Are we done with the CV gap taboo? | Hacker News Reader

Are we done with the CV gap taboo?

bbc.com

16 pointspmoriarty15 comments

Register a company, say you did freelance consulting work in the gap. Can't disclose details due to NDAs, but it's fascinatingly close to the core competencies of the place you're applying to.

Isn't that pretty much fraud?

Isn't the practice of interviewing full of fraud on the part of interviewers already? Things like the dreaded '10 years experience in a 2 year old language' in programmer listings? Why shouldn't interviewees use whatever means they can, especially largely untraceable ones like this example, to even the field? Plus, if you've done any work for friends or other contacts in the meantime, you can just draw up an informal NDA after the fact and then it's not even a lie.

The '10 years experience in a 2 year old language' is an unrealistic whishlist, just like an applicant might have a (probably more realistic) wishlist for compensation or something else. I expect both parties to be truthful about the facts, and either party clearly lying about facts is fraud.

I mean if you spent the time education yourself or taking classes or anything on improvement then you were doing what you said, minus a physical NDA.

Experience working in an area is different from studying it. Also the parent comment suggests to say that the experience was in "fascinatingly close to the core competencies of the place you're applying to", that's clearly not just polishing the truth.

R&D is an actual thing that corporations spend money on.

If a company reads it and doesn't like it, then they don't like it. You are looking for the one who accepts your resume.

I personally have started a company, and legit spend 9 months just researching and decided not to do it. Nothing wrong with that.

The original comment is suggesting that you outright lie on your resume. Then galleywest200 suggested that if you just do some studying it's okay to represent that as actual working experience, which is also lying.

I don't understand why people think it's okay to outright lie on your resume.

Well if you're going to be like that, then in the interview, answer all questions utterly and completely honestly. No lies of ommission or "spinning" answers to give the best first impression of yourself. So because of you now, if in an interview, someone asks me about my last boss, I'll say "he is an ignorant cunt that couldn't find his ass with both hands." Then they will say, "Wait...but you were self-employed and worked for yourself!" And I'll say, "Yes, I would not hire me under any circumstances whatsoever." I'll never get a job and starve to death, but hey, at least I'll be honest.

My friend just got hired into a manager role - when asked about what he did during his gap, he said "Vibed." Serious company, too - big NYC construction firm.

I think it's mostly if not totally gone.

I have been struggling with this due to returning to the workforce after being out from disability. I don’t want to lie and make up LLCs, but also don’t feel like explaining the details is appropriate.

Meanwhile I have been keeping up with self learning ( CCNA / Security + / ITIL ), but the gap just keeps growing. I am only looking for entry level support / NoC / SoC positions, but haven’t had any luck for years. Honestly looking for advice.

Probably not. Anecdotally, the websites I used recently for a job change forced me to fill in even short gaps with explanations before I could progress through the document packet.

Maybe if there were more humans in the loop there would be less emphasis. No one during an interview asked for explanation of these. Perhaps they’re just caught by the software before it becomes “problematic”. Gap fascism is baked into the system.

If you are in europe, I'd highly recommend using the europass. IME one of the best tools for making CV's.

Hard disagree. I am a very strong supporter of EU wide initiatives but this one is misguided.

- You cannot have a single CV template for all professional fields.

- The template is beyond verbose and low density, it takes forever to parse relevant info, you have to assume HR or hiring managers will reasonably skim through for 10 to 15 seconds before making a first pass decision.

- Too many sections might make sense for Writer/Marketing/Management/Sales but are useless for technical work, as an e.g. I can speak 6 languages at a confortable level yet it has never been relevant in any Hiring process for my technical roles, it is a waste of space (and reader attention) to have a quarter of a page on language skills.

Personally I think something like ModernCV is a much better starting point for a technical CV.

Yes, obviously it isn't a one size fits all solution. But I was specifically talking about using it to create one.

Multiple times I created it via the europass website, exported it as a word and edited that to cut down on the boilerplate.

But yeah, I definitely can see alternatives being more reasonable nowadays. ModernCV absolutely seems like a tool worth learning.

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