Easy questions have easy answers, right?
“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 “
I was told one way is: I singed a nda and I’m not allowed to answer that
Was singeing the NDA the reason you didn’t keep that job?
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”
Went Karouac on everyone’s ass!
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
“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.
They want people who like to be abused.
They don’t want people with self-respect.
I was working on my mental health
in other words, it’s why i’m not trying to strangle you for asking me that question!
Oh you have had mental health problems? I’m not sure we’re going to be a good fit for your kind…
That’s discrimination
Good luck proving what they thought.
Only if it’s the stated reason they don’t hire you.
Well, in the example given they literally said not s good fit for your kind.
But the stated reason for refusal will be “we have found a candidate that better fits the position”
It wasn’t in the example given, that’s my whole point.
It wasn’t. But the thing is, it’s only illegal if it’s the official reason for rejection. They can tell you in your face that they’re discriminating you, but you can’t do shit about it unless you get it in writing
That’s the inside their head conversation the actual words would be a boiler plate rejection letter
“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.
Big if true
This question should be illegal to ask.
I spent some time in a mountain cave replica in a Nepalese themed restaurant, diligently honing my programming skills without the noise of the outside world. No internet, no mains, no toilet. Just me, my laptop, an angry manager who called the police and 60 charged replacement batteries that fell off a truck.
There I created the art of meditative programming where I learned to program not just my machine, but myself. As a result of this resume gap I am now able to function as a 13.6% more productive employee and have finally met the benchmark of 1.0x engineer. At my former employer I delivered a project which brought them in revenue totaling at least $12, giving me priceless experience because of this training.
<chef’s kiss>
An idiot asked me that once when I had just finished my masters. Like did you read my resume?
I think they do that to:
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Judge your reaction to being asked stupid questions.
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Check that you know what’s written on your CV, to see if you’re lying on it or something?
C) Because someone else chose the candidates for interview.
Based on the context and my own personal experience as a person who has interviewed hundreds as a hiring manager --not syaing I do this, just that I understand-- they said “HEY FRANK WE NEED YOU TO SIT IN THIS INTERVIEW IN 30 MINUTES. K THANKS” and Frank showed up and tried to pretend that he knew what was going on.
Sounds about right, I’ve had interviews where the boss has forgotten.
Granted it was just bar work, still pretty funny to see the dawning of realisation spread across their face.
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No I can’t. I signed an NDA.
On snap… It could work if you are a good bullshit artist
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
The NDA: Dear me, I promise to talk about the fun times only with my friends and not with potential employers. Signed, me.
Took a year off to let everyone else catch up 💅
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.
Not even remotely.
I can’t tell you, I signed an NDA
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.”
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 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.
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!”
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.
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.
Because ppl expect/get more benefits and pay overtime
Man, you must live a privileged life if it didn’t even cross your mind that l
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 pp
2 weeks is barely enough to get an interview. Who thinks jail? lmao
HR plebs
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
I had a 6 month gap and I said I was taking a sabbatical (which was the truth). No one batted an eye.
Oh. I’m bookmarking this. Great idea.
