CV Gap Advice

[Greedo]

Due to personal issues, I have not been working for about 15 months and with the economy and job market the way it currently is (dire) I wondered if anyone on here has any real world examples/experiences of individuals (or themselves) in a similar situation and how such a break is being perceived by the market/agents/recruiters.

[pmeswani]

Due to personal issues, I have not been working for about 15 months and with the economy and job market the way it currently is (dire) I wondered if anyone on here has any real world examples/experiences of individuals (or themselves) in a similar situation and how such a break is being perceived by the market/agents/recruiters.

Despite this type of question being asked many of times, I will be helpful in answering it for you. Just be honest with the agent if they ask. If you have done any training or development during the 15th months you were off, state it on your CV. If you have ill for 15 months, either tell them the truth, or tell them that you were on a year long around the world holiday and decided the past 12 to 15 months was the ideal opportunity to do this.

If you decide to lie, try and back up some of your claims. If you are honest, you will be ok. You may find it hard to get a role with a 15 month break, but guess what, you will stand a better chance of finding a role and keeping it if you are honest.

[Fac511]

Personally I don't see it as a blocker when hiring, but do like to know what has been going on while someone has been away. Your explainations sound plausable enough - just speak the truth - much better than spinning a lie and potentially being found out!

If your worried about not even getting to interview because of the gap, you could always make it clear on your CV - put in why you have been off in your profile or at the top of your work experience. That's my 2PW - HTH.

[wantacontract]

I think the pimps would dump your CV unless your prior skills were an exact match....

I would shift your old roles forward, so that it would seem you've only been out of work for a month of two.....I only ever put down experience for the last 6-7 years, which occupies two pages.

Maybe have two copies, one truthful and one not....if you don't get any response from pimps from your truthful cv then use the other one....

[kandr]

Just make something up, they never check. Say you worked for MI6 but cant talk about it.

Jun 2009 - Sept 2010
CLASSIFIED

[northernladuk]

I would shift your old roles forward, so that it would seem you've only been out of work for a month of two.....I only ever put down experience for the last 6-7 years, which occupies two pages.

Maybe have two copies, one truthful and one not....if you don't get any response from pimps from your truthful cv then use the other one....

kandr
Just make something up, they never check. Say you worked for MI6 but cant talk about it.

Jun 2009 - Sept 2010
CLASSIFIED

I think both of these are pretty misguided advice. To be fair I have never been in the OP's situation but I can't see lying on your CV being an acceptable solution. I have seen people get caught out lying and in all cases termination has been immediate. Oddly enough the last two people I saw walked were for extending or changing gig dates and for making up a false employment which both the quoted posts are talking about.

If you work for a financial institution it is highly likely they will do at least a credit check on you and you have to evidence anytime out of work with bank statements to prove you were not detained at her majesties pleasure or something. If you work with sensitive data you may have to undergo some terrorism check and if you apply for a security role they are gonna come asking your inside leg measurement so will find out you are lying.

This has been asked many times as pointed out and all threads had a 'do it' and 'don't do it' arguement going on. If you apply for any of the above you are screwed but you might just get something from lying and you might not get found out. To be fair from what I can see many people are a little liberal with their CV to say the least and the number of people I have seen walk for it must be tiny in comparison but still, not my bag of chips at all while other avenues are open.

It isn't uncommon for contractors to use their flexibility to have long holidays, work breaks, out of work. You might lose a few gigs from it granted but if your skills really do match what the customer wants I can't see why you shouldn't be in the running.
I would respectively suggest the break may not be the number 1 reason why you are not getting gigs and maybe need to review your CV or application methods first before resorting to lying.

[kandr]

I think both of these are pretty misguided advice. To be fair I have never been in the OP's situation but I can't see lying on your CV being an acceptable solution. I have seen people get caught out lying and in all cases termination has been immediate. Oddly enough the last two people I saw walked were for extending or changing gig dates and for making up a false employment which both the quoted posts are talking about.

If you work for a financial institution it is highly likely they will do at least a credit check on you and you have to evidence anytime out of work with bank statements to prove you were not detained at her majesties pleasure or something. If you work with sensitive data you may have to undergo some terrorism check and if you apply for a security role they are gonna come asking your inside leg measurement so will find out you are lying.

This has been asked many times as pointed out and all threads had a 'do it' and 'don't do it' arguement going on. If you apply for any of the above you are screwed but you might just get something from lying and you might not get found out. To be fair from what I can see many people are a little liberal with their CV to say the least and the number of people I have seen walk for it must be tiny in comparison but still, not my bag of chips at all while other avenues are open.

It isn't uncommon for contractors to use their flexibility to have long holidays, work breaks, out of work. You might lose a few gigs from it granted but if your skills really do match what the customer wants I can't see why you shouldn't be in the running.
I would respectively suggest the break may not be the number 1 reason why you are not getting gigs and maybe need to review your CV or application methods first before resorting to lying.

They can never find out if your lying, its classified, you cant talk about it, they can't find out about it. If they try you will have to kill them.

[Clippy]

Just make something up, they never check. Say you worked for MI6 but cant talk about it.

Jun 2009 - Sept 2010
CLASSIFIED

They can never find out if your lying, its classified, you cant talk about it, they can't find out about it. If they try you will have to kill them.

"It's best to keep quite and to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt".

If you don't have anything worthwhile to add to threads in the Business section then do us all a favour and button it.

[wantacontract]

I think both of these are pretty misguided advice. To be fair I have never been in the OP's situation but I can't see lying on your CV being an acceptable solution. I have seen people get caught out lying and in all cases termination has been immediate. Oddly enough the last two people I saw walked were for extending or changing gig dates and for making up a false employment which both the quoted posts are talking about.

If you work for a financial institution it is highly likely they will do at least a credit check on you and you have to evidence anytime out of work with bank statements to prove you were not detained at her majesties pleasure or something. If you work with sensitive data you may have to undergo some terrorism check and if you apply for a security role they are gonna come asking your inside leg measurement so will find out you are lying.

This has been asked many times as pointed out and all threads had a 'do it' and 'don't do it' arguement going on. If you apply for any of the above you are screwed but you might just get something from lying and you might not get found out. To be fair from what I can see many people are a little liberal with their CV to say the least and the number of people I have seen walk for it must be tiny in comparison but still, not my bag of chips at all while other avenues are open.

It isn't uncommon for contractors to use their flexibility to have long holidays, work breaks, out of work. You might lose a few gigs from it granted but if your skills really do match what the customer wants I can't see why you shouldn't be in the running.
I would respectively suggest the break may not be the number 1 reason why you are not getting gigs and maybe need to review your CV or application methods first before resorting to lying.

Hmmm, I do feel it depends on the client sector - finance then yes for sure they will check. But many of the companies I've worked for never ever bothered to check my previous company line manager/reference I gave. How did I know, because I rang up my previous line manager/reference and asked....

Perhaps the OP should give my advice a go if he/she should find being truthful doesn't pay. My personal thoughts are a mix of honesty with clever deception is often the best way forward. (A contradiction I know...)

[jmo21]

Sadly, the wall of genius you have to break through, the agents, have a choice to make with putting you forward, and for this kind of situation they will be asking themselves some questions.

- this guy says he decided to go on an 18 month holiday, do I believe him? maybe he's just rubbish and couldn't get a job.

- shall I take a risk and put him forward? He did work for Google for 3 years before his break, Microsoft for 10 years before that, IBM for 10 years before that etc etc.. you get the point....... hmmm.... he doesn't mention .Net 12.7 on his CV, and he has only listed being a Senior Software Engineer, no experience in what my client wants, they need a good Analyst Programmer

- jeez, in the 20 nanoseconds while I've been thinking about this guy, 30 other CV's have just came
in...... bin!