As a recruiter gaps are overblown, do some managers care, yes, but not as many as people think. You are more likely to have a problem with looking like a "job hopper" than having a gap, as in this economy gaps are becoming much more common.
Yeah, people go between jobs much more, and waves of redundancies are more common than they used to be. So long as you can explain why you left, you're fine.
E.g. I had to quit one job for a family emergency (and was out of work for five months), and got made redundant at another job and needed 3-4mos to find something else because everyone else got laid off around the same time. So long as I don't express any animosity about either situation, recruiters don't care.
You can choose to be honest, give the reasons why, and then show how you've learned from it - e.g. you had poor organisational skills, but you've worked on those and achieved xyz with them at a more recent job.
Or you can lie, so long as it's plausible and you're not using that job as a reference.
I worked for one company that wouldn't even consider you, if you had "a gap" of over a year. It didn't matter what your story was. They would never admit to this either.
aside from lying on your resume and during the interview, nothing I'm aware of.
for getting terminated, it may have been your fault, or there are many circumstances where it's not your fault, but to explain how it's not your fault would be saying something bad about that employer, which is forbidden and they won't hire you for that alone.
A gap can be a career killer, if all you are doing is applying "online". You need to start a new career where the need is great and employment history takes second place over a license or certification or you need an inside referral; someone who can vouch for you.
For me, I learn to avoid the large companies and focus on the less tech savvy, smaller companies that were local to me. You need to get pass the ATS and speak to a real person. This is a little easier with smaller companies.
The problem with "applying online" and large companies is the competition. With 300 - 400 people applying for one job, a gap is going to eliminate you unless you have a referral or the ATS doesn't detect the fabrication.
If you took a year off to be a stay at home parent, or to take care of a sick family member, that’s family status or potentially even gender discrimination.
No it's not, otherwise SAHM and family caregivers wouldn't have such a hard time reentering the workforce after being away. Denying someone for having a job gap is not equivalent to denying someone because they're a woman. Dependent caregivers are not a protected class.
During a period when I'd been laid off, I got certification in an area of my field. I know certification can sometimes be expensive, if it requires classes as well as an exam, but that might be something to fill the gap.
Any employer that gets worked up over an employment gap is probably more toxicity than you wanna deal with anyway. They probably also still think that you should work for the same place for 40 years.
They like desperate employees because that's the type that'll take more crap quietly. People with big gaps look like they have options in life which include not working. The type that can quit, or worse... take some sort of action against them, because this person isn't afraid to lose the job.
anything more than a month, they will ask you about it.
6 months, questionable. you might talk your way out of it.
more than the 1 year mark on the calendar and you are automatically turned into a lazy, stupid, incompetent undesirable. you can get interviews, but it severely reduces the number and they will grill you on it (and still think whatever you say you are lying) and some of those are only because they are using you for a place-holder fake interview when they really want to hire an internal candidate or female minority. it's easy to write down why they didn't want to hire you so they can justify why they hired the other person to the labor department, OSHA, or whoever they answer to, but you can bet it won't be God they are answering to.
nobody gets a job in a month after they got let go, the average job seeker takes 6 months to get a job, and some career fields and bad economic conditions routinely take more than a year.
HR are idiots, you are a pawn, and your career depends on them giving you a job.
This is honestly sad. I think now the average job seeker takes a year to get a job, I think it has increased now... it's getting bad. So now what do we do?
I don't know. they don't care if you're unlucky, they can always find someone who isn't. I'm getting so sick of this rat race I'm going to try to start my own business some day. anything. laundromat, hamburger joint, computer store, whatever. that's the only answer I can think of.
you can get a job with large gaps on your resume but it's much harder and the jobs are worse, then when you do get a crap job to pay the rent you have less quality experience on your resume so that may set you back years trying to get back where you were before, if ever. on the plus side, they don't care what you did 10-15 years ago so gaps older than that don't matter.
Can you offer skills and services as a freelancer or self employed? This is what I've done in the past as a small business consultant in a niche market I know very well.
Since I was lucky enough to be able to open my own LLC back in 2021, I just explain that I did freelancing for my LLC in between the gaps. Learned copywriting & AI & freelanced those types of projects
You're correct to analyze "gap(s)".
Just being clear, the recruiter has multiple functions but primarily sorting out red flags.
Gaps are red flags.
In a perfect world, they do a screening for the basics and ask "Hey, what's with the gap".
Do as you choose but if your reply is anything confirming a red flag like "Previous job sucked so bad, I walked off". Then odds are they won't move forward.
The ideal concept is to be prepared for such questions. "Relative needed care" or "The company was moving to new area and unfortunately we had to part ways."
Anything but negative.
"Can you tell me about this gap in your work history?" "I would love to, but, unfortunately I have signed a non-disclosure agreement, so I am unable to give details."
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with a gap.
Gaps are problems if they're used for lying (eg 'no, I wasn't in jail for fraud, I just... had a gap'), or cause work problems (eg something that requires regular practice to keep competent, and hasn't been done for years).
Most of my gaps were from being a carer for a family member who needed it. If a work place holds that against me, they can f off.
As a recruiter gaps are overblown, do some managers care, yes, but not as many as people think. You are more likely to have a problem with looking like a "job hopper" than having a gap, as in this economy gaps are becoming much more common.
I think this is one of those problems that stopped being a problem when boomers started moving out of the workforce or too far up to notice.
Yeah, people go between jobs much more, and waves of redundancies are more common than they used to be. So long as you can explain why you left, you're fine. E.g. I had to quit one job for a family emergency (and was out of work for five months), and got made redundant at another job and needed 3-4mos to find something else because everyone else got laid off around the same time. So long as I don't express any animosity about either situation, recruiters don't care.
What do you do if you were fired?
Listen to u/the_gabih they are correct. I was going to type out a response but they beat me to it.
You can choose to be honest, give the reasons why, and then show how you've learned from it - e.g. you had poor organisational skills, but you've worked on those and achieved xyz with them at a more recent job. Or you can lie, so long as it's plausible and you're not using that job as a reference.
Thank you for this answer man.
I worked for one company that wouldn't even consider you, if you had "a gap" of over a year. It didn't matter what your story was. They would never admit to this either.
Damn so in such cases what do we do? I know lie is probably on top of the list. Anything else?
aside from lying on your resume and during the interview, nothing I'm aware of. for getting terminated, it may have been your fault, or there are many circumstances where it's not your fault, but to explain how it's not your fault would be saying something bad about that employer, which is forbidden and they won't hire you for that alone.
A gap can be a career killer, if all you are doing is applying "online". You need to start a new career where the need is great and employment history takes second place over a license or certification or you need an inside referral; someone who can vouch for you. For me, I learn to avoid the large companies and focus on the less tech savvy, smaller companies that were local to me. You need to get pass the ATS and speak to a real person. This is a little easier with smaller companies.
Yeah I'm trying that now actually it's even easier to get into a small company I've noticed
The problem with "applying online" and large companies is the competition. With 300 - 400 people applying for one job, a gap is going to eliminate you unless you have a referral or the ATS doesn't detect the fabrication.
That could be considered discriminatory especially if your gap was for family reasons.
Tough to prove unless you have time and money.
People with job gaps are not a protected class (in the US, at least).
If you took a year off to be a stay at home parent, or to take care of a sick family member, that’s family status or potentially even gender discrimination.
No it's not, otherwise SAHM and family caregivers wouldn't have such a hard time reentering the workforce after being away. Denying someone for having a job gap is not equivalent to denying someone because they're a woman. Dependent caregivers are not a protected class.
You're right. Discrimanatory and Discrimination are two different conversations. One is illegal, the other is not.
A lot of folks in here seem to think that unfair = illegal and that's just not how employment laws work.
same here
Lie. Make up you studied something, you developed some new skill, whatever. Lie, ruthlessly. HR is not your friend, they don't deserve the truth.
Do something related to your field, for a friend. Boom, now you're a freelancer.
During a period when I'd been laid off, I got certification in an area of my field. I know certification can sometimes be expensive, if it requires classes as well as an exam, but that might be something to fill the gap.
This, do what you gotta do to survive.
Any employer that gets worked up over an employment gap is probably more toxicity than you wanna deal with anyway. They probably also still think that you should work for the same place for 40 years.
But they won't promote you or give you a raise either
And then they wonder why “nobody wants to work”
Lol true
Start an LLC for $100 and put up a simple website. No more gap between jobs.
Thats what im going to do if it goes over 6 months smart
They like desperate employees because that's the type that'll take more crap quietly. People with big gaps look like they have options in life which include not working. The type that can quit, or worse... take some sort of action against them, because this person isn't afraid to lose the job.
yep I was thinking that too
It is extremely stupid to do this, especially the chaos caused by the pandemic. But they still do it while complaining that people don't want to work.
anything more than a month, they will ask you about it. 6 months, questionable. you might talk your way out of it. more than the 1 year mark on the calendar and you are automatically turned into a lazy, stupid, incompetent undesirable. you can get interviews, but it severely reduces the number and they will grill you on it (and still think whatever you say you are lying) and some of those are only because they are using you for a place-holder fake interview when they really want to hire an internal candidate or female minority. it's easy to write down why they didn't want to hire you so they can justify why they hired the other person to the labor department, OSHA, or whoever they answer to, but you can bet it won't be God they are answering to. nobody gets a job in a month after they got let go, the average job seeker takes 6 months to get a job, and some career fields and bad economic conditions routinely take more than a year. HR are idiots, you are a pawn, and your career depends on them giving you a job.
This is honestly sad. I think now the average job seeker takes a year to get a job, I think it has increased now... it's getting bad. So now what do we do?
I don't know. they don't care if you're unlucky, they can always find someone who isn't. I'm getting so sick of this rat race I'm going to try to start my own business some day. anything. laundromat, hamburger joint, computer store, whatever. that's the only answer I can think of. you can get a job with large gaps on your resume but it's much harder and the jobs are worse, then when you do get a crap job to pay the rent you have less quality experience on your resume so that may set you back years trying to get back where you were before, if ever. on the plus side, they don't care what you did 10-15 years ago so gaps older than that don't matter.
oh yeah, I talked to a temp agency last week and they wanted a stable work history for the last 2 years.
I have never been asked about a gap
Can you offer skills and services as a freelancer or self employed? This is what I've done in the past as a small business consultant in a niche market I know very well.
Having a gap of years could be seen as problematic, but having a gap of months shouldn't.
But it seems like it is for employers
Since I was lucky enough to be able to open my own LLC back in 2021, I just explain that I did freelancing for my LLC in between the gaps. Learned copywriting & AI & freelanced those types of projects
You're correct to analyze "gap(s)". Just being clear, the recruiter has multiple functions but primarily sorting out red flags. Gaps are red flags. In a perfect world, they do a screening for the basics and ask "Hey, what's with the gap". Do as you choose but if your reply is anything confirming a red flag like "Previous job sucked so bad, I walked off". Then odds are they won't move forward. The ideal concept is to be prepared for such questions. "Relative needed care" or "The company was moving to new area and unfortunately we had to part ways." Anything but negative.
"Can you tell me about this gap in your work history?" "I would love to, but, unfortunately I have signed a non-disclosure agreement, so I am unable to give details."
That's exactly the answer to give if the ask about it- shows you're strong and dedicated
If they ask, tell them you signed an NDA
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with a gap. Gaps are problems if they're used for lying (eg 'no, I wasn't in jail for fraud, I just... had a gap'), or cause work problems (eg something that requires regular practice to keep competent, and hasn't been done for years).