Why YSK: Interviewers like to weed out people who have gaps in their employment history for myriad nonsensical reasons. If you remember that this is all just a game to the employer, you can play to win.
Fill the gaps with a story about a failed foray into entrepreneurship in a related field.
I had a massive gap and this worked gangbusters after six months of constant rejection. The gap was caused by my mother’s health rapidly deteriorating, and my sense of responsibility to care for her - which became a full time job until she passed.
After that, I went through the dehumanizing experience of dozens of interviews where I was asked about the gap. Describing why I took the time out of the workforce was hard enough - adding insult to injury was the homogenous reactions among all interviewers. You could watch them mentally write me off in real time, and then go through the motions before sending me off to wait for a “the organization has interviewed several great candidates” email.
It occurred to me that instead of baring my pain for callous interviewers, what they’d rather hear about was a “go-getter” whose spirit has been broken enough to come crawling back to the rat race. So I concocted a story about a failed attempt at being an entrepreneur in their industry.
Lo, and behold - After I stopped telling the truth and started telling people about Vandelay Industries` mighty struggle to remain solvent due to market forces, I found myself with three offers in the same number of weeks.
The difference in interviewers` whole demeanor between “took care of dying mother,” and “had to see if I could get Vandelay Industries off the ground while I was young enough to be able to recover from a failure” was night and day.
Read about failed startups. Rehearse.
Everybody lies in the corpo-world. Lie better.
Nah, no “gaps” need to be explained at all. What even is a gap? It takes easily from weeks to months and even years sometimes to find employment and that’s not something for the worker to grovel for.
5-year break from working? That can even be a life goal and not a gap.
Appreciate your idealism, but this is the ugly new reality in the US if you’re not adequately situated to tell them to pound sand.
There are very few people in that position, and they gotta eat. The economy is bad, but it’s trending toward perpetual dogshit for an overwhelming majority.
The bigger the company, the more I find that they rely on desperation to keep costs low because they can take it a bit further than they used to.
Believe me… I once had the opportunity to take a year off. It was glorious, and I’lL f’N dO iT aGaIn.
I don’t advocate telling to pound sand and I know the US, and not only the US, is a wage-slavery hellscape.
What I meant was just a tiny mindset shift to work around companies trying to belittle a worker. No need to gtfo in that situation (though I appreciate anyone with the privilege to do so).
I think the real reason employers don’t want people with large gaps is because they don’t want people who can afford to take that much time off. It scares them knowing that their threats of termination aren’t going to work.
Maybe not so much “can afford”, but “are willing to”.
For all we know OP was living in abject poverty while taking care of their mum, but still making that choice. In that scenario, they couldn’t afford, but still did.
I assume the gap discrimination is towards those who are stuck struggling between lower level jobs and might end up looking for longer periods. 🤔
The ones who can afford breaks can quickly get themselves hired as well
yes but sometimes they’re trying to find people who fit a preconceived notion of “who they want to work with.” They may use phrases like “team player” or whatnot. They want someone who is like them. I mean, I can understand the motivation behind that approach but I don’t think it’s the best way forward.
yeah they want someone who is like them, and i am definetly not like this. so it is very good to receive a “No” from this type of workplace
Yeah I think that’s true as well. I don’t want to make broad statements because situations vary; is it better to try to fake the fit into those jobs OR are people better off skipping and moving to the next lead.
aye, there’s the rub.
I’ve adopted the Sour Grapes philosophy over the past few years : if they didn’t want to hire me then they’re obviously a bunch of stupid fucks who don’t know quality when they see it, which means I wouldn’t want to work with them in the first place. but I say that from a position of already having a job. That philosophy doesn’t help someone trying to find a first job or trying to get back into the workforce after an extended absence.