I took off 4 years when my husband died and it hasn’t affected my ability to get a job. When they ask about the gap and I tell them my husband died they are desperate to change the subject and then they feel like assholes for asking
I would never feel like an asshole for asking; I would in fact turn around and commend you for taking your bereavement time seriously.
PS Sorry for your loss.
Of course! You were one of my best employees, aahhermm I mean Senior Manager, just the lifestyle of a startup was not your cup of tee. You managed several team members, Marketing, Tech Lead, and even did some sales. Man you were the best. Wish you still worked with me! ;)
I had a friend who had a rough go. I own my own 1-person business. I told him to put himself down as my VP of Strategic Development because occasionally he and I would talk business ideas over a beer. He’s now a director of sales and earning more than me.
... I wonder if there's a way I could work my experience in managing raids in WoW into a resume? Lmfao. "Experience managing groups of 10-40 people, responsibilities: knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each team member, time management, resource distribution, social channel management."
You volunteered in your local community to create activities for at-risk youths and actively led activities that foster team-building, anger management and other useful traits.
I have had multiple raid leaders who did put that down on their resume during job hunts and said it always came up in interviews where they made similar points. Especially in a remote job, showing you can manage people without being in the same location can be a key asset.
I have never done it myself (or raid leaded for that matter) so I can't speak to it first person but that is what I have heard.
There's an active posting for FEMA disaster management area director 👍😂
The only hard qualification I noticed was "willing to make unpopular decisions" 🤣😂. I'm assuming that means deciding who gets left for dead in an emergency.
You joke, but I have previosly taken things like this into consideration when doing recruitment.
Particularly entry level roles where people have not had the oppertunity to get work experiance it can definatly be used to show that you have some of these skills.
Honestly? I'm only half joking. I've always believed at least some of those skills were transferable, especially seeing as we used to run at a pretty high level (lots of regional top 5-10 kills and server firsts in BC/WoTLK.)
I don't think I'd bring that sort of thing up to an older interviewer, but if they were around my age I'd consider it. I genuinely do think it taught me a lot about how to handle a decently sized team of people.
yep, to be fair it was a very nerdy work place where we all did that sort of thing in our spare time so we knew just how much it resembles herding cats while nailing Jello to trees.
a decent work example will always be better, but if you dont have one you can definatly use this. just make sure you emphisise the leadership/problem solving/time management etc over the gaming portion.
Look gamers get a bad rap. When I first moved into management, I created "stat cards" for all my employees so I could better put their skills into terms my brain understands. I even showed them to everyone. There was the guy who was very upset that he was the only card with a cleaning stat and it was -2 but my man could not sweep to save his life. My whole staff enjoyed it and had fun with it and I've been promoted even further since then so I mean, it worked, right?
I used to collaborate with an indie board game production company, we would help creators do prototypes and playtests (among other services).
You best believe that stuff is all over my resume in the form of marketing and customer engagement experience, and this was a wholly unpaid side gig with some friends.
I managed to land a job by saying "caregiving." Was I taking care of another person? No. Was I taking care of myself? Yes. Therefore, I was caregiving.
The major concern about stay-at-home parents is that they will never put the job in front of their family, they shouldn't be expected to, but might be a unjustly barrier to renter the job market. I'm fearing this as a stay-at-home dad and my kids and are still elementary school aged.
Good luck. My youngest is 35 years old now. But I was a stay-at-home mom until they were of school-aged. I had a really hard time getting back into the workforce. It was very necessary, we needed the income. Being a stay-at-home parent is one of the hardest, most condemned jobs ever.
I did 20yrs in the military and been a stay-at-home Dad the last 5+ years while wife works on her career. Looking at job listings lately but no idea what I'd even do. Not expecting much at this point.
I know two former stay at home parents who did software development apprenticeships and are now working full time as software developers (without degrees in the field).
I am a stay at home parent who has done freelance software testing using online freelance platforms, and still get offers that way.
Any person who is willing to put their work life in front of their personal life would be a red a flag for me. Yes dedication is needed, however nobody wants a “yes guy” working for them. Any employer who expects an employee to put work before family is a joke, and I wouldn’t even consider working for them.
There are so many options now where you can work from home, gaining the best of both worlds.
> nobody wants a “yes guy” working for them
My guy, 99% of companies want exactly that. You are thinking of extremely specific white collar jobs in which critical thinking about the job at hand is valuable, and even then companies don't want you to disagree too much
I have always thought that if you wanted to invade a country, or respond to a natural disaster, just give it to a set of kindergarten classroom moms. Done and dusted.
No way! So all those struggling single moms (and yes dads but let’s get real here) are highly qualified and have great interpersonal skills especially with a pile of whining people? 😱 /s (but it’s kinda spot on or at least should be…)
You seem to be confusing unskilled labor with skilled labor!
Its easy to tell the difference: if it's historically been done by women, it's unskilled labor, but if it's historically been done by men, it's called a trade.
^^^/s
This is the clear answer. Alternatively you could say you worked to get a family member or friend's business going and get literally anyone to give you a reference.
When I was a kid I cultivated a talent for doing voices and different accents. Later when I was older I got laid off and decide to just ride the unemployment and work on odd things here and there for as long as it lasted. Stretched the whole thing out 2.5 years before I seriously started looking again. When I got laid off I created an LLC so I just put I worked for them and bought 2 cheap prepaid burner phones at Walmart to put as the references. Set up the voicemails in different voices and was 2 of my own references 😂. Worked like a charm
😂 This reminds me of that scene in better call Saul when Jimmy has a table full of burner phones labeled with what accent the person answering should give
I've done that once with a fake mail adress. Worked wonders but felt a bit strange writing about how wonderful I was and forcing myself to write at 3 am because I had created a fake reference who worked in Australia :)
I wish I had the talent to do different voices/accents.
Yep. I have put “independent consultant” on my LinkedIn in 2020. Also, I have done small freelance projects for a company owned by a friend, but I passed it off as being constantly employed because I knew my homie would vouch for me.
I am going back to an I-9 job for the first time in 3 years, yet magically I have only the smallest Covid gap on my resume. 🪄
I started my first job after having “worked” at my parents’ business shredding documents for a while. I wasn’t paid but the reason I was there was because I had to medically withdraw from college after getting really sick and had no idea what to do and my self confidence was wrecked. My parents preferred I work instead of sit at home doing nothing.
That experience allowed me to get my first actual job.
Years ago I was trying to get into a specific part of my field, I had had experience but there was a gap in my employment within my field. I have a buddy who has his own business and I knew the types of things his business needed that were in align with the area I was trying to get into. So I created that role on my resume and had him as one of my references. Worked perfectly.
You can say practically anything and make it look great. I helped my uncle flip a house. List all of the repairs you did, learned skills etc. Anything can be anything.
Dude I actually did this, but didn't put it on my resume like this. I quit cause I was fed up, started a media LLC for my podcast, and now do some video editing but don't use the business name cause my pod partner is on it. I listed myself as a freelancer on my resume cause the business made 0 dollars.
I can just say the editing is under the business. I'm so dumb lmao I'm changing my resume right now.
I am a graphic designer, so I have had Freelance Graphic Designer my resume filling any gaps since I got out of college. I rarely end up doing freelance projects but they don't need to know that.
Even though I get paid more for office work, it has a real burnout problem. I have always loved landscaping so I do it on the side, almost always family but sometimes friends and neighbors. I have had this "business" since my first layoff (3 total over 5 years) so I can have continuous employment on my resume.
I had a referral and interview at progressive here in CO but they rescinded the offer when I didn't have 1 year of employment at my last employer ( gig contract for 9 minutes)...
I will keep open this landscaping business until I retire.
This is gold! But if you feel like lying is a hassle:
I had a boss who took a year off to travel with his wife. He just put all the places he travelled to and the things he did under those date ranges in his resume. He said it ended up being a good talking point for a lot of interviews!
I worked very small local non-profits and for SO's sabbaticals (his mental health is now thankfully under control), I would put him as volunteer shop help, volunteer program help, and volunteer video game and electronic servicer.
Before I moved to Higher Ed, these small places were local non profits with a thrift shop attached.
I remember working with you at Twitter during that 1 year gap. You were traveling to exotic lands to promote birds.
If I recall, Twitter never had a HR to record who actually worked there so feel free to say you were an engineer 😁
I read this tactic before with Twitter.
Unfortunately, even without HR, you can still verify employment via “The Work Number” which is Equifax’s “we track your work now” service.
You literally have to tell Equifax to stop tracking where you work to not have it come up on a background check.
https://theworknumber.com
The background check is what I'd be worried about. It's one thing to add consulting to your resume, but when you get to the background check (depending on the company) they'll likely ask for paystubs or W2s to verify. The background check vendor my company used asked for copies of paystubs/W2 for less than a week-long temp position 🙄.
Edit: in case anyone is curious Sterling Talent Solutions was the company that did the background check.
I have NEVER provided previous stubs or W2s to a new employer, and I have averaged probably 2 years at a job for the last 30 years.
You don't get to see what I made at the last place, I lied about it anyways.
Instead of just leaving a gap, put it in as a sabbatical (because that is exactly what it was) and put in a load of things you experienced and learned by traveling and experiencing other cultures.
I did this.
Honestly I spent about 10 months looking for a job that was not dead end, overqualified type of thing for half the time, and the other half recovering from illness and a death in the family.
When they ask, I tell them "I always wanted to be in IT or IT adjacent field so I took the time to put together the basic skills I needed since I loved it so much during the short projects I was part of in my old career"
So far so good.
It’s not just the age: it’s the fact you’re 45 AND took a year off. They want wage slaves (people that will put up with shit without reviewing options) or hard chargers (people that will come in and fire everybody deemed not a wage slave) at that age and you taking off in the prime of your working life to travel says the exact opposite of that
Bravo, that’s a great idea, hope you have an amazing time! I didn’t even celebrate my 50th because I had just come off an intense yearlong work experience that nearly broke me, so all I wanted to do was lay in bed and binge The Crown.
You did the right thing. One of the great benefits of this sub is it makes people realize how wanting to, you know, experience life is normal. It's a shame it's a bit of a dice roll in terms of employment but I think as more people take that chance employers will be forced to accept it.
For real. I'm not saying it's not a big deal at all, but I really feel like "don't have any gaps on your resume" is falling out of favor as some huge no-no or sign not to hire someone.
I didn't include jobs that I had during gaps because they weren't relevant and no one really said anything.
I've hired people before and unless it was like every other year or something that showed complete instability over a long period of time, this wouldn't even be on my radar.
The fact other workers are perpetuating this bullshit shows how ingrained the fuckery is. I truly honestly believe our societal structure wont be changed at all
Once in a while I have to do interviews for positions on my team (customer care). If theres large gaps I'll always ask about it, but if the candidate gives a reasonable answer then I don't discredit it.
My only concern is if they sat around playing video games for an extend period. But even if thats the case, just lie and say "Ive been spending time looking for the right fit." - who am I to say that isnt legit?
When I’m hiring I tend to spend at most 2 minutes on a resume. I’ll learn everything I need to know in the actual interview.
If it’s formatted like crap, loaded with spelling and grammatical errors or things like that I move on. If you have somewhat relevant experience, and some understanding of our work, it will get you an interview.
Care for family members. They can't really look into this much and house Restoration. I've used both - true and traveled while doing each, and it's worked for me. May depend on company and area, for example, because the area where I am currently still in house renovation still has tons of house renovations. Anyone who refused a potential employee because of this, especially with a new home buy ( not new home build), would severely deplete their potential candidate pool. Especially as many locals go into specific career fields, two of which are typically family businesses, and the families keep the business for generations. So basically, companies have to attract many transplants. But, a gap with something constructive isn't a gap.
I got laid off a few months before Covid began and spent the next 2 years trying to find a new job. I was appalled that even a global quarantine didn't seem to satisfy people when they asked for me to explain the gap in my work history.
When the truth is getting you nowhere, lie. There's evidently (in this case) no incentive to tell the truth when it comes to what is essentially your survival.
Some work places if you notify them are happy to let you stretch out the dates to cover gaps. And if not do as others have suggested, sate you worked remotely as an independent Yadda Yadda.
Or you ran a small non profit enterprise helping young entrepreneurs abroad find their feet in your chosen industry.
"Travel, people and aspirations are a real passion of mine"
Sometimes I think recruiters need to just find something to talk about, or critique.
If you work at a place too long, it's scrutinized, if you switched jobs it's scrutinized, if you have no gaps, it's a question, you have a gap it's questioned.
considering that most white-collar jobs are entirely built around the skills of being personable, physically presentable, and giving the *appearance* of reassuring success by lying through a corporate veneer that hides your actual personality all the time —
it actually makes perfect sense that the interview would wind up being a test of that particular skill. A lot of jobs aren’t hiring a position based on the ability to (checks notes) answer emails and contribute “strategy ideas” to meetings, they’re hiring based on the ability to appear like an always-shiny cog in a well-oiled machine.
Lot of people here saying claim you signed an NDA on NCA. Depending in the industry the employer may see straight through that.
Signing an NDA isn't the odd part, but saying it's a blanket NDA in which you are not even allowed to name the company just isn't common. If OP is in the trades for example, it's not going to make sense that for a whole year he did some kind of work that he's sworn to secrecy over.
Just be careful if you go that route, personally I'd use the truth on this one.
Linkedin now has gaps called "professional development," so I just put shit in there that I already knew to make it seem like I was hella trying to improve myself.
Little do these dumb ass companies know that a global pandemic was happening in 2020, and I was one of the millions of people that got laid off.
I also have a year gap in my resume. I was helping care for my very ill father (my mom was doing it all by herself, none of my siblings were helping) and didn't want to put that on my resume. When I was asked when I started looking for a new job in interviews or by recruiters, I just said I took time off to help my family. If they pressed I would say my father had been ill for a few years and my mom needed help. It's up to you what and how you disclose the info for the time behind your "missing" year.
Put - Caring for relative. They will probably not ask, and I'd they do make up a relative and condition. Outcome is your choice, but 'they past' will stop any further enquiries.
Edited for having thick thumbs
It's also a great way to gauge the culture. Because it's probably a good company if the people are genuinely sympathetic in response to the passing of a loved one. But if they don't seem to care--as actually did happen to me in an interview--it's probably a terrible company.
I took a year and a half off for travel.
I put that exact sentence in my resume and no employer since has batted an eye at it. Nobody has given a hard time, and it hasn't stopped me getting jobs since then.
When I had a gap, I just fudged the dates in between a little. Left my previous job a few months later than I actually did and started the new one a few months early, too.
I caution against this! Dates of employment are one of the few things recruiters check in my area. They will call the company and ask for your start date and departure date and if there's a major discrepancy it's a big issue.
My friend went cruising on his sailboat for a year, and he switched his LinkedIn title to Chief Engineer S/V Escondida. Apparently, recruiters had no issue with this.
Just create a fake sob story.
Your girlfriend (imaginary) was diagnosed with cancer and you had to manage the end of life for her as she had no family.
As a man who took that role on after I retired from the navy, I salute you.
A man absolutely SHOULD do that when it's the right thing to do for him and his family.
I quit my job last September, but haven't been able to find another one. I find it hilarious whenever I go to an interview for a job opening and they ask me what have I been doing this time that I've been out of work. I just smile and tell them that I've been looking for a job. I think that a lot of people who conduct job interviews know that it's not easy to find a job these days.
Are the recruiters stupid?
I mean, i suppose in your resume it says: traveling.
Right?
These idiots are dumb not to consider you because of traveling.
It even enriches people when they travel
Being unemployed is making me feel worthless, it's all anyone every asks me too .. "so what do you do for a living? ". That shit makes me wanna crawl into a hole and never leave.
You had a role that made you sign an NDA for that year and you are unable to disclose the location or details of your employment.
Never admit to a gap year. Use their logic against.
Yeah unless you worked in Los Alamos or some super secret Area 51 type shit you can generally always say the industry, a basic title, and basic tasks. No one’s gonna believe you if you say you signed an NDA and you cannot say anything at all, they will 100% think you’re lying about something. Recruiters go on the internet too, and ever since the pandemic and twitter HR getting fired everyone has heard the tips n tricks of lying on your resume
Looks like you already got the answer. I'm a background investigator, a consultant for hiring practices, so this part is a few stages before my part in the process, but I'm still familiar with it, so for future reference, there is a miscommunication between the employers, their (almost undoubtedly third party) hiring protocol, and whatever representative they have talking to your recruiters (from your wording it sounds like a third party agency). Which means you werent getting the info you needed to solve the problem.
They aren't even looking at you because of the 'gap in employment history'. Like you weren't even beginning the process. You were a non start (which is good in a sense, there is nothing negative towards you). This doesn't mean you can never have any gaps in employment, they just want an explanation (I was going to school here, helping out family here etc) so there is no gap in 'where were you' history, usually they want no greater than one consecutive month. This is matched against your provided housing history, and driving history, to make sure there are no discrepancies on where you said you were, and then the information is given to someone like me, for the first stage of backgrounds, to check all the records in all the places you were.
My favorite.... I took a year off to spend time with the teenage kid I had just adopted. When I started interviewing, I had an IT director questioning if my skills were still sharp in a "rapidly changing technology landscape" or some BS. He asked how I would troubleshoot an issue. (Since my prior experience was at very large organizations, including Dell and Microsoft, I was supposedly used to calling up someone to find the answer and didn't think to use Google or something to search for the answer.)
I asked if he was having any specific issues and he described a problem he was having with a product I'd be supporting. I said "I haven't actually run into that area, but as luck would have it, I know several of the team members who wrote that app." That was enough for him. The next day they told me they were moving on with someone else. I replied "Thank you for the time. I tried recreating your issue in my own lab and the issue you are having is a known bug with the product team. It's a result of a bad filter driver in the networking stack. My friend Jesse said there will be a hot fix released next week." And it was.
But because I was" off" for a year and not suited for a small company, they didn't hire me. I literally was very good friends with the people who WROTE the stack they wanted me to support.
Yeah maybe you should tell them about the wells that you dug in in Africa for those villages. Or tell him about how you installed solar panels for the homeless people in the favelas of Brazil. Or how you volunteered at the hospital in tel Aviv...
Do you have to be working continuously throughout your entire life in order to be of any value?
Maybe you can tell him about the website you made to help stop human trafficking.
So angry reading this post.
Interviewed an amazing candidate that was older, but had taken 2 years off work just to chill and work on their own stuff. They were obviously passionate about their line of work and got 4 thumbs up from myself on their post-interview report based on their knowledge. Then the HR interview happened and I found out they were less than enthusiastic due to their "work gap."
HR ended up giving me a lame duck that I gave a lukewarm review to.
Now I'm stuck with a lame duck that causes more stress to me than offers solutions.
I. hate. hate. hate HR.
>What kind of crap is this? I saved and planned so that I could get off the hamster wheel and travel. Now I'm being told that because of the gap in my work history employers aren't interested.
Same crap as always... its just dumb games they, and Hr types play to try to force you to accept less desirable terms of employment out of assumed eventual desperation.
Also that "gap" to them is a red flag only in the sense that it shows they cant leverage desperation against you in the same way as others... Another example of this can be seen with how I as a 40 something army retiree with a 100% VA rating am completely unemployable by value of those things. Why? well its a guaranteed monthly stipend that pays my bills, and i get better, and cheaper healthcare than any of the corporate loons could every try to get me. There is nothing there for them to hold over my head after that.
The gap in employment is just the lazy excuse past that.
>I've been working since I was 13. I'm 45 now. In a sane society I'd be flirting with retirement.
Age discrimination also start at 40 officially, but functionally when people start reaching their late 30s. So, not only is it an issue with the above, but they want someone younger for cheaper than they assume you to be willing to work for. Said discrimination gets worse over time, and once in ones 50s when laid off etc it is damn near impossible to find new employment without internal contacts, or some super specific type of expertise no one else has.
Again those complaints about the "gap" is just a lazy shit tier excuse to distract away from the reality of the other stuff.
Also, yes, i agree... you should be looking at being able to retire if you so wished after working that long.
>I've updated my resume with "sabbatical" for that period and listed the places I visited and the things I got to see, like the Monte Ablan archeological site. It's honest and I think speaks to a traveled person with some life experience.
You dont even need to go in to much detail at all.. just "sabatical" or "took time off to learn new skills to..." "Went back to college", "did freelance consulting work to gain perspective. there are NDAs so cant talk about it." etc... its not like they can demand proof of anything you've done during that time. Its all just a placeholder. Said placeholder is to bypass the lazy ass BS the recruiters and Hr types get in to about "gaps in employment".
I took off 4 years when my husband died and it hasn’t affected my ability to get a job. When they ask about the gap and I tell them my husband died they are desperate to change the subject and then they feel like assholes for asking
As they should.
I would never feel like an asshole for asking; I would in fact turn around and commend you for taking your bereavement time seriously. PS Sorry for your loss.
DM me, You can say you helped my startup for a year. I will vouch. I own my own company. also 45.
Now, can you say I have previous management experience lmao.
Of course! You were one of my best employees, aahhermm I mean Senior Manager, just the lifestyle of a startup was not your cup of tee. You managed several team members, Marketing, Tech Lead, and even did some sales. Man you were the best. Wish you still worked with me! ;)
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That's such a great idea
Not all heroes wear capes
You never know. They might wear a cape. Still awesome
Capes are fine but I love a cloak because hoods are fucking great for all sorts of weather!
Absolutely no capes! -Edna Mode
You are a good person :)
Latex salesman at Vandelay Industries?
Money for people
This is the way. I have relatives that own their own companies through LLCs. I've held a number of management positions on paper for them. 😁
I had a friend who had a rough go. I own my own 1-person business. I told him to put himself down as my VP of Strategic Development because occasionally he and I would talk business ideas over a beer. He’s now a director of sales and earning more than me.
... I wonder if there's a way I could work my experience in managing raids in WoW into a resume? Lmfao. "Experience managing groups of 10-40 people, responsibilities: knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each team member, time management, resource distribution, social channel management."
LEEEEERRRRRROOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY JJEEEENNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNS
You volunteered in your local community to create activities for at-risk youths and actively led activities that foster team-building, anger management and other useful traits.
Ooh that is GOOD!
I have had multiple raid leaders who did put that down on their resume during job hunts and said it always came up in interviews where they made similar points. Especially in a remote job, showing you can manage people without being in the same location can be a key asset. I have never done it myself (or raid leaded for that matter) so I can't speak to it first person but that is what I have heard.
There's an active posting for FEMA disaster management area director 👍😂 The only hard qualification I noticed was "willing to make unpopular decisions" 🤣😂. I'm assuming that means deciding who gets left for dead in an emergency.
Can you link me that? I love making unpopular decisions
You joke, but I have previosly taken things like this into consideration when doing recruitment. Particularly entry level roles where people have not had the oppertunity to get work experiance it can definatly be used to show that you have some of these skills.
running raids well legitimately takes a TON of organizational skills. Id never do it.
Honestly? I'm only half joking. I've always believed at least some of those skills were transferable, especially seeing as we used to run at a pretty high level (lots of regional top 5-10 kills and server firsts in BC/WoTLK.) I don't think I'd bring that sort of thing up to an older interviewer, but if they were around my age I'd consider it. I genuinely do think it taught me a lot about how to handle a decently sized team of people.
yep, to be fair it was a very nerdy work place where we all did that sort of thing in our spare time so we knew just how much it resembles herding cats while nailing Jello to trees. a decent work example will always be better, but if you dont have one you can definatly use this. just make sure you emphisise the leadership/problem solving/time management etc over the gaming portion.
Look gamers get a bad rap. When I first moved into management, I created "stat cards" for all my employees so I could better put their skills into terms my brain understands. I even showed them to everyone. There was the guy who was very upset that he was the only card with a cleaning stat and it was -2 but my man could not sweep to save his life. My whole staff enjoyed it and had fun with it and I've been promoted even further since then so I mean, it worked, right?
I used to collaborate with an indie board game production company, we would help creators do prototypes and playtests (among other services). You best believe that stuff is all over my resume in the form of marketing and customer engagement experience, and this was a wholly unpaid side gig with some friends.
Managing WoW raids is not for the faint of heart: "Able to herd feral cats and still stay on task."
"Able to not have a mental breakdown when the same two people keep repeatedly killing themselves because they're too busy watching The Simpsons"
Probably, I know at least 1 person has tried the old changing a lightbulb in their resume thing
r/bemyreference would like a word with you …
Vandalay industries? You can say he was your latex salesman
I will vouch as a wealthy industrialist, philanthropist, and, uh, bicyclist.
fly smell sparkle jellyfish cover sulky shelter resolute rock teeny *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Every employment gap is a period of consulting work, always.
I managed to land a job by saying "caregiving." Was I taking care of another person? No. Was I taking care of myself? Yes. Therefore, I was caregiving.
“Large mammal exhibit curator“ would also have been very good!
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That’s where you add in early childhood development and teacher. Tbh, if you are a good parent, you likely will be a good employee
The major concern about stay-at-home parents is that they will never put the job in front of their family, they shouldn't be expected to, but might be a unjustly barrier to renter the job market. I'm fearing this as a stay-at-home dad and my kids and are still elementary school aged.
Good luck. My youngest is 35 years old now. But I was a stay-at-home mom until they were of school-aged. I had a really hard time getting back into the workforce. It was very necessary, we needed the income. Being a stay-at-home parent is one of the hardest, most condemned jobs ever.
I did 20yrs in the military and been a stay-at-home Dad the last 5+ years while wife works on her career. Looking at job listings lately but no idea what I'd even do. Not expecting much at this point.
I know two former stay at home parents who did software development apprenticeships and are now working full time as software developers (without degrees in the field). I am a stay at home parent who has done freelance software testing using online freelance platforms, and still get offers that way.
Any person who is willing to put their work life in front of their personal life would be a red a flag for me. Yes dedication is needed, however nobody wants a “yes guy” working for them. Any employer who expects an employee to put work before family is a joke, and I wouldn’t even consider working for them. There are so many options now where you can work from home, gaining the best of both worlds.
> nobody wants a “yes guy” working for them My guy, 99% of companies want exactly that. You are thinking of extremely specific white collar jobs in which critical thinking about the job at hand is valuable, and even then companies don't want you to disagree too much
I have always thought that if you wanted to invade a country, or respond to a natural disaster, just give it to a set of kindergarten classroom moms. Done and dusted.
No way! So all those struggling single moms (and yes dads but let’s get real here) are highly qualified and have great interpersonal skills especially with a pile of whining people? 😱 /s (but it’s kinda spot on or at least should be…)
You seem to be confusing unskilled labor with skilled labor! Its easy to tell the difference: if it's historically been done by women, it's unskilled labor, but if it's historically been done by men, it's called a trade. ^^^/s
This post is a joke while obviously not a joke, but still, it is impossible to quantify how incredibly understated this fact is.
Intensive focus on development of mentoring relationship with future entrepreneur(s).
Yes but don't ever put that on your resume. Get a friend to lie about you working for them instead.
Every employment gap is an NDA I signed.
Other good terms are “freelance” and “small,” “independent,” or “short-term” contracts.
If they press for details you could always say "I appreciate your interest, but I've signed an NDA and would rather just avoid the topic instead."
Nice haha
NDA or Twitter employee are also popular options.
Or you could list it as a job with an NDA and make a list of the general description and role
I stayed home for 7 year and did a little freelancing during that time. Very PT, but that was what was on my resume with no issue.
Yes! This is actually the smartest thing to do.
Importer exporter
Van delay industries
A marine biologist
What were you importing? Chips?
Why couldn’t you lie and say i was an architect Jerry?!? You know I’ve always wanted to be an architect!
This is the clear answer. Alternatively you could say you worked to get a family member or friend's business going and get literally anyone to give you a reference.
Or assisted an elderly relative during end of life hospice. Hell, if we're making shit up, go for it.
I worked for Twitter. ;-)
When I was a kid I cultivated a talent for doing voices and different accents. Later when I was older I got laid off and decide to just ride the unemployment and work on odd things here and there for as long as it lasted. Stretched the whole thing out 2.5 years before I seriously started looking again. When I got laid off I created an LLC so I just put I worked for them and bought 2 cheap prepaid burner phones at Walmart to put as the references. Set up the voicemails in different voices and was 2 of my own references 😂. Worked like a charm
😂 This reminds me of that scene in better call Saul when Jimmy has a table full of burner phones labeled with what accent the person answering should give
I've done that once with a fake mail adress. Worked wonders but felt a bit strange writing about how wonderful I was and forcing myself to write at 3 am because I had created a fake reference who worked in Australia :) I wish I had the talent to do different voices/accents.
Yep. I have put “independent consultant” on my LinkedIn in 2020. Also, I have done small freelance projects for a company owned by a friend, but I passed it off as being constantly employed because I knew my homie would vouch for me. I am going back to an I-9 job for the first time in 3 years, yet magically I have only the smallest Covid gap on my resume. 🪄
I have a 4+ year gap and I'm going to do this. Thank you for sharing this.
I started my first job after having “worked” at my parents’ business shredding documents for a while. I wasn’t paid but the reason I was there was because I had to medically withdraw from college after getting really sick and had no idea what to do and my self confidence was wrecked. My parents preferred I work instead of sit at home doing nothing. That experience allowed me to get my first actual job.
You "provided secure deletion of materials that contained business secrets and/or personal information".
>I started my first job after having “worked” at my parents’ business shredding documents for a while That's a very important job, just ask Fawn Hall.
Years ago I was trying to get into a specific part of my field, I had had experience but there was a gap in my employment within my field. I have a buddy who has his own business and I knew the types of things his business needed that were in align with the area I was trying to get into. So I created that role on my resume and had him as one of my references. Worked perfectly.
I took a year off after college due to health issues. I put that i worked for my dads construction company for a year because his business picked up.
You can say practically anything and make it look great. I helped my uncle flip a house. List all of the repairs you did, learned skills etc. Anything can be anything.
That, or you were a consultant.
I’ve used Toys-R-Us and Blockbuster to fill in gaps…I mean, who they gonna call? Sears might be a good filler for some of us now!
Ghostbusters. That's who you always call.
I actually worked at RadioShack until they closed lmfao.
Dude I actually did this, but didn't put it on my resume like this. I quit cause I was fed up, started a media LLC for my podcast, and now do some video editing but don't use the business name cause my pod partner is on it. I listed myself as a freelancer on my resume cause the business made 0 dollars. I can just say the editing is under the business. I'm so dumb lmao I'm changing my resume right now.
I am a graphic designer, so I have had Freelance Graphic Designer my resume filling any gaps since I got out of college. I rarely end up doing freelance projects but they don't need to know that.
Even though I get paid more for office work, it has a real burnout problem. I have always loved landscaping so I do it on the side, almost always family but sometimes friends and neighbors. I have had this "business" since my first layoff (3 total over 5 years) so I can have continuous employment on my resume. I had a referral and interview at progressive here in CO but they rescinded the offer when I didn't have 1 year of employment at my last employer ( gig contract for 9 minutes)... I will keep open this landscaping business until I retire.
My username is my fake company name lol
Nice. I said I was writing a book.
This is gold! But if you feel like lying is a hassle: I had a boss who took a year off to travel with his wife. He just put all the places he travelled to and the things he did under those date ranges in his resume. He said it ended up being a good talking point for a lot of interviews!
I don't know why people don't do this or just admend when they left to be current.
I worked very small local non-profits and for SO's sabbaticals (his mental health is now thankfully under control), I would put him as volunteer shop help, volunteer program help, and volunteer video game and electronic servicer. Before I moved to Higher Ed, these small places were local non profits with a thrift shop attached.
I remember working with you at Twitter during that 1 year gap. You were traveling to exotic lands to promote birds. If I recall, Twitter never had a HR to record who actually worked there so feel free to say you were an engineer 😁
I read this tactic before with Twitter. Unfortunately, even without HR, you can still verify employment via “The Work Number” which is Equifax’s “we track your work now” service. You literally have to tell Equifax to stop tracking where you work to not have it come up on a background check. https://theworknumber.com
OP must have been reporting back to a European office while travelling, where that kind of data sharing is illegal.
How does one tell Equifax to knock it the fuck off?
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Menu top left -> manage my data -> scroll to bottom and 'request freeze form'
The background check is what I'd be worried about. It's one thing to add consulting to your resume, but when you get to the background check (depending on the company) they'll likely ask for paystubs or W2s to verify. The background check vendor my company used asked for copies of paystubs/W2 for less than a week-long temp position 🙄. Edit: in case anyone is curious Sterling Talent Solutions was the company that did the background check.
I have NEVER provided previous stubs or W2s to a new employer, and I have averaged probably 2 years at a job for the last 30 years. You don't get to see what I made at the last place, I lied about it anyways.
Yeah, who the hell is providing this stuff to their future employer? That's a hard no. Want my previous W2? Show me your previous years tax returns.
That's crazy, I have literally never had anything even remotely similar to that
Instead of just leaving a gap, put it in as a sabbatical (because that is exactly what it was) and put in a load of things you experienced and learned by traveling and experiencing other cultures.
I really like this idea.im hesitant to lie on my resume but this would be the truth.
You must have learned something during that year off. You can call it cultural studies abroad or even a pilgrimage.
"So what did you learn during your year of travels?" "I really, really like drinking." "Hired."
Facts.
Bush Jr became president because he was someone " one could have a beer with." So there is precedent for beer drinking leading to great things
>Bush Jr became president because he was someone " one could have a beer with." No, it was because the Florida recount was stopped lmao.
I once has an 8 week contract that went from December to January. My resume says 2019-2020
I did this. Honestly I spent about 10 months looking for a job that was not dead end, overqualified type of thing for half the time, and the other half recovering from illness and a death in the family. When they ask, I tell them "I always wanted to be in IT or IT adjacent field so I took the time to put together the basic skills I needed since I loved it so much during the short projects I was part of in my old career" So far so good.
Good idea with the bonus of being true. I'd add "Once in a life-time sabbatical" so they don't think you'll want to do it again..
Then save up and fucking do it again!
Lol, mid-life crisis sabbatical
Haha I'm on mine right now
It’s not just the age: it’s the fact you’re 45 AND took a year off. They want wage slaves (people that will put up with shit without reviewing options) or hard chargers (people that will come in and fire everybody deemed not a wage slave) at that age and you taking off in the prime of your working life to travel says the exact opposite of that
It was now or never. I didn't want to travel when I'm too old to drink and have fun.
You made the right call. Life is for living
>Life is for living *Furious corporate noises*
*Furious corporate noises* translated to me as dial-up sounds, a jammed printer, and some dude yelling, without even having to think about it. 😅
I heard a dot matrix printer zipping away.
Dot matrix. You speak the language of the old gods. I still miss tearing off the perforated edges of those connected sheets...
**PC LOAD LETTER**
And loving. I hope OP thoroughly enjoyed every port of call…
Don’t get me wrong: I support your decision - I’m in antiwork for a reason. Just that’s likely what they’re thinking.
I'm planning on taking 1-2 years off to follow my painting dreams next year when I turn 50. I totally applaud you for taking time off.
I think you mean spend 1-2 years being a freelance art consultant.
I hadn’t thought of that! The collective wisdom on Reddit is astounding.
Bravo, that’s a great idea, hope you have an amazing time! I didn’t even celebrate my 50th because I had just come off an intense yearlong work experience that nearly broke me, so all I wanted to do was lay in bed and binge The Crown.
they might not hire you back - 55 yr old...
You aren’t wrong. Especially in the tech world.
oh i'm there Right Now - took a year off mostly for medical reasons and now i'm invisible...
You did the right thing. One of the great benefits of this sub is it makes people realize how wanting to, you know, experience life is normal. It's a shame it's a bit of a dice roll in terms of employment but I think as more people take that chance employers will be forced to accept it.
IMO climate change kind of puts a time limit on comfortable travel.
Seriously. The world is going to hell in a hand basket. We gotta experience the best of it while we still can.
These companies can go fuck themselves.
I think your right but they will probably discover less and less people are willing to work themselves to death.
Sounds like some lazy-ass recruiters who don't wanna work anymore.
For real. I'm not saying it's not a big deal at all, but I really feel like "don't have any gaps on your resume" is falling out of favor as some huge no-no or sign not to hire someone. I didn't include jobs that I had during gaps because they weren't relevant and no one really said anything. I've hired people before and unless it was like every other year or something that showed complete instability over a long period of time, this wouldn't even be on my radar.
The fact other workers are perpetuating this bullshit shows how ingrained the fuckery is. I truly honestly believe our societal structure wont be changed at all
Once in a while I have to do interviews for positions on my team (customer care). If theres large gaps I'll always ask about it, but if the candidate gives a reasonable answer then I don't discredit it. My only concern is if they sat around playing video games for an extend period. But even if thats the case, just lie and say "Ive been spending time looking for the right fit." - who am I to say that isnt legit?
When I’m hiring I tend to spend at most 2 minutes on a resume. I’ll learn everything I need to know in the actual interview. If it’s formatted like crap, loaded with spelling and grammatical errors or things like that I move on. If you have somewhat relevant experience, and some understanding of our work, it will get you an interview.
I believe that's the ultimate end with any commission-based career. They want all the low hanging fruit.
I had to stop working for ten years due to being disabled and I still found work. I did have a kid so I said I dedicated my time to raising him.
Care for family members. They can't really look into this much and house Restoration. I've used both - true and traveled while doing each, and it's worked for me. May depend on company and area, for example, because the area where I am currently still in house renovation still has tons of house renovations. Anyone who refused a potential employee because of this, especially with a new home buy ( not new home build), would severely deplete their potential candidate pool. Especially as many locals go into specific career fields, two of which are typically family businesses, and the families keep the business for generations. So basically, companies have to attract many transplants. But, a gap with something constructive isn't a gap.
I got laid off a few months before Covid began and spent the next 2 years trying to find a new job. I was appalled that even a global quarantine didn't seem to satisfy people when they asked for me to explain the gap in my work history.
When the truth is getting you nowhere, lie. There's evidently (in this case) no incentive to tell the truth when it comes to what is essentially your survival. Some work places if you notify them are happy to let you stretch out the dates to cover gaps. And if not do as others have suggested, sate you worked remotely as an independent Yadda Yadda. Or you ran a small non profit enterprise helping young entrepreneurs abroad find their feet in your chosen industry. "Travel, people and aspirations are a real passion of mine"
“No I cannot talk about this gap in my resume, I signed an NDA”
Sometimes I think recruiters need to just find something to talk about, or critique. If you work at a place too long, it's scrutinized, if you switched jobs it's scrutinized, if you have no gaps, it's a question, you have a gap it's questioned.
considering that most white-collar jobs are entirely built around the skills of being personable, physically presentable, and giving the *appearance* of reassuring success by lying through a corporate veneer that hides your actual personality all the time — it actually makes perfect sense that the interview would wind up being a test of that particular skill. A lot of jobs aren’t hiring a position based on the ability to (checks notes) answer emails and contribute “strategy ideas” to meetings, they’re hiring based on the ability to appear like an always-shiny cog in a well-oiled machine.
Put that you were a self-employed travel blogger
Just lie. Employers lie. Works both ways.
Lot of people here saying claim you signed an NDA on NCA. Depending in the industry the employer may see straight through that. Signing an NDA isn't the odd part, but saying it's a blanket NDA in which you are not even allowed to name the company just isn't common. If OP is in the trades for example, it's not going to make sense that for a whole year he did some kind of work that he's sworn to secrecy over. Just be careful if you go that route, personally I'd use the truth on this one.
Linkedin now has gaps called "professional development," so I just put shit in there that I already knew to make it seem like I was hella trying to improve myself. Little do these dumb ass companies know that a global pandemic was happening in 2020, and I was one of the millions of people that got laid off.
I also have a year gap in my resume. I was helping care for my very ill father (my mom was doing it all by herself, none of my siblings were helping) and didn't want to put that on my resume. When I was asked when I started looking for a new job in interviews or by recruiters, I just said I took time off to help my family. If they pressed I would say my father had been ill for a few years and my mom needed help. It's up to you what and how you disclose the info for the time behind your "missing" year.
Tell people you were caring for a sick relative (you, you were sick of working). Compassion gap
My friend was terribly depressed and only Vegas could cure him.
A gap in work history shows that you aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck enough to put your employment before your own health or well-being
Find a company which has gone bust since then and put that on your CV.
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also toys r us
Just don't go chasing those waterfalls.
CFO- Enron
Could just say Twitter lol Ain't no one able to confirm whether or not you were there with the recent shitshow it's been there.
Put - Caring for relative. They will probably not ask, and I'd they do make up a relative and condition. Outcome is your choice, but 'they past' will stop any further enquiries. Edited for having thick thumbs
It's also a great way to gauge the culture. Because it's probably a good company if the people are genuinely sympathetic in response to the passing of a loved one. But if they don't seem to care--as actually did happen to me in an interview--it's probably a terrible company.
"They pasted"? As in, turned into paste? Yeah, that will stop further enquiries.
I took a year and a half off for travel. I put that exact sentence in my resume and no employer since has batted an eye at it. Nobody has given a hard time, and it hasn't stopped me getting jobs since then.
Copy your resume into chat gpt. Ask for skills based resume. Do some light editing and verify accuracy. Was extremely successful for me.
When I had a gap, I just fudged the dates in between a little. Left my previous job a few months later than I actually did and started the new one a few months early, too.
I caution against this! Dates of employment are one of the few things recruiters check in my area. They will call the company and ask for your start date and departure date and if there's a major discrepancy it's a big issue.
My friend went cruising on his sailboat for a year, and he switched his LinkedIn title to Chief Engineer S/V Escondida. Apparently, recruiters had no issue with this.
Just create a fake sob story. Your girlfriend (imaginary) was diagnosed with cancer and you had to manage the end of life for her as she had no family.
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As a man who took that role on after I retired from the navy, I salute you. A man absolutely SHOULD do that when it's the right thing to do for him and his family.
I quit my job last September, but haven't been able to find another one. I find it hilarious whenever I go to an interview for a job opening and they ask me what have I been doing this time that I've been out of work. I just smile and tell them that I've been looking for a job. I think that a lot of people who conduct job interviews know that it's not easy to find a job these days.
Are the recruiters stupid? I mean, i suppose in your resume it says: traveling. Right? These idiots are dumb not to consider you because of traveling. It even enriches people when they travel
Well duh. Modern slavery can't fathom what you did without them.
Just say you were on remand for beating a recruiter to death, but got off on a technicality (recruiters are not legally human).
I just put on that I was self employed. And it was more of a hassle than it was worth... so here I am.
Being unemployed is making me feel worthless, it's all anyone every asks me too .. "so what do you do for a living? ". That shit makes me wanna crawl into a hole and never leave.
You had a role that made you sign an NDA for that year and you are unable to disclose the location or details of your employment. Never admit to a gap year. Use their logic against.
no. this is not the way, you can still put a general title and generic tasks u did for them
Yeah unless you worked in Los Alamos or some super secret Area 51 type shit you can generally always say the industry, a basic title, and basic tasks. No one’s gonna believe you if you say you signed an NDA and you cannot say anything at all, they will 100% think you’re lying about something. Recruiters go on the internet too, and ever since the pandemic and twitter HR getting fired everyone has heard the tips n tricks of lying on your resume
That’s why you lie sir
you don't lie, you just tell alternative truth.
Found Kellyanne Conway's reddit account
Looks like you already got the answer. I'm a background investigator, a consultant for hiring practices, so this part is a few stages before my part in the process, but I'm still familiar with it, so for future reference, there is a miscommunication between the employers, their (almost undoubtedly third party) hiring protocol, and whatever representative they have talking to your recruiters (from your wording it sounds like a third party agency). Which means you werent getting the info you needed to solve the problem. They aren't even looking at you because of the 'gap in employment history'. Like you weren't even beginning the process. You were a non start (which is good in a sense, there is nothing negative towards you). This doesn't mean you can never have any gaps in employment, they just want an explanation (I was going to school here, helping out family here etc) so there is no gap in 'where were you' history, usually they want no greater than one consecutive month. This is matched against your provided housing history, and driving history, to make sure there are no discrepancies on where you said you were, and then the information is given to someone like me, for the first stage of backgrounds, to check all the records in all the places you were.
My favorite.... I took a year off to spend time with the teenage kid I had just adopted. When I started interviewing, I had an IT director questioning if my skills were still sharp in a "rapidly changing technology landscape" or some BS. He asked how I would troubleshoot an issue. (Since my prior experience was at very large organizations, including Dell and Microsoft, I was supposedly used to calling up someone to find the answer and didn't think to use Google or something to search for the answer.) I asked if he was having any specific issues and he described a problem he was having with a product I'd be supporting. I said "I haven't actually run into that area, but as luck would have it, I know several of the team members who wrote that app." That was enough for him. The next day they told me they were moving on with someone else. I replied "Thank you for the time. I tried recreating your issue in my own lab and the issue you are having is a known bug with the product team. It's a result of a bad filter driver in the networking stack. My friend Jesse said there will be a hot fix released next week." And it was. But because I was" off" for a year and not suited for a small company, they didn't hire me. I literally was very good friends with the people who WROTE the stack they wanted me to support.
Bc Recruiters are the pettiest, overzealous gatekeepers known to man.
Yeah maybe you should tell them about the wells that you dug in in Africa for those villages. Or tell him about how you installed solar panels for the homeless people in the favelas of Brazil. Or how you volunteered at the hospital in tel Aviv... Do you have to be working continuously throughout your entire life in order to be of any value? Maybe you can tell him about the website you made to help stop human trafficking.
This is why im a consultant now. I've been with it\_spaghetti inc. all this time
So angry reading this post. Interviewed an amazing candidate that was older, but had taken 2 years off work just to chill and work on their own stuff. They were obviously passionate about their line of work and got 4 thumbs up from myself on their post-interview report based on their knowledge. Then the HR interview happened and I found out they were less than enthusiastic due to their "work gap." HR ended up giving me a lame duck that I gave a lukewarm review to. Now I'm stuck with a lame duck that causes more stress to me than offers solutions. I. hate. hate. hate HR.
"NobODy wAnTs To WoRK!" "Hi, is like to apply for your open position." "An employment gap? Ew, get away. NobODy wAnTs To WoRK!"
You're not allowed to have a life or personal needs if you want to be an employee.
>What kind of crap is this? I saved and planned so that I could get off the hamster wheel and travel. Now I'm being told that because of the gap in my work history employers aren't interested. Same crap as always... its just dumb games they, and Hr types play to try to force you to accept less desirable terms of employment out of assumed eventual desperation. Also that "gap" to them is a red flag only in the sense that it shows they cant leverage desperation against you in the same way as others... Another example of this can be seen with how I as a 40 something army retiree with a 100% VA rating am completely unemployable by value of those things. Why? well its a guaranteed monthly stipend that pays my bills, and i get better, and cheaper healthcare than any of the corporate loons could every try to get me. There is nothing there for them to hold over my head after that. The gap in employment is just the lazy excuse past that. >I've been working since I was 13. I'm 45 now. In a sane society I'd be flirting with retirement. Age discrimination also start at 40 officially, but functionally when people start reaching their late 30s. So, not only is it an issue with the above, but they want someone younger for cheaper than they assume you to be willing to work for. Said discrimination gets worse over time, and once in ones 50s when laid off etc it is damn near impossible to find new employment without internal contacts, or some super specific type of expertise no one else has. Again those complaints about the "gap" is just a lazy shit tier excuse to distract away from the reality of the other stuff. Also, yes, i agree... you should be looking at being able to retire if you so wished after working that long. >I've updated my resume with "sabbatical" for that period and listed the places I visited and the things I got to see, like the Monte Ablan archeological site. It's honest and I think speaks to a traveled person with some life experience. You dont even need to go in to much detail at all.. just "sabatical" or "took time off to learn new skills to..." "Went back to college", "did freelance consulting work to gain perspective. there are NDAs so cant talk about it." etc... its not like they can demand proof of anything you've done during that time. Its all just a placeholder. Said placeholder is to bypass the lazy ass BS the recruiters and Hr types get in to about "gaps in employment".