Easy questions have easy answers, right?
I got really into table tennis and lost track of time.
I went runn-ing
I was told one way is: I singed a nda and I’m not allowed to answer that
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?
My refusal to answer is proof that I’m trustworthy :3
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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.
“Yeah, I spent that time driving Uber/Doordash/whatever.”
No boss to confirm/deny, and it’s not like Uber is going to tell a random employer when one of their drivers were active.
Depending on your career, this might be worse than not doing anything
Why’s that?
Well, just a gap in the resume might mean you took yourself a sabbatical of sorts. But driving an uber means you were desperate for cash and needed a job, but wasn’t able to secure one in your main field. That’s sus.
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
Time loop
I could have been in that gap once, twice … a million times … we don’t know
A dozen times, a hundred, it’s impossible to tell.
Big if true
If i have to explain the gap (which clearly means I was not employed), it means you are incompetent, you fail my interview, I don’t work with incompetent bosses.
They want people who like to be abused.
They don’t want people with self-respect.
“That was a period of my life that is none of your business.”
And that’s how you don’t get a call back
Suits me. I wouldn’t want to work for anyone that nosy anyway.
You can say something like “I was attending to personal matters” that still gives no information but doesn’t come off as rude to what could be an innocent question
It’s not an innocent question.
It’s a chance for you to explain what you were doing. If you spent that time taking time off between jobs because a job fell through, you got laid off, you quit spontaneously, etc those are all very rational things that an employer may want to know.
It’s up there with innocent questions like “where did you work before here”, and “do you have reliable transportation “
Honestly, I have several ‘gaps’ in my resume, and I don’t think I have ever been asked that question in an interview anyway. It’s not something that’s ever seemed relevant to either of us. And jokes aside, if it ever did get asked, I would be more polite, but still decline to provide any details.
It’s classified
[REDACTED]
Those were the times I was taking time off to argue with the voices in my head that were telling me to kill again.
Did you win the argument?
For like 3 months out of the 2 year gap, yeah
A journey of a thousand steps!
Putting you down for pursues self improvement.
That’s what the interviewer asked too. The voices didn’t like that question…
It’s a store, they sell clothes, I worked there.
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<chef’s kiss>
Me: “I was moving in silence or under a NDA.”
