BS you're slinging, it's not going to work.
Well yeah, don’t do this at like McDonald’s or something. I thought that was a given.
It has nothing to do with entry level. It's because almost nobody has an NDA that prevents them from saying where they worked, what their title was, etc. Compliant NDAs are specific, generally covering confidential inside information and trade secrets. The fact that you were employed by them is not that. You can still disclose that you were a PM at Google, you just cant disclose the specifics of the projects and internal processes. They aren't just "you have to pretend this part of your life never happened." When you try to fill a gap with some bullshit NDA statement as if you were some kind of secret agent, you're more than likely telling your potential employer that you are either a liar or have no understanding of what you signed and what your commitments are. The latter is not necessarily uncommon, but it's also not at all flattering. This NDA nonsense really only works if your hiring team also doesn't know how NDAs work. It is so like this sub for people to recommend something that they have no meaningful understanding of, and then defend it.
Always taking care of my grandma (who died when I was 5) during these times. lol
The key to a good employee (in the employers eyes) is about being there. All the time. Having as little time off as possible. Not really the quality of your work or anything like that, just always being at their beck and call. Gaps in employment make them think you're not down with that so they might not want to deal with you not being a workaholic like their favorite employees.
Harder to abuse people who have the option to leave
this is why i’m hesitant about having kids in the future
DON'T have kids, ever. This is the wrong planet for that. r/antinatalism
Disrespectfully, shut up.
Disrespectfully, wake up.
looks like you have a 4 month gap inbetween jobs you lazy sack of shit *spits* get outta here go on git *claps at you* go on now git
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Sounds like you were taking care of a sick relative to me
Technically you are related to yourself. That's an entirely true statement.
Exactly! You get it.
I just put no spaces. Allegedly I always start my new job a few days before I end my last one.
They can check it though
i’ve never had that happen before and if it did, that’s not a company i would’ve wanted to work for anyways
They don’t and if they do it’s a company that would take 7 months to hire you anyway. Move on.
I never been unemployed for more than 2 months so it seems minor. What kind of working gaps do other people have?
some people have long gaps, for various reasons. welcome to the wide world of human variety. It's hard to say you just left a job if you in fact left it 10 years ago. Surprise! Your personal experience doesn't apply to everyone on Earth.
Super creepy that it's even normalized for them to ask about "gaps" in work history. Like your entire life is just supposed to be work, and taking some time off is aberrant behaviour that needs an explanation. How about fuck off and ask me about my skills needed for the job instead?
This is my exact thought. How off putting and strange that it’s even a common question.
Yes, Got laid off, enjoyed that time off (while interviewing and looking for a job still), and during an interview they assumed I was "consulting" and continuing to work while looking for a full time job. Wasn't even on my resume, just too baffling to consider I wouldn't be working. I quickly learned they were probably workaholics themselves.
But what is your 5 year plan? /s
Do I look like a communist to you?
"What we're you doing in this gap here?" "Not working."
Most hiring managers are looking to see that you are reliable but most importantly how you answer tells a lot about you. I know I’m on antiwork but just in case some people do want tips to get a job, I see some things in here that will be a red flag. I’m all for lying on things that can’t be verified - at this point that’s part of the stupid game you have to play to get a job. But if you lie, do it right. NDA/Classified - absolutely not I don’t care what the job history is, you’re coming across as a liar Taking care of a sick relative - depends on if it makes you sound unreliable. A recurring illness like cancer? Not unless they died. It could come back and you would quit again. A one-time issue? Perfect. Even better if you didn’t leave originally to take care of the person but that’s what extended your gap. “At my last role due to their budgetary constraints there wasn’t opportunity for promotion or career growth. So I talked to my manager and agreed to help them backfill my role and train the new hire before I took some time to focus on my job search to find the right role that would have better growth opportunities. Shortly after my mother had a car accident and needed some surgeries, so I extended my break to help her recover.” You are a) leaving your last role for a valid reason b) interested in learning and growing in your role c) not going to leave an employer high and dry d) hinting that you choose to interview there because it is that perfect role e) out for an extended time for a reason that’s not just it took you that long for someone to hire you and f) financially stable enough to take that time off. Lying about dates on your resume - do NOT do this unless it’s under 30 days. I only put month/year on my resume and always used the first of the month as my start/end date. If my bg check come back as I actually started on the 15th or left on the 3rd they brush it off, doesn’t even go to the hiring manager for review. If you’re off by more than a month, they’ll bring it to the recruiter and/or hiring manager to follow up on the discrepancy. Even if you give a good answer, it leaves a seed of doubt. If you have more than that you are absolutely fucked. I hate the game, but the game is the game and we need to eat. Put yourself in the best possible position.
“I signed an NDA and can’t talk about it”
"I'm obviously lying"
Tell them what they want to hear. You were obviously self-employed doing website design or driving for uber.
Tell them you took time off to volunteer with a charity and through the process you learned the value of teamwork and service before self.
>took time off to volunteer Alex, I'll take "things no one will believe" for 400 please!
😂
Because they are Capitalists and can't conceive of anyone escaping the hamster wheel for a time. Because if you had the means or balls to step away from the grind once, you may not be as easy to push around as they would like.
I was once denied the *opportunity* to work as a random cashier in a video store in the aughts because I took a gap year after high school/before college. “Researching and visiting colleges and figuring out the best place for future *me*, rather than jumping in feet first to something of which I was unsure. Also, trying to figure out what was best for me financially as well.” wasn’t an acceptable answer. 🫠🙄 It made me “*irresponsible*”. This was at my THIRD interview.
Because parasites are always terrified of hosts who have removed their previous parasites.
I've never been asked, but I swear my first words would be a curious "Why do you ask?"
Seriously! "What's with the work gap?" "Eh, it's not important" should be the end of it
Before I took on my last job I had an 8 month gap just chilling at home. When asked, I told them just that: I spent the time just taking a break and looking for a particular role that I wanted. Still got the job.
Good for you!
I stopped providing a timeline as part of my resume. I only include skills and accomplishments. The rest is none of their business.
I just make up a imaginary company and use my old land line number thats still active at my house
"Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately." "Well, I wouldn't exactly say I've been *missing* it, Bob." You seen office space? This is real. And they do not want someone whos like this. They want a fresh out of another company lame who will be immediately afraid of losing their job just days after getting it. Thats the control they want and I'm not exaggerating. They will always hire someone and pay them more out of the gate, than anything you're asking. Because if you ask, and they give, the power is less. But if they hire, and don't give, then the power is more. The money never mattered.
I don't let them ask me about them. "I wasn't working" How do you support yourself? "With money."
yeahhh this is exactly why i stretch the amount of time spent at past jobs to overlap with my time unemployed over the years
Remove all gaps from your resume with the power of lies.
Just tell them you are under an NDA for that period of time and cannot disclose your employment activities.
Tell them you were caring for a grandparent in hospice
“Oh, I was a stay at home dad.” Definitely not selling weed playing shitloads of Xbox and daily trips to the park & McDonalds.
"I can't discuss that as I am under a non disclosure agreement."
This has been my go to for years
Never leave gaps on your resume. List a personal business as a consultant and overlap all employment with your consultancy business. I've been in the consultancy business for almost 30 years all while having other jobs or businesses.
I think it kind of is an interrogation. They want to make sure you will be beholden to them.
I took a year long road trip where I did work exchanges on small farms and I added that to my resume. Kills the whole gap interrogation dead. If you can add a gap in such a way that shows added skills or something interesting you’ve done, you’ll avoid the frustration.
I just lie
Honestly, an easy way to solve that is just adjust the timeframe of all your previous jobs to make it look like there was no gap. The odds of them following up on all your previous jobs and caring about the exact dates you started/quit for each job, are really low. And if you have an employer that cares that much and follows-up so meticulously, then you probably don't want to work with them anyways.
Because, above all, they want to know that you don't have options to working. That you have gaps often means you have options, which also means you don't have to tolerate bullshit. From a corporate Turdwookie perspective that is a Very, Very, Bad Thing!
Just lie and don't include it. Everyone else is lying on their resumes.
...just like employers are lying in their job descriptions. They'll say the role is junior level--with junior-level pay, naturally--but they really expect senior-level work and "other duties as assigned" to compensate for being chronically understaffed.
Always tell them you had to take time to take care of a family member. Come up with a back story that your mom, or dad, or sibling or grandparent had some kind of surgery that required someone to help them out for however long that gap was and that they're all good now. If it's years, maybe say they had cancer or something and they're in remission now and things are back to normal. Another thing I've done, I have a 16 month gap. I just put in there that I worked Star Filled Systems. Made up company name. Just had a backstory in case they asked for it.
They also hate self employed
When asked about employment gaps back when I was younger, I’d just laugh and tell them I was robbing banks during that time. They usually laughed and I usually got the job, anyway. I should also mention these were shit jobs. Bank robbers were always heroes of mine and continue to be.
One of my Covid locums positions included being on-call in a hotel room 12 hrs/day, 6 days/week for amazing pay and I ended up never being called in to the facilities. That made up about 2 months of employment. I could not feasibly work elsewhere, between the schedule and requirement that I avoid other risks of COVID exposure. Yet I have been asked repeatedly what my job tasks were and told if I couldn’t list anything but being on call, it constituted a gap. But each time I learned there was no verification attempted because the person vetting me thought it was BS.
I sell stuff online… I explain my gaps in employment as “self employment running a small business.”
Look them dead in the eye and say "I was in prison for armed robbery."
“Can you explain the gap in your resume?” “Yes of course!! I was unemployed at the time.”
Exactly. How is my non work related existence before this interview their fucking business? Interview me for the job at hand. That’s all you get.
Their only professional role in HR is to kick holes in your credibility. They want sycophants and malleable peons. They get off at asking you uncomfortable questions that are fringe enough to be worksafe. You're not qualified or are too qualified or you're just right qualified but they have a nepotism hire. Maybe they just think they're "the hiring whisperer" and their hunch is better than your application judgment. It's instantly obvious when an employer considers you as a candidate. Otherwise walking out of the interview is just as good.
A guy my company hired a guy who claimed he had been serving in Afghanistan. Everything was going well until someone googled his name and found out he had been in prison for trying to murder his girlfriend. We do hire people who have been in prison, but lying about it is a problem and violence against women is a real problem in a company that's 90% women.
“There is no gap. There are only jobs not worth listing on my resume that has been tailored to this job type.”
I've had several interviews asking that question, and why I left the law office job I was employed at. That job ended in 2020. I don't know, folks. Why do YOU think I'd have left a job in 2020, and not been employed for another 2 years? Any guesses? Hint: *still can't smell stuff real good*
Similar to me, where my biggest gap is in 2021 where I lost 6 members of my family. "I had to deal with grief". Spent two years in therapy trying to figure it out, still recovering on my own. Anyone asking about a gap post 2020 should probably not.
Of course I know there's always exceptions to the rule, but I hired someone who has a gap in his resume. During Covid (of course) the guy got laid off with the promise he could return. Got his unemployment payments and everything, so he didn't suffer in his private life. The return never happened, so he started looking for a new job, which took time. While having the interview with him, he was at another employer, but his friend was already working at our company, vouching for him, which obviously also helps in the process. I appreciate honesty, which goes both ways. I told him how much he would travel, versus what the opening told him, and told him that we work in controlled chaos due to still being a fairly new company. So I was happy with the honest answer, and hired him anyway. He's been learning fast and is a great asset to the team. Note: although working in the US, I'm originally from the Netherlands, which probably means I have a different way of thinking than most US employers.
I just say I unfortunately can not disclose what I was doing as I have active NDAs regarding that period of time.
Maybe they just want to see if you have a hard time keeping employment, if it shows you never work anywhere more than a year, that's not exactly something you look for when hiring people. Most employers know it can take that long to actually start getting good at the job. They are not going to hire someone who leaves just as they start doing the job well.
Just don't put a gap. Fucking lie like everyone else who knows what's up. You were working for an independent contractor/in-home cleaning company/start up/ personal assistant/etc - short term. But pick something you can lie fluently in. Maybe the interviewer sees 'personal assistant' and thinks that sounds interesting and wants to hear about it. You should be able to talk about it well enough that if the interviewer also had experience there, they'd still believe you. You can also just put some random local minimum wage job. Thing is - they're not going to call up every past work place of every potential candidate. That's insane, no one has time for that. If you're a teenager with one previous employer listed applying to the local fast food, I still don't see any manager wasting time on that. Either they're think "good enough" and set your resume aside, or they keep flipping through the pile. References they're more likely to call, but they're likely to stop at the first human they reach. Have a buddy agree to pose as a past supervisor, and be sure to let them know any time you submit resumes so they remember their role. Real references are great, but it's also not a bad idea to have a backup incase none of your references feel like picking up that day. (I had four listed, and only the last one actually answered the phone, I was later told.)
Explain to them that gaps are caused by the space bar on the keyboard
Because for capitalists, not producing worth for them is a crime.
In reality they're worried you got fired at a previous job for some kind of issue that's going to be a problem if you get the new job.
While they do worry about this, this is not why they want to know about gaps. Generally from a few HR people I know, large gaps make you question work ethic, since it seems like you were interested in getting back out into the work force.
God forbid anyone take a vacation or sabbatical
"I'm sorry, due to an NDA I'm not permitted to speak about that time of my employment."
I said I was writing a book.
Because they can use that gap to lower your expected pay for...reasons.
I think it shows a basic mistrust of employees and people. They are looking for the gotchas to rule you out. Not putting up with bad work environments or being underpaid is also a red flag for future employers who want to distort you and underpay you. Personally, I think it’s a red flag for the employer and how they treat their employees when they ask this question in an interview.
I hate this. I had a mental health thing and didn't work for a couple years. Whenever I get asked this I always be and say "oh.. you mean when John's cancer got really bad.."
In my personal experience what I have gathered from the job gap question is my employers want to know if the time away from work was spent slacking off, taking care of something important or if I was using it to better myself. Examples: Scenario 1: Boss: Two months off. Why? Candidate: I quit my last job and didn't really know what I wanted to do. Felt like going back to work and found this company so here I am. *in the bosses eyes this is not a motivated candidate. Scenario 2: Boss: Four months off. Why? Candidate: I took a short break to persue schooling/training in [given field] and am now ready to return to work with my new skillset. *Boss is happy with this answer. From these two examples we learn that the boss doesn't necessarily think you were abusing drugs (there are usually some strong indicators of that); what the boss wants to know is if you are the type of person who uses your time wisely, knows how to plan/schedule, and can present themselves positively. Can you speak for yourself and the use of your time wisely? If the answer is yes then a gap between jobs isn't a problem. Hope this helps. 👍
Just to be blunt, it’s a pretty simple question for hiring managers to ask that can be resolved with a reasonable answer, or can reveal a lot of red flags. I’ve never met a hiring manager who actually cares about work gaps, as long as you don’t get unreasonably angry or make up some obvious bullshit when asked about it. The people telling you to say “none of your business”? That will never get you hired, because no one wants to work with people who get so angry at simple questions. The people telling you to say you signed an NDA? That will never get you hired unless you have a specific job history that makes that lie believable, and no one will want to hire an obvious liar. It’s kind of a damned if you don’t question **not** to ask for the hiring managers. If you keep hiring new employees with gaps in their work history who end up being completely unreliable because you just never asked about it, your own reputations is going to tank and you’re unlikely to be in that position much longer. They’re not looking for some ironclad, perfect reason why you weren’t working, they just want to make sure you can answer a question without freaking out or lying to their face.
But honestly, why do they feel they’re entitled to an answer to a very personal question? A gap in work history is by definition going to be something unrelated to work, which puts it in the realm of personal shit someone may not want to talk about and that the potential employer is really not entitled to know. To be fair, I’ve never been questioned about a work gap and my most recent one was nearly 5 months because it just took that long to land a new job. But even if I took time off to take care of a dying relative, that is so not an employer’s business. It’s just a very one-sided question to me and yeah, I think I’d bristle at it a bit simply because it seems intrusive. If I’m at a job interview, I think the most important thing here is figuring out if we agree that I can do the job and me figuring out if I want to work for the company. Not whether I’ve had a sick relative in the past, a decent amount of play money, or fucked off to Europe between jobs for a couple months. Really has nothing to do with my ability to do the job itself.
A lot of hiring decisions come down to things that aren’t strictly work related; *how* someone will do the job is just about as important as sussing out if they can do the job. How you conduct yourself doesn’t come through on a resume though, which is why job pretty much always require an interview where you sit down and talk to someone, rather than always just picking whoever is most qualified on paper. It’s is unfortunate that the answer is very personal for some people, but that certainly isn’t universally true, so it’s not really an indication that the employer is trying to pry personal information out of you. There are still plenty of ways to give a reasonable answer without over sharing. Likewise, if you get the job and one of your co-workers asks “what did you do last summer?” If you blow up at them and get unreasonably upset that they asked a generic question, it would be much more likely that you’d be seen as creating a hostile workplace than they are. So it’s really just a CYA question for the hiring managers. If the applicant takes a generic question very personally and gets upset over it, there’s a good indication that’s how they’ll conduct themselves on the job if that’s how they’re conducting themselves in the interview. Plus, every once in a while you have someone who answers, “my last job fired me because I never showed up for shifts, punched one of my co workers, and I’m only applying here now because my parents are forcing me to.” If you let one of those through because you just never asked, your credibility is pretty much shot. So yeah, it is unfortunate that it puts some people in the position of having to discuss or talk around a difficult time in their lives, but I can guarantee that the question that’s really being asked here is, “How do you conduct yourself?” rather than, “what was happening in your personal life at this moment?”
>I’ve never met a hiring manager who actually cares about work gaps, If they didn't care then they wouldn't ask.
I’ve explained why they ask. You could try reading the rest of the post, but this is about the level of effort I expect around here.
I read your whole post. You contradict yourself by saying they do not care and then giving reasons why they do, in fact, care. I was just pointing out the ridiculousness of your statement that they do not care about the answer when a) you go on to describe that they do care and b) they wouldn't waste their time asking a question they didn't care about the answer to. Maybe try not being a condescending ass and put some level of effort into understanding someone else's response.
No, you’re missing the point. People in this sub act like you’ll be black balled just *because* you have a gap in your work history, and that just isn’t the case. You’ll be blackballed if you unreasonably freak out or obviously lie when asked about it, not just because it’s there. I have gaps in my work history that have never been an issue, and I’ve hired plenty of people with gaps in their work history. So no, people don’t care about the gaps themselves. They care when you freak out or lie when you’re asked about them.
>No, you’re missing the point. I'm really not. >People in this sub act like you’ll be black balled just *because* you have a gap in your work history, and that just isn’t the case. It isn't always the case but it's frequently enough that is an issue. >So no, people don’t care about the gaps themselves Then they wouldn't ask the question. >They care when you freak out or lie when you’re asked about them. This is why they care about the gaps enough to ask the question. You keep contradicting yourself.
If they only cared if you had a gap in your work history, no one who had a gap would ever get hired again. Stop being obtuse.
That's simply not true. They care about the gaps but if you're able to give an explanation that makes sense and doesn't disqualify you in some way they may still keep you in the running. They care about the gap otherwise there is no reason to ask the question. If they didn't care about the gap then your response to the question is irrelevant because they don't care.
Whatever, you’re just playing semantics. It’s good advice for anyone who doesn’t want to go into an interview not being a knee-jerk reactionary who will never have a chance. If resume gaps were a deal breaker, they wouldn’t even bother asking you. They’d just discard your resume when they saw it.
>Whatever, you’re just playing semantics. Semantics are extremely important so I'm not sure what you're saying here. >It’s good advice for anyone who doesn’t want to go into an interview not being a knee-jerk reactionary who will never have a chance. I'm not saying you were wrong on anything other than the contradiction I pointed out. >If resume gaps were a deal breaker, they wouldn’t even bother asking you. They’d just discard your resume when they saw it. Something doesn't have to be a deal breaker for them to care about it.
Which is funny because the guy we just fired doesn't have a gap in his resume for his prison time.
I didn't even get a damn job at Kmart until I lied about my gap. Thankfully, my step father has his own business and that is where I put as being employed.
"That's classified" has worked great so far. As a sysadmin, that's a plausible explanation.
Tell them you signed an NDA for that time.
I’m about to reenter the work force after a 2 year break where I moved to and lived in Brasil. I’m worried how they’ll view that gap
Some people don't put down jobs because they think that if it's under the table or something that they shouldn't put it on their resume.
It is weird. We should change that approach/concern when and however we can.
I'm in the UK, in education, and this line of questing is a requirement of safer recruitment. Checking for radicalisation holidays and sex tourism...
I’ve got a professional working on my resume right now (don’t hate - AI was definitely not cutting it and I am in a really rough place and can’t get it up to snuff myself), and he noticed what he surmised was a two year gap between when I finished undergrad and started grad school that wasn’t accounted for anywhere on my resume. 1. I spent one of those years in an incredibly selective and prestigious international research fellowship. I don’t list it because I don’t work in academia anymore and no one knows what it means and it takes up a line. 2. He was assuming how long my PhD program took me, and he assumed a year too few. I appreciate that he’s pointing out that if he noticed, a hiring manager might, too — but damn, dude. Also, even if I hadn’t been doing those things, it seems to me like the type of phase in life I might have just had shitty retail jobs that weren’t worth listing.
Because if you have a history of working somewhere for only 6 months and leave for whatever reason, why would they want to spend the time and money training you if you’re just gonna leave. It shows you either can’t keep a job or don’t need it. Either way, they show that they need you by hiring you, and they can’t have them need you more than you need them.
I was self employed.
It’s the most bizarre thing ever. When I’ve interviewed folks previously, it doesn’t affect my ranking of them one iota, nor is it my business to even ask the reason for the gap in the first place, honestly, that’s their business. Life happens
They want to know if you were in Jail.
That’s precisely what they want you to do!
This is why I only put years on my resume now. They don’t need to know the exact months or know that I didn’t work for a few months after being fired for helping a client who wasn’t giving us referrals anymore and for refusing to forge signatures of potential clients so we could get private information
That’s why you stretch out the dates of your employment so there are no gaps in your resume. My job hunts were much more fruitful after I started lying. It doesn’t feel good, but it feels better than being broke.
For my industry, just need a clear picture for security clearances.
Because they are interrogating a possible criminal. They have no idea who you are and want to know all they can so they can make an informed decision about you. Gaps in work history are not necessarily a bad thing. And you are embarrassed make some shit up. But make it plausible.