@XanIndigo I travelled to the land of the Free (lancers)

@XanIndigo I might have this printed on a t-shirt

@XanIndigo Oh that was when I was screaming into the void, and trying to work out why even the void wasn't listening. Yes, for 2 years. It as a dark time.

But then I did a deal where i lost my soul for some basic standard of living. So I would make a perfect junior software developer.

@XanIndigo "Come on, you were working with Trump, right?"

@XanIndigo trying to explain the two year pandemic gap.

@XanIndigo “can you explain this four year gap in your résumé?”
“That when I went to Yale”
“Impressive. You’re hired”
“Thanks. I really need this yob. “

@XanIndigo Exactly, also all this after-work socialising. Work already consumes too much of my time, I don’t want to spend even more on it. This might be important if you are in your twenties, but not once you have a real life.

@XanIndigo "i signed an NDA" is what i would reply

@XanIndigo Exactly.

@XanIndigo truth.

worse, for me: #freelancing for so long it's documented in my résumé

@XanIndigo Sigh, yes, that’s when I left my home in Egypt — a ten year career at the United Nations, family & loved ones — and moved to the United States with just a suitcase full of dreams. Since then, I’ve written 10 books & married college sweetheart :

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Yahia%20Lababidi/author/B0042SRQWG #friday

@XanIndigo This hit hard and close.

@XanIndigo
Ruh-ro. Another one meets Bobby McGee.

@XanIndigo

@XanIndigo both good! I’ve heard a third:

"Can you explain this gap in your resume?"

I signed a non-disclosure agreement.

@XanIndigo
Me: I had kids.

Them: Oh that's to bad. We might have hired you if you had done something with your life.

Me 2 months later: "Welcome to Walmart." 😩

@XanIndigo I want to go to an interview at any big corp and say exactly that and wait for their response.

@XanIndigo That one is the biggest bullsh*t question in all of the resume world. From the late 20th century on, EVERYONE has gaps. When it was postwar stable employment, even, people had "gaps" from the slow time in their 30-year jobs. Or doing projects that were about just showing up. You don't think Abraham Lincoln didn't have gaps in his resume? Or a lot of the 19th century people during those recurrent depressions?

@XanIndigo … +++ …

@XanIndigo

The classic bit from comedian Steven Wright where he turns the table on the job interviewer.

https://youtu.be/VpaP5nJL0KI

@XanIndigo I'm in this post and I don't like it.

@XanIndigo this immediately started playing in my head as I was reading your post.

https://youtu.be/fn1R-5p_j5c

@XanIndigo Huhh, well we are looking for a people person. Do you think you could be a good fit?

@XanIndigo The gaps in my resume are from when I go and plunder the coastlines of the Atlantic.

@XanIndigo I just say "that was work that wasn't germane to the position I'm applying for." There's no sense wasting anyone's time with trivia they won't care about.

Also if someone actually cares about gaps that's a red flag that they'll be horrible to work for.

@XanIndigo ‘i was taking time to care for a family member. But you’re in luck she’s dead now…’

@XanIndigo I absolutely covered up a few months I took off between jobs with some “freelance” noise 😆 it’s the assumptions that it must have been something nefarious that I could be arsed with.

Mind you when an old boss of mine interviewed someone with a large gap the guy admitted he was in prison. Boss asked why (not sure that was really on 🙄). Guy said “you wouldn’t hire me if I told you”. Guy was not hired. Turned out to be a convicted child molester 😳

@XanIndigo :big_mood: Possibly the biggest of the moods.

@XanIndigo
“I see you haven’t been employed for the past 5 years.”

That’s when I was #freelancing.

“Oh, were you receiving unemployment benefits?”

No I was receiving payments from multiple people.

“I’m sorry. That sounds like illegal activity. We can’t employ you.”

#writingcommunity
#artistlife

@XanIndigo I'm starting such a "hole" now as a stay-at-home dad.

I'll probably be quoting your first answer. So well put.

@XanIndigo one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read
🥹

@XanIndigo I live in the land of the self-employed. Never a gap.

@XanIndigo Honestly, I wish there were gaps in my resume. Or at least one? I've done fine in my career (some would say very well), but I think if I'd had a gap between my undergraduate degree and my graduate (in my case career-prep) degrees and done something different for that time, I'd have had an easier time of it because I'd have been more mature and more knowledgeable about work life beyond my narrow field. And I'd still have been youngish when I reached the traditional career milestones.

@XanIndigo

AND........

Thanks for coming in. We'll post our decision soon. On your way out, could you ask the receptionist to send the next candidate in? Thanks!🤣

@XanIndigo “I could but then I’d have to kill you”

@XanIndigo

@KhaoGenes

"No, i signed an NDA" is a great answer to this

@XanIndigo

Lancing is serious business.

@XanIndigo I always just go with “Alien Abduction”.

@XanIndigo Can....can I use that? It sounds much better than "I had to figure some shit out, dude. Cut me some slack" or whatever I say.

@XanIndigo At which point the interviewer, realising the futility of work, ups and quits.

Now sitting alone in the room, Y realised why the gap in the resume kept getting longer.

@XanIndigo Like a ghost.

@XanIndigo -Can you explain the gap in your resume?
-After15 years in my chosen field, I launched a startup that produced 3 functional humans. Provided care, support, education, guidance, mentorship, transportation. Supervised 1 part-time staffer whose primary job supported our venture, supplemented by me working part-time in my previous field, earning a tiny fraction of what I used to make. Now I'd like to return to that field in a full-time, well-paid position.
-So no recent experience.

@XanIndigo as told by avicii https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxorvhSIz1_IepOO0v5FC2Kf8iMGQtAp4f

@XanIndigo

" - Can you explain this gap in your resume?
- Well, I signed a non disclosure agreement, so... "

@XanIndigo #Camus
And I, too, felt ready to start life all over again. It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I’d been happy, and that I was happy still.

@XanIndigo that gap? It's the highlight of my life. My proudest accomplishment! The one time I did something big that was totally me!

@XanIndigo Prison is a hell of an answer to that one 😀

@XanIndigo I went with "unpaid sabbatical" for my resume gap. Just didn't feel like working for a few years. Had some savings and went back to school instead.

@XanIndigo

"The judges would have also accepted 'alien abduction' depending on the job." ;)

@XanIndigo I have Sabbatical on my CV, which is what it is when I didn't work

@XanIndigo I’ll never forget the idiot who squinted at the three year gap in my employment—at the detailed rundown of my three year stretch in community college—and, blinking incredulously, asked me “And what did you *do* during this three year gap??”

@XanIndigo this is brilliant!

@XanIndigo

Sing it. It's the truth and needs to be heard before it can become a cultural norm.

Hiding it only prolongs suffering.

@XanIndigo
Thanks for coming in for an interview, now may we have your resumes?

You first. Let me speak to the guy who had this position before.

@XanIndigo isn’t everyone that has worked at The Gap asked this at some point?

@XanIndigo

@XanIndigo Great, something else to memorize....

@XanIndigo
"Can you explain this gap in your resume?"

I'm into recycling, he clips coupons.

@XanIndigo
Once upon a time, I changed my name tag on my office to Sisyphus. It took awhile before it was taken down. Meanwhile, many walked by, nodded and smiled.

@XanIndigo need to print this out and tape to the wall for my next interview

@XanIndigo never had any one who hired me ask for a resume. Had lots who asked for one but never talked to me. (But one did try to head hunt me from another company about a year later)

@XanIndigo I feel seen.

@XanIndigo
"I fail to see why this needs an explanation"

@XanIndigo can you explain the most recent layoff along with the company profits & stock buyback b/c it’s an important issue for potential employees when considering job security

@XanIndigo
Fantasy is refreshing, reinvigorating, don’t you think?
#GoodStuff #MadeMeSmile

@XanIndigo yay someone in touch with reality 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👌🏼👏🏼 and brave enough to say so - I have plenty of gaps in my resume- I’ve done some living - I’ve worked super hard all my life but have not always been paid for it. There are other rewards… worth more 😉

@XanIndigo I usually assume it's prison.

@XanIndigo Fraid not, NDA. Or, ran my own business.

@XanIndigo I was incarcerated for a vicious assault on an interviewer who asked impertinent questions.

@XanIndigo Best answer.

@XanIndigo

@XanIndigo
"can I?" - yes
"will I?" - no

@XanIndigo Before I retired, I ran some searches for my department. I think if a candidate had given that as one of his or her answers, I would have seriously considered hiring that person. 😀

@XanIndigo try working several jobs at same time ND looks like you never worked long anywhere and did them both at same time or 3 part time jobs at once, drivers people crazy...😂

@XanIndigo "... because working for some soulless spud, doing meaningless crud, is far less interesting to me than any of my hobbies...".

Une réponse imparable a la question des recruteurs
- "pourquoi ce trou dans votre CV ?"
- "je ne peux pas en parler, j'ai signé un accord de confidentialité."

@XanIndigo ❤️

@XanIndigo "Can you explain this gap in your resume?"
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
"...Well are you going to explain?"
"No."

@XanIndigo Strange way to spell "freeloading" …

/jk

@XanIndigo there’s a shorter version: yeah it was awesome

@XanIndigo "I signed a non-compete as part of a severance deal" ought to work too 😅🤣

@XanIndigo "no i signed an NDA"

@XanIndigo Brilliant.

@XanIndigo

No lies detected

@XanIndigo
If they even ask about a gap in the resume, it means they aren't going to hire you and are looking for an excuse. Just say "Prison. Armed Robbery"

@XanIndigo You were caring for a dying relative. Makes you look compassionate, kind, and they will never ever question it.

@XanIndigo I legit kinda worry employers are gonna wonder why I never worked in my life, like I pretty much went from High School to College not working. I am pretty nervous that I need to find a job this year

@XanIndigo

@XanIndigo I like this one... "I was on a side quest".

@XanIndigo lolsob

@XanIndigo "contractor... Independent contractor under NDA..."

@XanIndigo “Sorry, no, I can’t. It’s classified.”