Employment Gaps

[Lorizael]

So I have an interview tomorrow for a real adult person job and not just a well-groomed monkey job. Unsurprisingly, I am bad at interviews (they involve people), but one of the places where I struggle the most is explaining my employment gaps. In the last 7 years, I've had pretty consistent employment, with the only gap after I left my full-time job to do school full-time. But before then, I had a series of jobs that lasted a year or two followed by extended stints of unemployment. Those employment gaps were due largely to my depression.

Sometimes I say that I was laid off and imply that the recession was responsible. For my last job, I got very close to the truth by saying that I was "sick" and couldn't work anymore, and that I'm not sick anymore. Sometimes I say that i left a job to pursue my writing or school or some other crap like that. Whatever the case, my answer is never particularly well polished and my guess is I lose points whenever that question inevitably comes up.

So what do you guys do to explain away imperfections in your employment history? Lie outright? Tell the truth? Craft a believable, semi-true story? Or, on the HR end of things, how do you approach candidates with sketchy backgrounds? What kind of answers are you looking for that will allay your concerns? Monkeys. Thanks.

[Elok]

Do employers actually ask what you were doing seven years ago? On my latest job app I didn't even mention stuff more than a few years back. Of course, it wasn't relevant experience and I know multiple people at the place I was applying for, so my situation is a little different, but if you didn't have your **** together in 2009, well, you were in good company. Neither did a lot of major banks. You have an extended history of not showing up drunk, hitting coworkers, grabbing customers by their intimate regions, or generally being an antisocial d-bag. Play it as low-key as you can. Ixnay on the epression-day, obviously. "I was having a lot of family problems back then" would work, as the employer probably doesn't want to know about whatever horrible image that conjures up. And the depression probably caused family problems somehow so it's not even a lie.

[Jon Miller]

I wouldn't expect anyone to seriously ask you anything about your work career pre-college unless you put a focus on it. You should have a narrative, preferably one that is sorta true and is positive, and not go into detail.

It is normal to have spotty work history for most people who are college graduates (age 22-24). You are a bit older, but you can still talk about how you were inspired to go back to school and study astronomy and find a job doing X (where X should be something related to the job you are applying to).

JM

[Jon Miller]

I wouldn't expect anyone to seriously ask you anything about your work career pre-college unless you put a focus on it. You should have a narrative, preferably one that is sorta true and is positive, and not go into detail.

It is normal to have spotty work history for most people who are college graduates (age 22-24). You are a bit older, but you can still talk about how you were inspired to go back to school and study astronomy and find a job doing X (where X should be something related to the job you are applying to).

JM

A number of people (both brothers, mother, wife, etc) in my family got their degrees in their 30s. None of them had any trouble starting work in the same fashion as their peers (the other recent graduates). Those who could use pass experience in a positive fashion were able to do so. Those with spotty work histories were not penalized for them.

JM

[Jon Miller]

Craft a believable, semi-true story?

Humans understand things in terms of narratives. Give yourself a story or others will put you into one (which is much more likely to be a bad one).

jm

[Bereta_Eder]

words of wisdom

[rah]

Over 7 years ago you can pretty much gloss over. I would just use school to cover most of it. If they bother to check, it's just usually confirming graduation dates and not the star/end. You could also use youthful wanderlust and say you were travelling/exploring in your youth. That usually comes off pretty good. Just be prepared to say a few places where you went. Saying you were trying your hand at being a professionally writer might impress some but might be negative to others, so I would lay off that one.

I had a stretch for a couple of years, and I just said I was starting a consulting company and business was thin. That one was also received very well.

[loinburger]

I've only got one employment gap on my record - not really a gap, just a time when I was a supermarket cashier instead of a programmer. The gap was long enough ago that I just outright lie on my resume and say that I was a programmer during that time period (about four to six months in duration) - if somebody actually checks with my former employer whose tenure I've exaggerated (on my resume I've artificially extended the duration of my placement with the programming firm that I was employed with prior to becoming a supermarket cashier) then I'm screwed, but that has never happened (I've also never been asked to provide contact information for said employer - I doubt I could even if I wanted to)

[Lorizael]

The reason I mention employment from that long ago is that I was a technical writer and editor, both of which sound spiffy and professional. I no longer mention the even older stuff... working at Barnes & Noble, Mrs. Fields Cookies, etc. In the last 7 years of consistent employment, I've done customer service and something slightly more advanced than data entry. Oh, and the TAing. So I feel like it speaks to my capabilities if I include the editing/writing stuff, but then I'm left having to explain the gaps.

[loinburger]

In my limited experience, employers are mostly interested in whether you were in prison during your employment gaps. "I was unemployed because the economy sucked (or whatever)" is a perfectly acceptable response.

I look much older than my actual age of 36 thanks to going prematurely gray, so I used to be asked about the huge employment gap prior to college (I now include my high school graduation date on my resume). When I said "I understand that you're not allowed to ask my age, but I'm actually [age at time of interview] and I was in high school before going to college" then the interviewer didn't ask any further questions about the gap - they just wanted to know that I wasn't a convicted felon.

[Elok]

If it's not extremely relevant to the job it's probably not worth the weirdness of explaining a gap. Also, "I did something spiffy most of a decade ago" doesn't sound all that impressive.

[loinburger]

I disagree, I still include weird-ass publications from a decade ago on my resume - somebody who did something spiffy and then hit on rough times is more impressive than somebody who was always a supermarket cashier. Your milage may vary, of course.

[Lorizael]

Well, off to the interview. We'll see what I say. Thanks, guys.

[rah]

And of course, we'll expect you to report back, (as if you could not resist )

[Elok]

Go with what Loin said, he's done professional stuff.

[loinburger]

I unfortunately have a lot of experience with interviewing due to changing jobs every year (the joys and pains of contract work)