Cover stories for time out

[SuperZ]

Tell clients/pimps to stop being stupid, we're self-employed contractors not permies and periods without work or of extended holidays is the norm.

What a world we live in where we fear being judged suitable for contract work on whether gaps exist in a CV or not.

[shoes]

The company exists, will give you that. Did you work for them?? Come on.. mucking about on laptops, getting certs. No way on gods earth is that you working for a company. You delivered nothing to the company, you were not asked to do anything

........

How you can compare that to an actual gig leaves me lost for words.

Most of my gigs have been like that. A consultant keeping their skills up to date whilst not racking up the billable hours is working for their company just as much as a consultant on a client site with the meter running. It's not a lie to regard this period on a consultants profile as continuing to work for the company. You have quite the permie mindset, it's quite sweet really.

[Peter Loew]

This is insane.

Longest break I took was 4 months 1.5 years ago and when asked I simply said, "I went on a trip and travelled cross-country". When clients and agencies alike ask me about this we get into great conversations about where it is I went and what I did. No need to lie.

I got into this contracting business so I COULD take such trips with a pocketful of cash.. work-life balance. I'll be damned if I let some pimps or idiotic clients take that away from me as well.

One year off does seem a bit excessive, but same principal applies if you don't work.

[HairyArsedBloke]

How about:

Interviewer: I see from your CV that you have not worked in a while. In fact there is a patchy history of working. How do you explain that?


Interviewee: I have no need to work continuously. I have a modest lifestyle that is easily funded by only working a proportion of the time. This allows me to devote a greater proportion of my time attending to my family and social responsibilities. It also allows me time to engage in my personal spiritual development and to enhance my technical skills even further.

[Wanderer]

Longest break I took was 4 months 1.5 years ago and when asked I simply said, "I went on a trip and travelled cross-country". When clients and agencies alike ask me about this we get into great conversations about where it is I went and what I did. No need to lie.

Likewise. I've taken three career breaks of 6 months to a year off.

I'm always positive about these breaks, travelling, house renovation, study, taking a break due to help someone out who is unwell have all been reasons. If I haven't worked for a while I always make it plain that I've done what I needed to do, learned some new skills and I'm now highly motivated to get back into my chosen career path.

If anyone asks about what I've been doing then I'm more than happy to discuss it with them, it gets away from the hard core techie part of the interview and let's you connect with the interviewer and find some common interests. I always steer it back to how this is going to ultimately benefit my career, like a big DIY project that taught me a lot about project management, budgeting and negotiation etc.

I've heard that some employers don't like seeing career breaks. I have been fortunate to be able to take them and I've loved it. I'm not going to work my life away until I reach 65 and then drop dead. If they can't handle that then it's their problem.

[norrahe]

Some of us take time off for valid reasons as mentioned by several posters.

As long as you are open and honest about it and put a positive spin it works to your advantage.

[TheFaQQer]

I've heard that some employers don't like seeing career breaks. I have been fortunate to be able to take them and I've loved it. I'm not going to work my life away until I reach 65 and then drop dead. If they can't handle that then it's their problem.

Generally, it's the agents that don't like to see a career break - but you need them to get the CV to the client in the first place.

I had 7 months out last year / this year - some voluntary, some not. By the end, some agents were saying that this long time off would be a problem to some people (but obviously not to them, or they wouldn't have mentioned it )

[Sockpuppet]

Why not just say you went travelling. Lots of people do it and they're not going to expect you to go all hippy mental on them.

[FICO]

Likewise. I've taken three career breaks of 6 months to a year off.

I'm always positive about these breaks, travelling, house renovation, study, taking a break due to help someone out who is unwell have all been reasons. If I haven't worked for a while I always make it plain that I've done what I needed to do, learned some new skills and I'm now highly motivated to get back into my chosen career path.

If anyone asks about what I've been doing then I'm more than happy to discuss it with them, it gets away from the hard core techie part of the interview and let's you connect with the interviewer and find some common interests. I always steer it back to how this is going to ultimately benefit my career, like a big DIY project that taught me a lot about project management, budgeting and negotiation etc.

I've heard that some employers don't like seeing career breaks. I have been fortunate to be able to take them and I've loved it. I'm not going to work my life away until I reach 65 and then drop dead. If they can't handle that then it's their problem.

some good points in this post.

I've just been put forward for a role and the agent has asked me to put together some extra points in an email to tell him what I've done in my gap to keep my IT skills fresh

[norrahe]

It's teh agents who have a problem with it.

I have only once been asked in an interviewafter a long gap what I was doing for that period.