I was just told the gap in my employment is an issue

[Juche]

Dammit. I've been out of work 8 months, but its kindof absurd. Don't people realize its the worst economy since the 1930s? What do they expect me to do? Sucks.

[XemaSab]

1. Who told you this?

:shrug:

[Juche]

3. A recruiter at a temp agency

I had a phone interview for a job, and after emailing the recruiter she said it was an issue.

[XemaSab]

4. .

x(

[LibertyLover]

2. I had that happen to me once -

I had gone to grad school, got out and couldn't find a job. After a couple of months I took a 3 month course for college grads at a local secretarial school. They also provided placement assistance and sent me for an interview, before which they warned me the interviewer would home in on gap time in my resume and that I should have a good answer. Sure enough during the interview, the interviewer was pretty aggressive in following up on the gaps. I told him I had been traveling and taking care of a sick family member - both of which answers were essentially true - so what if the traveling was going up to my friend's house in upstate New York for weekends and the sick family member was my dog who had had surgery. I hope that you aren't denied the job, if you want it of course, on the basis of a gap which is in no way your fault. Good luck.

[zanana1]

18. I love it! Good work! n t

[Heidi]

5. "I agree. Joblessness is a big issue. I'd rather not be contributing to those numbers.

Perhaps we could work together to reduce unemployment in the US."

[LeftyFingerPop]

6. I'm concerned about your gap in employment. Can you please explain this gap?

"That's MY business, got any more questions"?

I find that this answer always works.

:hi: :hug:

[stray cat]

14. As an employer I would have no further questions - next applicant.....

[LeftyFingerPop]

17. I bet you are losing out on some quality employees.

[Frank Cannon]

22. Good answer.

Shuts the issue down quickly. And showing a sense of humor about a grim situation shows character.

[LeftyFingerPop]

7. Turn it around on the recruiter....

Say something like..."Well, the gap between your front teeth is an issue to me, Chucklehead".

You have to be aggressive with these people.

They like that.

[hobbit709]

8. I would fill it in with "self-employed as a ______"

[NightWatcher]

10. beer quality assurance technician

[GoCubsGo]

9. At most places, they understand what things are like right now

I am in a much worse situation, with a few temp jobs filling in even bigger gaps over a much longer period of time. In the interviews I have had, even recently, nobody has questioned those gaps. Just be honest with them, and say that you have been spending your time looking for another position. Some people ARE that clueless that they don't realize how bad it is right now. Unfortunately, you have stumbled upon one of them. I am sorry about that. Good luck to you.

[gmoney]

11. Say it's your clever way of indicating you had a job at The Gap

Under an assumed name, as part of the Undercover Bosses reality show...

[NightWatcher]

12. so when the phone rings you have to say "Vandelay Industries"

[Juche]

13. Is that your daughter?

My god! My god!

[Yavin4]

15. I Have That Problem Myself. You Just Have To Explain It.

Say that you went back to school or that you volunteered for something.

[madmom]

16. Did you volunteer any help to any one?

[datasuspect]

19. i would punch them in the fucking mouth for being a fucknozzle

[Skittles]

20. they're telling you that, in THIS economy?

that person sounds totally clueless

[mwooldri]

21. Is it the gap in compensated employment the issue?

In my mind, no-one is unemployed.

Heck, even my 7 year old son has employment - he attends a place called a "school" for a good part of the year. He definitely works there, so he's definitely employed. But definitely not compensated for it in a monetary fashion.

Fill out the gap of monetarily compensated employment with the non-monetary kind - what you did to volunteer, job hunt, re-train, managing a family... whatever.

To prove this a point further, you can not claim unemployment benefit in the UK. It's been abolished a long time now. The replacement is called a "Jobseekers Allowance".

Yes it's a crappy economy and yes it's 8 months but you can fill it! It's like the "stay at home mom" who has been raising the family for 15-20 years, wants to return to the workforce and then be told "you have a gap in your employment history".

I hope you find paid work soon that you either like, or at least "live with".

Mark.

[Orrex]

23. Yes, that's a 100% bullshit tactic that they use to keep you vulnerable

Years ago I filled out an application for some minimum wage job that asked me to list a full ten years employment history, with an explanation of any employment gap of two weeks or more.

Fuck that!


As you say, we are in historically catastrophic times, certainly far worse than anything that's occurred in that stupid Temp-Recruiter's lifetime.


I agree with the upthread suggestion that you fill that space with a listing of your non-compensated work, such as volunteering or the like. If you're a parent, you can say that you raised the kids while the other parent worked. You could say that you've been researching and working on a novel, or the like.

[BikeWriter]

24. Joke them if they can't take a fuck!

Seriously though, I never went over a week without getting a paycheck, but that was in the olden days, before george bush.