Why do job applications ask you to explain gaps in your employment history? Nosy bitch.
I had just finished college and went into a deep depression? Is that what you wanted to hear? I managed to hold on from complete mental breakdown until after all my assignments had been submitted and then just spent months after college recovering?
Literally every time I’m like “do you want to know about me being violently abused by my ex? I feel like that would just make things awkward, but it’s more uncomfortable for you than me”
Mm, this.
I usually just say I had to leave my previous job for reasons related to the abusive relationship I was also freshly out of at the time, and that it took me a while to get things sorted out enough to start seeking employment again.
I’ve never been asked to elaborate further.
They probably assume that the “sorting out” was like, restraining orders and shit and that I left due to stalking, really it was mostly that it was the peak of the 2008 recession, my job used some extremely minor manifestations of my PTSD as an excuse to fire me (I’d been there four years and had earned some raises, they wanted to hire someone at starting wage instead), trying to job hunt in the middle of massive unemployment really fucking sucks, and dealing with fresh PTSD also really fucking sucks, so I decided to only deal with the latter for a while since I was able to live with family and not have to worry about being homeless or starving.
You’ll note the truth-spinning, of course, but also note that nowhere in my brief and vague statement do I ever actually lie. If more information were uncovered about the circumstances, and I were challenged about it, I can say yes, I was fired because of PTSD symptoms that I wasn’t able to manage well at the time. That’s related to the abusive relationship, because that abuse is what gave me the PTSD. The PTSD is also what I was working on sorting out before going back on the job hunt.
Be brief and vague in a way that is true but also makes you sound as good as possible. “I was unable to seek employment for a while while extricating myself from an abusive relationship” sounds better than “I was an unemployable traumatized mess because my ex used to beat the shit out of me”. “I took some time off after college to work on myself, so that I could start my career out on the right foot” sounds better than “college stress put me into a major depressive episode and I couldn’t get out of bed for a month”.
Mental health stigma is bullshit but it exists, and until capitalism dies we all have to eat. So there’s my tips on how to spin your gap-explanation story to get a job anyway, because frankly it is NOT any of their business and that IS an incredibly invasive question, but it’s generally one that CAN be answered “honestly” (Fae Rules Of Honesty) without actually telling them anything of substance about your mental health history.
(via zephuckyr)
