Perhaps the greatest job interview advice that I've ever heard

[Yavin4]

h o l y s h i t just saw a tiktok that changed my life

interviewer: “can you explain this gap in your resume?”

you: “no i cannot, i signed an NDA”

Link to tweet

[brush]

1. Nice try. Will only work with the dumber interviewers though.

[Mark.b2]

3. My team calls me the "gap sniffer-outer". I always dig into gaps...

There can be legit reasons...but only a few. The NDA excuse wouldn't fly, for sure.

Gaps and job-jumping are red flags. Unfortunately, there are lots these days.

[Mark.b2]

7. Not really. It should be common sense for a hiring manager...

Anyone who's had to hire very many folks should have learned to avoid the job-hopper and the erratically employed. This is especially true if you're hiring for roles where it takes time to get a new employee trained and up-to-speed.

Back in my early days when I was an assistant manager at Burger King, it didn't matter. I just needed 'em breathing. I was happy to get a few weeks from someone.

[Yavin4]

9. " the job-hopper and the erratically employed"

Or people who change jobs because it's the only way to increase their pay and advance their careers.

[Mark.b2]

10. And I flesh that out...two very valid reasons...good chance they are a...

"Go-getter", ambitious, and wanting to improve their life. A good quality.

[insaneintheukraine]

14. So they make good little slaves, eh?

You judge people on how willing they are to hop on the hamster wheel and run as fast as they can? 🙄

It has been said that no one on their death bed regrets not working more. Most people are stuck in the Matrix doing work which doesn't feel meaningful or what they are passionate about. Very foolish since life is relatively short and you can't take it with you...

[Mark.b2]

16. I've heard that same thing about being on the death bed and not regretting working more...

It makes you think or, at least, should! I can imagine facing death would certainly make one see what was/is important. It would be sad indeed to finally realize you'd wasted so much time and effort at the office, especially if your relationships were damaged as a result.

I agree with you about most people being in the Matrix. Many of my friends and family are. I've been there. Life is so much better when work is enjoyable and intrinsically rewarding. And if it pays a little more than the bills require, that's a bonus. The day that I'm convinced I've stored away enough savings, I'm retiring. I'm not staying one day longer! That's even enjoying my work very much. There are other things I want to do.

But as for how I'd judge a hamster wheel runner, I'd much rather they want to run on the hamster wheel because they genuinely enjoy it than how fast they could do it. A happy employee is better for the company than an efficient one who burns out. I wasn't always of that mindset. Age and a couple years of therapy have mellowed me!

[GP6971]

19. Welcome to DU

I guess.

[DenaliDemocrat]

25. I just came through a severe illness and you know -

I regret not working MORE!

1). My job is very fulfilling- I am a scientist and my work generally makes the planet a safer and better place!

2). I have taken care of my family my whole life. I even raised 2 children that weren’t my own - their bio parents were deadbeats - as well as two of my own. I never missed a concert or ball game. I cooked them a hot dinner from scratch every night. I bought them school clothes and birthday parties. Taught them how to throw a ball, ride a horse, and lift weights. Paid for their college, weddings, babysat their kids for free so they could save up for a house. Helped them with a down payment on their houses. When I got sick they did NOTHING to help me. They couldn’t even mow the grass or bring me dinner.

Looking back I did too much. They NEVER knew poverty. They never struggled. They are entitled self-absorbed people. Me and their mother raised them. We screwed up.

3). I learned that people generally suck and are takers. I should have worked more and spent the time and money on ME! I inherited the family ranch and will be selling. It’s in a very nice mountain location. Once I do charities will be getting a nice sum. I will establish a scholarship in my parents names.

[mercuryblues]

28. I don't regret one day of working to help house and feed my family.

[likesmountains 52]

31. "theukraine"? It's just Ukraine..

[Captain Zero]

18. can you flesh out when a candidate is a sexual harasser?

long story I'm thinking about...

[Mark.b2]

20. Not likely...

By "flesh out" in my previous response, I meant I would ask questions about why a significant gap was presented on the resume. I certainly wasnt trying to suggest I had a way other than asking questions. I could have worded it differently.

As for a sexual harassed, I suppose I could ask "why did you leave your last job?" And if she had been fired for sexual harassment, she could answer, "I was sexually harassing a subordinant." But, we both know that won't happen.

I could be wrong, but I doubt asking someone point-blank if they had ever sexually harassed anyone would be permissible per the HR list of interview questions that aren't allowed by law. The one that lists questions such as "are you married?", "are you pregnant or planning to get pregnant anytime soon?" or "where do you attend church and how often?"

My guess is the sexual harasser is usually someone you'd think it unnecessary to figure out if he were one.

[hunter]

11. That sounds like unpleasant work.

The saddest thing about life in the modern U.S.A. is that most of us have to suffer work that's not making the world a better place.

[Mark.b2]

12. Not the most rewarding aspect of work, but thankfully...

Turnover is low, and people stay with the company if we can get them in the door. A few we've replaced in the last couple years promoted to other departments.

I'm blessed to enjoy my job and my company. After 32 years, they've not fired me yet!

[former9thward]

13. In what country is the reverse true?

[Duncan Grant]

15. "Like hires like", isn't that what they say?

I can’t help but wonder if you’re leading IDEA/DEI efforts in your HR department. Seems like there’s some work to be done around equity, imho.

Ah well, it’s a journey.

[Mark.b2]

17. There is a lot of truth to like hiring like...

I've been guilty of it, as I learned in unconscious bias testing and training our DEI team put us through in the days just before COVID hit. A candidate's "fit" on my team's was an important criteria for me. Then, the DEI trainer put a list of my last 25 hires (over eight years) in front of me. Admittedly, there wasn't a lot of diversity. It was eye-opening.

As part of the training, they had us take the Harvard Implicit Association test. Depending on your results, you could voluntarily take one-on-one counseling with a third party service or, if you had a strong enough, undesirable bias, you were required to take it. I had a slight bias in one category (against younger employees) and could volunteer. I did so and had 5 one-hour sessions over about 2 months. In that counseling, I learned I also had a bias against over weight people.

But, yes you're right, it is a journey. I'm aware of my biases and I've worked to counteract them.

I know your curiosity about whether I'm in DEI leadership was tongue-in-cheek, but no, I'm not. I have no immutable characteristics that would make it permissible. But, that's fair and how it should be.

[Duncan Grant]

22. Excellent! That's commendable work.

I appreciate your response and disclosure — sincerely. My own training hasn’t placed an emphasis on “sniffing” out gaps. In fact, it’s helped me to understand why they may be inconsequential.

We must be in very different industries. In my sector, we’re doing everything possible to create equity in hiring - especially in the initial application stages. Apparently, there’s something about sniffing out gaps and knowing the correct reasons for it - for which I am unaware.

I’ll look forward to brainstorming this with my own colleagues.

[Mark.b2]

26. To be sure, I've not been trained on gaps...

I just am known by my peers to always be curious about gaps on resumes and asking questions about them in interviews. We always do panels of three interviews with on candidate, so my peers know how I interview.

As an another example, I have a colleague, Frank, who is “GPA Snob”. He always focuses in on GPA’s. God forbid, a candidate comes in with less than a 3.80 GPA!

Then, there’s “By-the-Book Amy.” She asks ONLY the questions HR gave us in training as potential questions. Most people I interview with are more conversational with our interviews. Not Amy! She’ll find the most non-sequitur of a question during an otherwise natural conversation.

All good people! They/we just have different interviewing proclivities, I suppose!

I’ve said many times, I probably couldn’t get hired at my company these days. I was far from a 3.80 GPA!

[Shermann]

2. The NDA shields a period when you are focused on watching Price is Right and Judge Judy?

Does that even make sense?

[Yavin4]

5. Or maybe you legitimately needed the time to re-train and prepare yourself for a new career.

You know a lot of people went through hell career wise because of the pandemic. But, I guess they're all just lazy unlike you who probably worked so damn hard, right?

[ShazzieB]

21. And before that, a lot of people went through career hell due to the 2008 economic crash.

I was one of them. Coudnt find anything but temp work for several years, and my resume looked like a hiring manager's red flag fest by the time I got old enough to start collecting social security and packed the whole thing in. What can I say, I was damned sick and tired by then of putting my heart and soul into one gig after another, just to be tossed aside like a wad of used kleenex after a couple of months.

People talk about work being dehumanizing now, but those years were the most dehumanizing ones I ever lived through. Way too many unemployed people, not nearly enough jobs, and lots of employers happy to take advantage of desperate job hunters is not a recipe for anything good.

Ironically, the job I got laid off from when the crash came lasted almost 10 years, and I felt more appreciated there than I had in ages. Along with my self-esteem, the crash also took half the money that I had accumulated in my 401k. Not good at the age of 58.

[meadowlander]

23. Yep, me too.

Quit my job the week before the crash because I had another job offer that was then rescinded. Had to retrain for another career, took me four years to get another full time permanent role and ten years to recover from the economic hit.

Also good luck if you're neurodiverse. Only 15% of Aspies are in full time permanent jobs and most of them have lots of job changes and gaps, often because of discrimination in hiring and employers that can't be bothered to make reasonable accommodations.

[treestar]

27. Certainly a recession should be an accepted explanation

They would really suck if they judged people negatively if the gap was due to that.

[Mr.Bill]

6. I bet a lot of people who worked for the Trump administration

are trying to figure out what to put on their resumes for that time period. "I was in prison" would sound better.

[gratuitous]

8. Incarcerated, you say? Wait . . .

Your name is familiar; say, weren't you in the Trump administration?

"No! Hand to God, I was in prison."

[BlackSkimmer]

24. Well, I haven't had to work in some time, but I can't imagine that would fly

in any interview I ever was a participant.

Really, to me that would sound like the person is trying to sound like they’re more than they are.

[elocs]

29. One of the greatest joys of retirement: never another job interview ever, ever again.

What a joy it is.

[Iris]

30. You know what no one has mentioned in this thread? That people who aren't white men

Often leave jobs because of harassment or discrimination which is why that question is problematic