Ask HN: How to explain job gaps on the resume?
I'm interviewing with several companies for SDE roles and have a gap of > 12 months since my last job. Is this a career killer and a huge red flag for any hiring manager?
The real reason for a break was medical but then got out of hand given i had enough savings to support myself and sort of slacked for a while (like 3-4 months).
Now i feel completely healthy, refreshed, passionate and ready to rock again. What is the best way to mitigate this issue when applying / interviewing?
Do you have any advices learned from previous experience or caveats i should be prepared for?
PS. My total work experience is 5+ yrs.
247 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 262 ms ] threadTaking the time and effort to care for yourself is worth the effort because you are worth it.
But that's a lie.
More importantly, why would one feel an employer is entitled to detailed information about this gap? It is none of their business.
The only reason to invoke "loved one" here is to mislead.
How else is one able to exercise their rights in circumstances like this without some mild obfuscation? "Providing care" is saying enough to signal that it is an issue which is likely medical in nature, without disclosing anything about your own medical condition or circumstances, which is your right. If your issue is only "for a loved one" then maybe you have a point, but you should have no issue with "I was a full-time care provider" and now we're just mincing words.
The goal is to explain enough to make it clear the question is related to medical conditions or familial status, so that the legally well-trained interviewer knows not to pry any further, and the interviewee who knows their rights has a perfectly good way to avoid discussing it any further if the interviewer asks for more information.
"I'd rather not discuss details about that, as the details are personal in nature and not in any way relevant here." That's all you should need to say.
I have seen situations evolve from privately disclosing some information about medical issues as a professional courtesy, into supervisor asking for updates as a logistical concern, and later unwanted discussion that continues as a matter of personal empathy, and then sometimes even more inappropriate discussions between parties that are not involved, or more public than you wanted; conversations that you wish wouldn't have ever started, over things that should have never even been an issue that needed to be discussed in the workplace.
My advice is to exercise your rights and avoid this as much as possible, which is to say, hopefully avoid it altogether.
Whatever the reason for the job gap, there is no possible answer that is legally permissible. Remember more and more states are banning questions about jail time as well (look up 'ban the box'). So even if the person said, "I spent time in jail" that is still problematic. They may not have been convicted and considered innocent. Background checking services exist for a reason.
An interviewer asking about a job gap is already on sketchy legal ground.
The interviewer asking an inappropriate question is not entitled to a truthful answer to an inappropriate question that is not related to job qualifications.
Here is an example to help understand why this is problematic.
Lets say the candidate is religious. They took a year off to go on a missionary trip. If the candidate answers correctly (i.e. doesn't lie) the interviewer just discovered the candidate's religion. This knowledge is now super problematic if the candidate is rejected.
This is why good interviewers do not ask about hobbies or what the person does outside of work hours. There is a real risk of discovering protected information (sexual orientation, religion, national origin, marital status, family situation - including plans to have children, etc.).
Remember a court of law is going to hear the question and the TMI answer that the candidate felt compelled to supply.
The intent of the interviewer will be determined by a court NOT the interviewer.
It might be worth practicing, alone in front of a mirror or something, explaining this. It may or may not get asked, but if it is you want to have your verbiage ready. But health issues are not rare, and wanting to take time off because you have the money to do so, is not something most people would have any problem understanding. I've known several people who did that, and they all got employed again later, without too much trouble.
Seems a bit unprofessional to me as if the work experience is sorted in descending order — the gap is gonna be at the top.
So i'm at crossroads here: risk and add the medical section or prepare an answer if a follow up question even occurs. With former i'm blatantly throwing it to the face, with the latter i'm more moderate.
I guess the conversation could go like this: Why were you not working for two years? "Heart transplants are a bitch"
I was at the start of the process with two major companies in their respective markets just weeks after i got hospitalized (which echoed back my 12 mth hiatus later).
At the initial screening i have mentioned the reason of reschedule to be the hospital stuff. Words of support and `i know a person who have had the same problem` type of stuff came along. Next thing i know i'm out of the loop with both HMs.
One can only question was this a coincidence or an assesment i wasn't going to fit due to health troubles.
You should try to be reasonably up front about it i.e. make it clear on your resume that the break was for medical reasons. You shouldn't need to get into details. It's conceivable that some recruiters may have issue with it, but they are just as likely (if not more so) to have issue with an unexplained gap.
If you're asked about it just be positive: you're completely healthy now and raring to go.
IE instead of excuse you are showing added value...much better position for you
Never had any trouble with that explanation.
If they don't like it, you probably don't want to work there anyway.
That's always important to remember.
I don't know about gaps in particular but there are lots of places I thought I'd love working that wouldn't take me.
Interviewing is a two-way street. If your potential employer is intensely interested in your leisure time then that's an interesting signal, because it's unusual (I've never had a single follow-up question to why I took nearly a year off) and could point to a bad culture (lots of possibilities here, including the company being a modern sweatshop or doing very close monitoring and metricization).
Work is not optional for many people. I know lots of software developers that are living on the bubble because of the high cost of raising a family in the Bay Area.
Tangent: What does it say about hiring culture that a gap of 3 months is a potential deal breaker? Like anybody who would ever deign to not be employed by choice is unhirable. God forbid that people are defined by anything other than having a career working for others. A person's worth is not defined by how much economic value they create.
I sure do know my medical is not related to mental health. Is it reasonable to somehow indicate that or it should be better left for an interviewer to inquire?
It's hard to imagine an illegal question under US federal law, but I suppose there could be one where the question itself is sexual harassment or an attempt at stealing trade secrets.
It's certainly not an issue in a hot job market.
Last time I took 5 months to get the right job and ended up with a job locally and not having to commute and a big pay rise.
I was also recuperating from a major operation about 4 months before I left me previous job
What did you do to get refreshed again? And can you keep this up while working 40 hours a week?
Second of all - medication. Takes at least six months to see any difference feel-wise and tests-wise.
> And can you keep this up while working 40 hours a week? Sure. I’m as good as new.
I mean why do they care. If I save up money and take a year off every few years? That just means if I get bored of them I'll walk out.
It sounds like the kinda thing people care about because they're told to, but they don't actually have a reason why.
From the interviewers perspective, there's a higher chance that the person who hasn't worked for 12+ months simply isn't good enough to find a job, and it could be a waste of their time/resources to interview them instead of the person who has been consistently working.
surely that can't really apply if the same person held good jobs for a reasonable length of time either side of the gap though?
Yes for decades.
> It's very time-consuming, stressful, and hard to make a choice.
Yes
> From the interviewers perspective, there's a higher chance that the person who hasn't worked for 12+ months simply isn't good enough to find a job
This is called sexism.
Women are most likely to be the person who raises kids takes times off to help parents.
You have just justified sex discrimination. In you are interviewing, step up and do the job properly. Interview the candidate not your stereotype.
However, hiring decisions are not just made on the skill suitability of candidates. If you are an interesting person with enough passion for life to go live it for awhile up against a person who has done nothing with their life for the last 10 years but code for 14 hours a day, you are going to have an advantage. People hire people they like and want to spend time with. That's the reason why technical interviews are mandated by many companies, because companies know without them it's a popularity contest.
Go live your life and chase your passions. It's much better than the alternative.
Your last sentence is exactly why they care. They don't want people who will quit when they get bored; they want people who need the job.
I know people who have used words like "flaky" and "transient" and "unreliable" to describe people with gaps. To the people making such judgements, an involuntary gap indicates incompetence, and a voluntary gap indicates someone who is confident, independent, and unlikely to put up with bullshit (and thus more likely to quit).
The odd jobs are getting old, and I miss programming.
If they can't appreciate that, then they wouldn't appreciate you in general. A self-solving problem.
My grandfather had a saying: never talk about your health unless it’s good.
I have some relatively minor and common chronic health issues (fortunately well-managed). The day my clients or upstreams hear about any of them will be the day they are invited to my funeral—not before.
However, he got into an accident once, lost a leg, which was reattached and partially replaced with metal a few years ago. He walks with a limp, but can walk and stand fine. It shouldn't affect his job unless it involves heavy lifting or running.
What shocked me was just how fast the potential employer changed his tone when he found out.
To your employer it’s an asset, you’re full of energy and you can start work on short notice.
When I was last interviewing, I just said that I took time off to work on side projects and refresh my mind. I never had a problem. My work experience was just a little more than yours currently is.
Anyone who asks is just trying to get leverage.
How so? As in, "you're out of the job market for a while, so you seem sketchy, and thus I'm going to pay you less"?
You can still do things with your resume to make it more likely to get through the resume pile filter. Did you do any personal projects, classes or open source that can show continues professional interest and passion? Try putting something on your resume about it. Or if you've really done nothing but relax(which is OK!), now can be a good time to start working on professional development, then you have something to speak to when asked what you've been doing with your time.
I get Linkedin messages most of the time since i updated my profile to conclude the last place of work.
>> Did you do any personal projects, classes or open source that can show continues professional interest and passion?
Yes i did, but it failed as it was a venture to start off a web service with other people that ended up being unenthusiastic to contribute. All i have is a HLD document, couple of modules and task boards at Gitlab. Nothing to really brag about.
If you are getting calls off LinkedIn then you are already passing through the HR recruiter filter and the gap is not holding you back. And a hiring manager is much less likely to care about the gap and will be much more focused on evaluating your skills and your personality.
And if there was a degree, i'd just assume the military was the way it was paid for as I've got probably a dozen friends that got their 4-year degrees via their military service.
And sure an individual hiring manager might have some bias against military experience for wherever reason, but my general advice is not to hide who you are and that you'll find a company that wants to hire you for all the great experiences you bring to the table.
Try to stay at your next job for at least 2 years (5 is better) so your next resume can just show the year you started/stopped working there thus hide the gap.
It's been my experience that interviewers do not back off of that question.
It's news to me that it's a legally protected question.
They need to be very careful about probing. Personal reasons quickly leads to family status which is illegal to ask about. Likewise health can mean a disability that they are not allowed to ask about. For both of these it is important to remember the courts will judge with hindsight - given a sensitive situation was the cause of being out of work how can the deeper probing not be an effort to find out about the situation they are not legally allowed to ask about? Thus extreme care must be used in probing farther to ensure it is clear you are not asking about anything illegal.
Bottom line: it is legal to probe but you better have a lawyer do the probing because the questions too quickly can be something it isn't legal to ask.
It is however an invitation for legal trouble, because it will change the presumption of discrimination. If the question isn't asked, then the employer doesn't know, and thus it isn't possible that the information could have been used in a way that harms a protected class. (like race, religion, over-40, Vietnam veteran, sex, etc.)
Yes, you can ask about all that stuff. You can ask if somebody is a Mormon or a Jew or whatever. Your boss will probably be unhappy, because then it becomes an uphill battle to show that you didn't use the answer to discriminate against a protected class.