HACKER Q&A
📣 shivajikobardan

How to Explain Gap in Resume?


I left my job two months ago. Why? Because of the following reasons:

- The work was menial.

- The pay was horrible.

- The blame was most. We were the frontliners in the IT war without much power in our hands.

- I wanted to prepare for government computer engineer job.

- I could not see myself in that role for long.

- I had two conflict/disputes with my teammates on team meeting. It made my life almost hell.

Few follow up questions that interviewers can ask are:

- Why could not you seek a different job instead while having your existing job?

- Why could not you seek a different department in your previous company itself?

I was preparing for government job since I left my job.

Nepal has now collapsed. I do not expect any upcoming vacancies(for government computer engineer) for the near time being. At least for 1.5 years.

Now, I need to get back into industry after few months. Thus I need to be prepared to answer these questions. The most plausible one seems like "I was preparing for government computer engineer job examination and the government collapsed" (which is the reality as well). I am here to seek insights on what troubles this answer could bring and suggested ways to overcome them?

  👤 al_borland Accepted Answer ✓
Every time I’ve ever asked someone about a gap in their resume they have told me they were taking care of a sick family member. Every single one of them.

I don’t know if I believe them all, but it’s not something I can fault anyone for and doesn’t invite follow up questions.

👤 fennec-posix
Any place that judges you for leaving a toxic workplace is possibly toxic itself.

On the flip side, I was out of a job for about 6 months after being made redundant, the next job I applied for asked, and I was up-front about it. There were no further questions asked. (and I got that job)

I think the key is to be honest, let that filter out bad jobs for you just as much as the employers think they're filtering you out :)

👤 aj_icracked
When I see gaps on resumes I don't mind it at all - I personally have always wanted want 6-12 months off to go work on side projects. If you need an excuse I would just say you're consulting friends companies and / or working on side projects you're passionate about. I don't think it's a big deal at all, if anything shows you're exploring things and figuring out what you find interesting.

AJ

👤 s1110 

  - served a prison sentence
  - was in a religious cult
  - rehab clinic
  - was on the run from the police/mafia/Mossad
  - went offline writing drivers for TempleOS