Easy questions have easy answers, right?
“I was unemployed”
- Why?
- Can they not even keep a job?
“I took a sabbatical”
- Mysterious
- Arousing
- Shows off the size of your enormous sack
EDIT : When I took my sabbatical and I was dating at the same time, instead of being seen as a scruffy bum it actually did give an air of mystique, since most people at that age were not doing things like that.
What’s your biggest strength?
The size of my enormous sack
Santa?
Randy Marsh, sir, you’re hired.
I love Randy Marsh, but theres absolutely no way in hell I’d hire him, the legal risks would be high as fuck, plus there’s always the risk he would start a coup and take over the place.
I don’t care if he’s qualified, he’s Randy fucking Marsh, that’s a danger to your wellbeing.
Sounds like you need a little tegridy.
I’m having some tegridy right now.
Will this actually work?
It depends on the context if you say you had an NDA and can’t elaborate at all on the details that’s a clear red flag as most NDAs you can at least give the context of what it is about I.e. specific job processes, witnesses an event, etc.
If you say you worked for X company but can’t talk about the details of your work because of an NDA then that’s fine but they might call your old employer to verify you did really work there.
For the most part, yes. They only really ask the question because they automatically assume you were in jail if you have a gap over 2’ish weeks long. So they’re really just looking for some sort of explanation besides “I was just unemployed for no reason.” Because they assume “no reason” is really “I don’t want to admit that I was in jail.”
Lol who tf actually thinks that. Ive hired and never thought that
yeah thats a wild assumption, maybe ppl just have enough money to survive for a while and dont want to work while they pursue hobbies, why is that not allowed, nah mustve been in jail
maybe ppl just have enough money to survive for a while and dont want to work while they pursue hobbies
The issue is that this is exactly what employers are trying to avoid. They want a good little worker bee who will show up every day and complete their tasks as assigned for 25 years straight. They don’t want someone who will just randomly decide to quit and focus on their hobbies. They want stability and predictability, because hiring new workers is a massive expense.
Because ppl expect/get more benefits and pay overtime
I thought it was worse to retain ppl long term and thats why they are constsntly firing ppl?
It’s almost never actually a good business decision in the long-term to lose an employee, unless that employee is actually causing losses. All the layoffs of the past 50ish years from corporate downsizing is thanks to the business philosophy of Jack Welch. When you stop paying a large group of people, it looks good in the next quarterly meeting because you can point at the money you’re saving. The bad part is that now the business A) has lost that productivity, and B) will likely need to spend more money hiring a replacement worker who won’t be as competent.
Man, you must live a privileged life if it didn’t even cross your mind that jobs might exist where that is a legitimate concern.
What if a small gap on their resume means jail?? What the fuck are you on about
Chill dude. I’m saying that there are jobs that employ people who often have a criminal history, and gaps in their employment record really often are because tey went to jail.
So, even though you may not interview very many former criminals in your line of work, surely you shouldn’t be at a loss to understand why anyone would ever think that.
Im saying the hiring managers that think that are brain dead
I give 'em the old “caring for a sick or dying family member.” Look sad that they brought it up. That usually shuts them up.
I believe this is the best answer.
Wouldn’t any criminal record be public record? Couldn’t they just look it up?
You can have criminal records sealed, depending on what it is, etc.
Also, in many jurisdictions you can’t look up criminal history older than a certain number of years
No NDA on earth prohibits giving a vague idea of what the duties and industry were. You may not be able to say the specific projects you worked on, or maybe even the name of the employer under extreme circumstances, but that would be like MI5 level rare, and those folks aren’t out applying for the jobs you are.
The real trick is having an LLC so you can just point to that and say you were consulting or self-employed during that time. Or have a friend with one.
A buddy of mine had an LLC and I hired him to write my cover letter. He then had me fill some review about my experience with his company for some position he was applying for. I never lied, but the whole thing just felt so weird. But at the same time, that’s just normal. It’s not like he wasn’t capable of the work or something. He did a good job on my cover letter. He was a good grant writer before that. I just have that lingering Christian guilt that’s like “omg you’re doing something wrong! This is your conscience! Behave!”
2 weeks is barely enough to get an interview. Who thinks jail? lmao
HR plebs
I also just think it’s human nature to see something like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 and say “where are 8nand 9?” It’s not necessarily an accusation or something. I’m not saying that never happens, some places and interviewers are awful. But I think a lot of people are just making sure there isn’t a typo or something.
I had a 6 month gap and I said I was taking a sabbatical (which was the truth). No one batted an eye.
Not even remotely.
I can’t tell you, I signed an NDA
Oh. I’m bookmarking this. Great idea.
I was told one way is: I singed a nda and I’m not allowed to answer that
My refusal to answer is proof that I’m trustworthy :3
You’d still be asked to provide start and end dates and place of employment if your work was confidential. If the NDA prohibits you from disclosing your employment entirely, it will typically include a restriction against disclosing the existence of the NDA itself.
“I legally cannot tell you what I was doing from 20xx-20xx”
I’d still ask follow-up questions. Was it in the public or private sector? What branch or industry? Were you in a leadership role, part of a team, or working as an individual contributor? What skills did you develop during that employment that would be beneficial to your employment in this role?
“I cannot answer any of those except the last one, which is that I learned how to avoid questions like these”
Was singeing the NDA the reason you didn’t keep that job?
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“I had to provide end of life care to a close relative.”
I have a big gap from a few years of depression and that’s my go to line. I have never ever heard a follow up question.
I have a big gap from a few years of depression
It’s relieving to hear I’m not the only one, that shit was crippling. Glad we both made it through!
Fuck yeah. We survived!
How big are we talking, I sometimes feel like taking a year off to fix my mental health, but I fear it will kill my career
I have a year of uni (unfinished), a year of an apprenticeship (unfinished) and then 1.5yrs of joblessness. Started at 20, I learned a trade in my mid twenties and have a solid career now. I just regret I was never able to finish uni.
Haha, as if anyone actually asks that. A gap gets you automatically rejected by the employment AI, long before humans see it.
Can someone confirm from* a recruitment standpoint.
What does one put on the resume then?
You use the other AI to fill it in on the resume.
That’s why my resume is just a QR code.
lies
Secrets and Lies. Secrets and Lies!
FMLA is always a safe bet. Only one available to care for a dying family member buys sympathy and is an area they can’t legally ask any follow-up questions.
Source: former corporate shill and interviewer
Yes. I created the document in Google docs, and you opened it in Word.
That’s why you should provide PDF of you resume.
Nah just give them the
.texsource and let them deal with it.And let them figure out the bajillion packages it needs to render correctly
I created it in Word and opened it in Teams by accident once.
Teams embedded Office is the worst. Like, can you not, and would it hurt to be ⅔ less bloated by doing so?
This is on you then. Providing finished documents in an editable format just feels wrong to me
Sharing a document in Google docs means sharing a link and in many cases with read-only access.
“Sorrry, I have an NDA”
NDAs generally prohibit you from stating that you are under NDA.
Better to be cryptic “I can’t really go into details due to my clearance”.
That doesn’t work either
They still want name of employer and dates
Lots of cleared applicants have probably applied there in the past
I am not at liberty to discuss this gap.
I could tell you but…
I’d go to prison and you’d have to sign some kind of NDA
You were also probably wondering, what’s in the canister?
I could tell you, but this unspeakable information is bound to turn even the most capable minds towards madness.
Ohh, juicy. Where do I sign?
OMG, reply threads are in rainbow colors. I just noticed.
Hah! I had the same reaction when I noticed. It’s neat.
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In Germany, just ask them what the gap between 1933 and 1945 in their company’s history is as a direct response.
I am not sure drawing a comparison between your unemployment and the reign of the Nazis is the best move
But if you get a rise out of them it’ll be perfect.
“I took four months off to recover from burnout”
That’s pretty much what I said - I took some time off for my family. I was getting called 3-4 times a week between 6pm-5am, often times not being present for them, so I had to make a change or risk losing them. I got the job and don’t get called at night. Win-win all except for those 4 months without paying and stress of resume rewrites and a million applications.
Yes. I’ve basically said that, not that I’ve had such a rude, direct question from an interviewer.
No I can’t. I signed an NDA.
The NDA: Dear me, I promise to talk about the fun times only with my friends and not with potential employers. Signed, me.
This can also help you filter the lunatics from the normal workplaces. In an interview, I once explained that I couldn’t discuss specifics of my client work because of confidentiality and NDAs, and they kept pushing. It wasn’t even the same industry! There was no obvious competitive advantage.
Maybe they wanted to be ver very sure you weren’t covering a not-working period /s
On snap… It could work if you are a good bullshit artist
“That is the year when I was happy.”
“I cosplayed as a person who was free.”
i have never been asked this question and i actively remove positions that aren’t relevant to the job i send that particular resume to
“I was consulting.”
It’s true, I was giving out advice left and right.
Online and on video games.
It was my sabbatical, and be really smug when you say it, like I’m better than you.
“I inherited some money and could afford to pursue personal interests (getting high and playing videogames)”
I totally had a guy catch and call me on that
“Those 3 months I did consulting for a local elderly care facility, helping them learn some computer basics”
“Sir, your parents don’t count” without missing a beat. I actually did help other people in that specific chunk he was asking about, but rude lol, and I think that might even be a big part of why I didn’t get that one tbh
This question should be illegal to ask.
