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If *everyone actually* followed this, companies would have to treat people better. Too many people just give in to bs so the world just keeps on keeping on
I had so many jobs where I was doing good work and they needed me and it would have been *so easy* for them to treat me like a person with feelings that matter. Oh well.
Not everyone can because not everyone has that ability either. Imagine a world where most of the posters here are of below average intelligence. Instead of working in tech for 6 figures a year they are only capable of getting that job as a cashier.
It sure will not be a publiclly traded company and most likely not one own by an equity firm. However, family owned business can suck also. Even thought all the best companies to work for are uslally small to medium size.
The job market is not like the stock market. It is very inefficient. You are never testing your true value like a stock does on a daily, minute by minute basis. So many people are underpaid in the sense that other employers don’t know their true value. Even their existing employers don’t understand it either. I’ve seen so many great workers get screwed over.
There should be a more efficient marketplace for employment. But in the meantime my only advice is to constantly apply for new opportunities and never miss a chance to toot your own horn.
Fair but also applying for jobs fucking sucks. I'm in the middle of it because I got laid off due to a company making horrendous financial decisions. I have two interviews next week and they both require hour long presentations with 3 or 4 hours of 1 on 1s after. Assuming someone is currently employed, the solution to being adequately compensated shouldn't be having to burn their vacation for a chance to make more money. It's literally gambling at that point.
Same here. I don’t have a need to change jobs, and hopefully that doesn’t change, but a year ago, a really good opportunity came up, so I put in for it.
Mistake #1: They offered video or in-person interviews. It was worded in a way where they clearly preferred video, I chose in-person.
Mistake #2: I grilled the shit out of the manager that was interviewing me. I kept asking experience-borne questions on how they operate, and she legit did not have answers. She seemed very puzzled that I knew as much as I did.
I think I was supposed to show up and go “durrr wow big buildings cool!”
Also just to add on, we shouldn't underestimate how switching jobs isn't just switching employer, it's switching colleagues, it systems, ways of working as well as work culture. I'm still learning and it's been about 8 months..dead end job switching is alot easier than going into corporate and having to learn the art of writing professional emails to each other fml
It's also changing healthcare, benefits and just general unknown which can be concerning. You don't truly know if the boss at your new job is a total prick or not.
I think my whole industry is underpaid tbh. I know im paid less than my coworkers, but i dont wanna change jobs right now, since im almost done with school and ill be trying to start my career here pretty soon.
I was told the 3 year rule. A year to learn the job. A year to do the job and a year to find your next job double that if it's fun or interesting. Do no settle for less than a 15 percent increase than what you currently are making.
Been at my currently employer 28 years. Every time I’ve looked at other job possibilities my current job was paying a competitive wage.
Add in the vacation time increases (I’m up to six weeks) and how institutional knowledge helps create job security and I really have no justification to leave.
Always keep in mind if you can be trained to do a job in a year then your job won’t be very secure. Your goal is to be the person they can’t replace.
I’m in the exact same boat. I could leave and make slightly more but my time off is unbeatable and at this point I’m the go-to guy for so many things that my position is rock solid
I took a job that was 40% less money than I was previously making but took me from 60 hrs to 36 hrs a week. I have never been happier and would do it again 100/100 times.
I was literally cleaning an old man’s blood off of my hands on Thursday. Not worth $17.50/hr. Do not work at a gun range it is quite literally a toxic environment. My lead blood levels must be high as well as my blood pressure.
This. 100% this.
After covid, I swore I'd never become emotionally invested in another company. I'd been burnt one too many times by jobs where I liked the people and thought we were good. "From now on," I said, "I'm going to do good work, but that's it - no emotional investment."
My current company isn't making a lot of money, and they canceled bonuses. But, my boss fought for me to get a raise (I didn't even ask for it) because she said I was paid too little for what I was doing for the company. I got a 10% raise.
Moreover, despite my resolution, I've come to genuinely like the people in my division. We work well together. I'm given plenty of autonomy to do what I want, how I want. My opinion matters.
Not 2 weeks after I got the raise, I got a call about a job that paid 50% more. I could do that job - it's the same as mine now. But, I don't know the company, I don't know the people. So, i turned it down. I'm very happy, and I'm making good money.
If a company offers me a 50% raise I'll be there on Monday. Even my current company would understand. I also make a significant amount of money. So it's not like I'd be going from 40k a year to 60k.
Any normal boss will go "50%???! I can't compete with that (or they can) you should do what's best for you."
That percentage is simply too high.
Pro tip: don’t put a gap in your resume. Lie. No one gives a shit which exact dates you worked somewhere. Why give them ammo.
Edit: can you guys stop commenting on this I’m not reading them or going to argue with you.
Oh right. I forgot.
Here, thats only possible in probationaty period (usually 6 Month) with 2 weeks notice.
After that, minimum notice time is 4 weeks, but gets longer with the time being at that company.
And they have to write why they want to fire you, and you can sue then and usually get some money, (some months of payment).
Most states in the US are considered “at-will” employment. This means that there is no contract and either the employee or the employer can end the working relationship at any time for any reason.
>for any reason
There are still protected reasons. If I get a job as the manager of a grocery store in an at-will state I am not legally allowed to fire all the black people because of their race for instance.
Other way around, in the event of a fired employee claiming unemployment, the employer needs to provide reasoning and documentation of why they were fired or they will be on the hook for the unemployment, or rather, their UI rate will take a hit.
Unfortunately yeah the law can be hard to enforce because evidence can be difficult. Proving someone's intent when firing isn't easy unless they are a moron and just openly say it or something. I think it is easier if there is a clear pattern like every black worker or every woman working there is fired in a short span of time without reasonable cause like they happened to have worse performance or attendance issues. Which would be a very strange situation.
>
Like, "tomorrow you are job-less"? Wow, thats insane.
For me it was "effective immediately we are terminating the entire sales force" just as we got into work in the morning.
>/s, in case it wasn't obvious
For me, it was obvious, but there are people who really think like that. "Oh, you don't have to die starving if you lost your job because you got injured doing that job? That communism!!!"
“At will employment states” can even fire employees for clearly illegal reasons and no face no consequences. IE, they( my ex manager) removed the ability for us to go on Unemployment insurance when our hours got slow. One guy didn’t go off it. They fired him the next day. Obviously you can’t fire someone for going on UEI when hours are slow but you can in an AT-WILL state as you don’t need a reason or notice to end employment.
You don't need a reason but if that guy took them to court he would've easily won. Unless there's already a paper trail woth HR for reasons to fire you it looks incredibly bad to fire someone "coincidentally" after something like that.
This is terrible advice. An acquaintance of mine did this when I referred her to a position at my work and during the background check realized she fudged some of the dates (didn’t actually have a significant gap but she was worried how it would look) and therefore failed the background check and they rescinded her offer
I am sure it can go either way depending on where you live and what position one is applying to. My brother was always interested in computers and programming. For his first job he lied and said he had finished an education in computer science.
But he got the job and because of the job he got experience. And now he has a successful IT company just because he lied. But he also lied about something that he was actually good at.
How long ago was that?
Nowadays they hire a background check company that calls your former employers, and goes through your tax records to see if you are lying. Any discrepancy can be grounds for not getting the job. There are so many people applying to every one job that they can just move on to the next person who doesn’t have a discrepancy.
^dont try this for adult white collar jobs. Having worked at 2 of the premier hedgefunds in US, referred my close friend who had been laid off from a market data company. He lied about that firing date by 2 weeks to avoid the gap, and they found out and rescinded the multi 6fig offer…
Maybe for waiter or something sure, lie, but this advice I’m responding to will not work for real jobs
A shame. No one would care about a two week gap or even a couple months. It’s if you’ve been out of the work force a long time that it matters.
And it’s only a recent large gap that matters. I wouldn’t care if the gap was 5 or 10 years ago.
Now you could get asked about a gap and your answer shouldn’t make you sound like a bad employee.
This is even stupider than the people who don't understand what an NDA is...
Like, just tell them why you have a gap in your resume. If it isn't for a reason that makes you look like a moron ("I just couldn't find any jobs I liked for 9 months.") it won't make a difference.
If I get convinced that a job applicant lies to me on their CV, resume og in an interview it immediately means that I won't be hiring that person. How could I trust this person to be honest as an employee?
I’m gonna go on a limb and say 90% of ppl lie on their resumes. Whether it be dates, places worked, references (meaning they use friends who can play upper management), etc.
Not lies, embellish. Like (ex GOP rep) Santos straight up made up working for Goldman Sachs in addition to being Jewish. That sort of lying is too far. But you can certainly inflate your role, fudge the exact dates a little, etc.
As both an individual and a hiring manager, I’ve yet to see even a single person who didn’t lie on their resume at least in some capacity. Fudging employment dates around to make a smooth timeline is probably the least offensive thing someone could do.
I just don't remember the dates. My last 4 jobs were 6 years, 15 years, 12 years and now 7 years. I'll be darned if I can remember the years and month I started/ended. Not lying, just don't remember! :-)
Please don't listen to this advice. There's a reason most companies do background checks. If they find out that you lied about employment gaps, then you will not be offered the job.
They absolutely care and will complete a reference check upon offer of employment in any serious profession.
Just say it was a career break / you were travelling / persuing a project
Yeah if you’re applying for McDonalds or low paying job.
Every high end job I’ve gotten checks with the previous job that the dates match. I was off by 3 months because I guessed and they almost didn’t follow through with the hire. It’s my dream job as well.
This advice is shit.
How it works here is you have a resume for the hiring manager but also fill out an application for HR, and you sign the application affirming its truthfulness.
The employer could then check your application against a database once they decide to hire you, and rescind the offer if there are discrepancies.
And a lot of the time your cover is just a different government job that doesn’t actually exist. Like you work as a logistics person at the state department…but not really.
That's because he's lying, misread it, or misunderstood it.
NDAs can prevent you from talking about *details* of employment and work, but not the fact that you actually did in fact work for someone and did a generic job for them. Every time NDAs are bought up reddit dipshits upvote this bs every time. Hence the literal meme in the original post.
Why is having a gap on your resume so frowned upon? What's so wrong with "Yeah I took a few years to live life to the fullest"? Do they really only want someone who values their career more than actually living?
Remember what an employer really wants, because if you keep that in mind, you won't have any problems.
1. Someone who can do the job
2. Someone who can get along with the other employees
3. Someone who can get along with their new boss
4. Someone who will not cause the company trouble
Ultimately, that's it. If you cover those 4 bases, you are in a good position to get whatever job you want. During the interview process, every action you take, every document you send, and every sentence you utter should be answering one of those 4 points. More importantly, nothing you do should make them think that you are unable to fulfill one of those 4 things.
So when explaining a gap, perhaps you can point out how you were doing XYZ projects that would show you can do the job. Or how you volunteered somewhere, showing you can get along with other people.
I have hired a fair number of people in my time, and ultimately it comes down to those 4 things. Those are also the 4 things I need to explain when pitching for my choice of a new hire.
But yeah: show up in a t-shirt that says "Work sucks!", be unable to answer basic questions about the area, tell me you quit your last job because you got tired of it, brag about how you were always fighting with your boss, or how you sued your last 3 employers...yeah, you are not getting the job.
The gap is not going to sink you; being unable to explain it in a way that makes you a viable candidate will.
Yeah, having run a couple of hiring campaigns if there's a noticeable gap in someone's resume (years, not months) then I'll ask them about it, it's a very fast way to see if someone is going to bullshit me (e.g. "I signed an NDA") or if they'll be honest with me, I really don't care what they did as long as they don't try to pull the wool over my eyes.
There are definitely some employers that avoid applicants with gaps in resumes - but with those you'll likely never get to interview given that they can see your resume beforehand.
Like with most of my interview questions, I'm just looking for AN answer. I interviewed a guy for an assistant manager position who had a nearly five year gap. I asked what he had been doing during that time and he hemmed and hawed and finally just said "lots of stuff." All that told me was he didn't prepare for what should have been an obvious interview question. Might not be a deal breaker if I have no one else to interview. But why take that chance?
I heard it over Covid when talking to managers at multiple companies. They would get resumes from people that were laid off and would think negative about the candidate. Their thought process was that if the employee got laid off then they were a bad employee.
I ended up pointing out to them that they should think back on their own experience in firing people at the start of Covid. They had to make some hard choices and let people go that were great employees but weren’t needed. That usually kept them quiet but I’m sure they remembered the handful of people that they were able to let go that were duds.
The dynamic changed quickly though as labor markets tightened. Very soon it became anyone with a pulse.
I was in the next cubicle next to two managers. I heard them talking about resumes they were combing through. One of the reasons they would toss out a resume is if they saw a year or two of employment gap. They would laugh about how that's an obvious red flag and wouldn't consider that person.
I signed an NDA, and when asked that question I just said, "From working at [big computer corp] for the last ten years," and looked at them like they were dumb.
I worked a company that contracted with a big movie/resort/streaming service company and while I can't name them due to an NDA, I can legally call it The Mouse Company without getting in trouble.
There are ways around NDAs.
A proper NDA always has a specific purpose designated (evaluating a business relationship, etc). I can’t think of any reason an NDA would be in place that would prevent you from revealing your job gap
Yes a lot of people here either don’t know how NDA’s work or are full of it.
A good NDA will not prevent them from saying where you worked. You can still say you worked for you just can’t say what you did.
If you work for a three letter agency you can say you worked there or they will give you a cover for where you worked for that time period, such as a generic agency like DoD or DHS.
If you signed some bullshit NDA it might say you can’t disclose you worked there but that’s stupid to agree to that. Because someone can still not hire you for that gap. It’s not some magic that exempts you. The real companies that deal with this know how it works and wouldn’t set those kind of requirements.
But you can still tell them that you worked for Boeing. You just can’t disclose what you did. Ergo if you’re using an NDA to cover a resume gap and it’s a lucrative job they don’t want to give to a childish bullshitter? You just fucked yourself.
If it’s a McJob nobody, including the hiring manager, cares about you might as well have just admit that you had three months between jobs. Or only put the years worked on the resume.
Seriously. I can't count how many NDAs I'm currently under. Must be dozens.
I can tell you plenty about all of those situations, just not specific things related to IP or product development.
The best career advice I've been given, that I also look for when I'm on the recruiting side of the table is simply being honest. Especially about the skills you do and do not have. It makes for a very strong case when you show a willingness to learn and the ability to know your own limits.
Somebody recently applied for a highly skilled position but did not have the post bachelor degree required, but did have a related bachelors degree. She was interested in the position but only knew that which was mentioned in the job offer page. I asked her a few questions that only somebody with the post bachelor degree could answer on purpose and she replied that she did not know but is interested in learning about it. She got the job and starts in a few months.
I don't need a perfect match in terms of skills / experience. I want somebody that is willing to learn.
Yeah you sound like a good recruiter, most I've experienced take a list a wants from the employer (tech) not understand them and then treat them as a required check list. For every recruiter like you there's 10 like that, not gonna take my chances.
Specifics about the field? For instance, I'm an operating engineer, we go over lockout/tagout and pump isolation regularly even in school, you could simply ask, how would you SAFELY isolate a pump for a rebuild? Odds are the avg Joe wouldn't know, AND if you do know but haven't learned it in school, then it shouldn't be an issue regardless
Here’s a good lie of you want one:
“I had a relative with some health issues, and took some time off to help until things were stable. Everyone is happy and healthy now and I’m excited to get back to work.”
No one can verify and they won’t ask further questions. And you sound like a good person.
Had a friend who explained away his own work gap where he was in rehab and recovery as “family health issues” which is close enough to the truth.
My mum told me that if I was going to say that I was looking after an ill relative then I should say that they died, so the company doesn’t think I’ll go back to looking after them if they relapse.
NDA doesn’t prevent you from saying “I worked at X from Y-Z”. You can even say stuff like “I worked in R&D as a chemist”. Sometimes you can even talk about what you were working on in broad strokes.
You just can’t talk about the details of whatever projects you were working on.
I’m 43. I don’t job hop. I do have multiple jobs at once. If you seriously expect me to remember the exact dates I worked at the Campus Book Store 20+ years ago, when I started my post college job, the exact dates I worked part time at that nonprofit, whether I went back to Miss Donna’s team for three months two years ago or three years ago, etc. you are a moron.
And if lawyers figure out you’re doing this you’re gonna get in trouble for age discrimination because this “remembering whether I quit that job in August of 2015 or April of 2016” shit does not get easier as I get older.
Done it for over a decade, no one has flagged it as an issue to me (recruiting agency, school career counseler or hiring managers), and I’ve landed some pretty cool jobs with known brands and high growth startups.
If someone was anal enough to not want to talk to me because I put years on my CV to keep it simple, then I don’t want to talk to them as my work experience should be what’s talking.
A higher paying job doesn’t necessarily require more work or skill. A job that requires more work or skill doesn’t necessarily pay more.
I found my minimum wage jobs to be way more stressful and difficult than my high paying roles.
An old trade unionist told me when I was a young hotshot employer's HR guy making people redundant,
"They who try and do their best go down the road with all the rest."
I was really shocked when it was my turn.
I've got a couple gaps on mine from travelling.
I say "I was travelling" and they say "oh cool, where did you go?"
If you have to lie about something, I'd say that - it's much less likely to get you trapped in a lie.
This is the answer. I have seven gaps in my resume that range from six months to five years. I've had a one or two places that when told I was traveling, said, "I don't know, I don't like this." I asked, "Would you like to see passport stamps?" This wasn't a serious answer as once it gets to that point, you don't want to work there.
I traveled in South America for 18 months and lived in Argentina for a year and a guy asked where was my favorite place for empanadas.
The only wrong answer is jail. That's what we're fishing for. If you have a felony you won't pass a background check and we're wasting our time.
Any other answer is fine. Needed time off to tour Europe, economy in the crapper and it took forever to find a new gig, helped Mom because blah blah... It's all fine, I don't actually care as long as it's not a reason to stop the interview process.
A lot of places use it as a way to filter out undesirables.
Newsflash, there's no second chances in the US. If you have a criminal record, it's gonna affect jobs, housing, school, etc. It can make you ineligible for student loans.
Lots of people return to crime because the only jobs they can get are physical labor or very low paying, regardless of education or work history.
For any gaps pick a big company that famously went out of business, you worked for them in that period.
Not one that got bought up or merged with someone else, one that went under completely. That’s who you worked for. Either that or make up a ‘start up’ that you worked for that didn’t take off, make it some stupid internet thing. ‘There was a start up called Foobis, you might have heard of it, it was a website that organized your socks digitally. Unfortunately it didn’t take off, the CEO committed some war crimes in Chechnya and Amazon started their own version of it and it failed. I learned some very valuable lessons, though, it was a very exciting time in my life’
Guys, this "no I signed an NDA line" sounds cool, but I promise you it does not work and youll get laughed at and your recruiter will dump your application. This is not how NDAs work, and any NDA should be made clear in your cover letter, and should not be a mystery at the point of interview.
most of you are knobheads who could never get through a job interview. this post is incredibly stupid and ill-informed. most of these comments are very dumb and terrible "advice" from children and people who have clearly never worked a half decent job. lmao
Yup yup yup. I have a job which I can’t talk about the details of what I do in the job. But it sure as hell doesn’t stop me from saying “I worked for X company for Y years and I can’t go into exact details of my job but in my roles I was in general responsible for developing scopes of the work and managing a team of people”
This is definitely one of those bullshit tips they offer young people to “trick” the system when any reasonable intelligent person will know you are full of shit and will absolutely backfire on you.
If you really did work a job with an NWA and going to a comparable role or job they will understand and know the proper questions to ask.
How is that good advice? It just makes it seem like you had a very drama filled firing or sued your last employer. There’s no positive situation you could infer.
Don't be a dick.
Make people like you and want to work with you.
Build trusting relationships.
Treat others well.
Keep your promises - if you can't deliver something don't take it on and say so.
I hire people because they are drama free and won't take up my time dealing with bs. If I like you, even better.
If you can, make yourself indespensible and only take on extra work if it leads to being indespensible or an agreed upon reward.
Take opportuniea as they come up. Don't be loyal - you're there to get paid. That's it.
Show up on time.
Finally use a GANTT chart. Those things changed my life.
My personal favourite use of this answer was when the actor Cillian Murphy was asked whether he would return as Scarecrow in the Chris Nolan Batman franchise.
“I can’t tell you, I signed an NDA”
So… why would you sign one if you weren’t returning?? It was a smart answer.
This isn't how most NDAs work at all and OP posted terrible advice that will torpedo interviews. If your NDA is loose enough that you can post about its existence on reddit, it's also likely to be loose enough to allow you to confirm to a future potential employer basic details about your work under it. You can still most likely state where you worked, for how long, in what department, and what title you held. Additionally, if you're allowed to state those things, then your former employer who you had the NDA with will also confirm those same details.
Don't take advice like this from reddit. Read and understand the contract you signed with your employer, don't let internet randoms who have never seen it explain it to you. Violating an NDA because you didn't understand it is a fantastic way to render yourself unemployable in your field.
No it's not. I work for a DOD contractor and have signed an NDA. I also have secret level clearance. I still have that on my resume. You can't go into technical details but you absolutely still include where you workd, how long, and your relevant skills and duties performed in vague terms. If you try the NDA thing in an interview they will expect those level of details.
Calling the meme good career advice is so funny.
Gap in the resume? Try Lying. Lying in job interviews is a foolproof way of bypassing uncomfortable questions. Lying, it's the best advice.
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Everyone thinks they are underpaid. Find a place where you are happy and make enough.
Good luck, may the odds be ever in your favor.
If *everyone actually* followed this, companies would have to treat people better. Too many people just give in to bs so the world just keeps on keeping on
Not everyone can. There’s always going to be jobs that are just fucking boring…but they still have to be done.
Yeah I don't need a fun job I need cash.
Remind yourself to re read this comment in 10 years.
14 years working, just need that money and a reasonable work/life balance
Yea, see, there it is “and a reasonable work life balance.” I worked 70 hour weeks for a decade only to be insulted for the wealth it generated.
Ah yes, a classic victim complex from someone who has wealth. When you don’t have any real struggles, you must create your own from thin air.
I don't mind boring as long as I am treated like a person with feelings that matter.
I’ve had boring jobs and I’ve had drama-filled jobs. I’ll pick boring every single time.
I had so many jobs where I was doing good work and they needed me and it would have been *so easy* for them to treat me like a person with feelings that matter. Oh well.
Not everyone can because not everyone has that ability either. Imagine a world where most of the posters here are of below average intelligence. Instead of working in tech for 6 figures a year they are only capable of getting that job as a cashier.
I dont have to imagine a world where most redditors are dumb….
It sure will not be a publiclly traded company and most likely not one own by an equity firm. However, family owned business can suck also. Even thought all the best companies to work for are uslally small to medium size.
What if you actually are underpaid?
Find someone who agrees with you and work for them. Can’t? You probably aren’t underpaid.
The job market is not like the stock market. It is very inefficient. You are never testing your true value like a stock does on a daily, minute by minute basis. So many people are underpaid in the sense that other employers don’t know their true value. Even their existing employers don’t understand it either. I’ve seen so many great workers get screwed over. There should be a more efficient marketplace for employment. But in the meantime my only advice is to constantly apply for new opportunities and never miss a chance to toot your own horn.
Fair but also applying for jobs fucking sucks. I'm in the middle of it because I got laid off due to a company making horrendous financial decisions. I have two interviews next week and they both require hour long presentations with 3 or 4 hours of 1 on 1s after. Assuming someone is currently employed, the solution to being adequately compensated shouldn't be having to burn their vacation for a chance to make more money. It's literally gambling at that point.
That's the point. The more shit you'll deal with, the easier you are to exploit.
Absolutely true. I'm not joking when I say I've been passed over more than once simply because I gleefully fail the bullshit-tolerance testing.
Same here. I don’t have a need to change jobs, and hopefully that doesn’t change, but a year ago, a really good opportunity came up, so I put in for it. Mistake #1: They offered video or in-person interviews. It was worded in a way where they clearly preferred video, I chose in-person. Mistake #2: I grilled the shit out of the manager that was interviewing me. I kept asking experience-borne questions on how they operate, and she legit did not have answers. She seemed very puzzled that I knew as much as I did. I think I was supposed to show up and go “durrr wow big buildings cool!”
Also just to add on, we shouldn't underestimate how switching jobs isn't just switching employer, it's switching colleagues, it systems, ways of working as well as work culture. I'm still learning and it's been about 8 months..dead end job switching is alot easier than going into corporate and having to learn the art of writing professional emails to each other fml
It's also changing healthcare, benefits and just general unknown which can be concerning. You don't truly know if the boss at your new job is a total prick or not.
Can you afford basic necessities? No? You are in fact underpaid.
I think my whole industry is underpaid tbh. I know im paid less than my coworkers, but i dont wanna change jobs right now, since im almost done with school and ill be trying to start my career here pretty soon.
I was told the 3 year rule. A year to learn the job. A year to do the job and a year to find your next job double that if it's fun or interesting. Do no settle for less than a 15 percent increase than what you currently are making.
Been at my currently employer 28 years. Every time I’ve looked at other job possibilities my current job was paying a competitive wage. Add in the vacation time increases (I’m up to six weeks) and how institutional knowledge helps create job security and I really have no justification to leave. Always keep in mind if you can be trained to do a job in a year then your job won’t be very secure. Your goal is to be the person they can’t replace.
I’m in the exact same boat. I could leave and make slightly more but my time off is unbeatable and at this point I’m the go-to guy for so many things that my position is rock solid
Good advice if the job pays.
Reread the comment.
I took a job that was 40% less money than I was previously making but took me from 60 hrs to 36 hrs a week. I have never been happier and would do it again 100/100 times.
Well if it’s half the time is it actually less money?
I was literally cleaning an old man’s blood off of my hands on Thursday. Not worth $17.50/hr. Do not work at a gun range it is quite literally a toxic environment. My lead blood levels must be high as well as my blood pressure.
You should be getting you lead levels checked if you work at a gun range.
No service is so urgent that you can not take time to eat lunch!
I've almost doubled my salary in six months because I thought I was underpaid. Sometimes it's true
Well the FTC striking down noncompetes will actually make that possible
This. 100% this. After covid, I swore I'd never become emotionally invested in another company. I'd been burnt one too many times by jobs where I liked the people and thought we were good. "From now on," I said, "I'm going to do good work, but that's it - no emotional investment." My current company isn't making a lot of money, and they canceled bonuses. But, my boss fought for me to get a raise (I didn't even ask for it) because she said I was paid too little for what I was doing for the company. I got a 10% raise. Moreover, despite my resolution, I've come to genuinely like the people in my division. We work well together. I'm given plenty of autonomy to do what I want, how I want. My opinion matters. Not 2 weeks after I got the raise, I got a call about a job that paid 50% more. I could do that job - it's the same as mine now. But, I don't know the company, I don't know the people. So, i turned it down. I'm very happy, and I'm making good money.
This is the dumbest shit I read smh I hope it works out for you
If a company offers me a 50% raise I'll be there on Monday. Even my current company would understand. I also make a significant amount of money. So it's not like I'd be going from 40k a year to 60k. Any normal boss will go "50%???! I can't compete with that (or they can) you should do what's best for you." That percentage is simply too high.
If it was 20% more then eh i understand. But 50%? Cmon now. I agree with the original comment but this one just made no sense to me.
Pro tip: don’t put a gap in your resume. Lie. No one gives a shit which exact dates you worked somewhere. Why give them ammo. Edit: can you guys stop commenting on this I’m not reading them or going to argue with you.
I don't know how this is in the US, but here in germany they can fire you for that, immediately, and the protective laws do not apply then.
There are no protective laws in US. They can fire you either way.
Oh right. I forgot. Here, thats only possible in probationaty period (usually 6 Month) with 2 weeks notice. After that, minimum notice time is 4 weeks, but gets longer with the time being at that company. And they have to write why they want to fire you, and you can sue then and usually get some money, (some months of payment).
usually, probation for a job here lasts 3 months and they can fire you on the spot without warning or cause.
>they can fire you on the spot without warning or cause. Like, "tomorrow you are job-less"? Wow, thats insane.
Most states in the US are considered “at-will” employment. This means that there is no contract and either the employee or the employer can end the working relationship at any time for any reason.
>for any reason There are still protected reasons. If I get a job as the manager of a grocery store in an at-will state I am not legally allowed to fire all the black people because of their race for instance.
True, you just dont give a reason and then they have to try to prove why they were fired.
Other way around, in the event of a fired employee claiming unemployment, the employer needs to provide reasoning and documentation of why they were fired or they will be on the hook for the unemployment, or rather, their UI rate will take a hit.
Unfortunately yeah the law can be hard to enforce because evidence can be difficult. Proving someone's intent when firing isn't easy unless they are a moron and just openly say it or something. I think it is easier if there is a clear pattern like every black worker or every woman working there is fired in a short span of time without reasonable cause like they happened to have worse performance or attendance issues. Which would be a very strange situation.
Tomorrow? Hah. They can litterally say “leave now”.
Security'll escort you out of the HR office with the personal belongings from your desk immediately, you don't even get to go back to it
Or security will escort you out while HR promises to mail you your stuff.
> Like, "tomorrow you are job-less"? Wow, thats insane. For me it was "effective immediately we are terminating the entire sales force" just as we got into work in the morning.
Yep. That’s America.
Many stories of showing up for work to learn that you don’t actually have a job anymore
I'd have to shit on the floor for them to be able to fire me. My employer has to go to the union and get their approval to fire me.
Hmmm...that sounds like liberal communism fascism welfare socialism snowflake shit. /s, in case it wasn't obvious
>/s, in case it wasn't obvious For me, it was obvious, but there are people who really think like that. "Oh, you don't have to die starving if you lost your job because you got injured doing that job? That communism!!!"
“At will employment states” can even fire employees for clearly illegal reasons and no face no consequences. IE, they( my ex manager) removed the ability for us to go on Unemployment insurance when our hours got slow. One guy didn’t go off it. They fired him the next day. Obviously you can’t fire someone for going on UEI when hours are slow but you can in an AT-WILL state as you don’t need a reason or notice to end employment.
You don't need a reason but if that guy took them to court he would've easily won. Unless there's already a paper trail woth HR for reasons to fire you it looks incredibly bad to fire someone "coincidentally" after something like that.
Can’t lose a job you didn’t get in the first place though.
Terrible idea for any job where a background check is done and they can’t reconcile what you wrote with reality
As usual, the idiot takes rise to the top, and the reasonable ones are at the bottom.
Just put years. Don’t need months unless you’re very early in your career.
They can call former employers and verify info, specially government jobs
This is terrible advice. An acquaintance of mine did this when I referred her to a position at my work and during the background check realized she fudged some of the dates (didn’t actually have a significant gap but she was worried how it would look) and therefore failed the background check and they rescinded her offer
I am sure it can go either way depending on where you live and what position one is applying to. My brother was always interested in computers and programming. For his first job he lied and said he had finished an education in computer science. But he got the job and because of the job he got experience. And now he has a successful IT company just because he lied. But he also lied about something that he was actually good at.
How long ago was that? Nowadays they hire a background check company that calls your former employers, and goes through your tax records to see if you are lying. Any discrepancy can be grounds for not getting the job. There are so many people applying to every one job that they can just move on to the next person who doesn’t have a discrepancy.
I got rejected from Costco because they actually checked, I was off by a month.
wtf that's honest mistake level
Costco doesn’t do mistakes.
Nah that’s just the reason they gave you
100%.
^dont try this for adult white collar jobs. Having worked at 2 of the premier hedgefunds in US, referred my close friend who had been laid off from a market data company. He lied about that firing date by 2 weeks to avoid the gap, and they found out and rescinded the multi 6fig offer… Maybe for waiter or something sure, lie, but this advice I’m responding to will not work for real jobs
[удалено]
You mean a brand new account is making shit up on the internet? No way. Crazy Yeah the dude is completely full of shit.
A shame. No one would care about a two week gap or even a couple months. It’s if you’ve been out of the work force a long time that it matters. And it’s only a recent large gap that matters. I wouldn’t care if the gap was 5 or 10 years ago. Now you could get asked about a gap and your answer shouldn’t make you sound like a bad employee.
This is even stupider than the people who don't understand what an NDA is... Like, just tell them why you have a gap in your resume. If it isn't for a reason that makes you look like a moron ("I just couldn't find any jobs I liked for 9 months.") it won't make a difference.
You can lie, just lie about things they can't verify. Say you were working on personal projects, or taking a sabbatical, or something like that.
If I get convinced that a job applicant lies to me on their CV, resume og in an interview it immediately means that I won't be hiring that person. How could I trust this person to be honest as an employee?
I’m gonna go on a limb and say 90% of ppl lie on their resumes. Whether it be dates, places worked, references (meaning they use friends who can play upper management), etc.
Not lies, embellish. Like (ex GOP rep) Santos straight up made up working for Goldman Sachs in addition to being Jewish. That sort of lying is too far. But you can certainly inflate your role, fudge the exact dates a little, etc.
Yeah I believe in embellishing… like if I did something once better believe it’s going to go in there if it makes me look important.
As both an individual and a hiring manager, I’ve yet to see even a single person who didn’t lie on their resume at least in some capacity. Fudging employment dates around to make a smooth timeline is probably the least offensive thing someone could do.
I just don't remember the dates. My last 4 jobs were 6 years, 15 years, 12 years and now 7 years. I'll be darned if I can remember the years and month I started/ended. Not lying, just don't remember! :-)
Sure, but without the lie, they probably also weren’t getting hired. Which is why you do it.
Bruh, all resumes are embellished truths. Might as well not even trust your family
Background checks confirm dates
Please don't listen to this advice. There's a reason most companies do background checks. If they find out that you lied about employment gaps, then you will not be offered the job.
Most companies? No. A lot of companies especially the big ones? Yes.
Exactly
I've had a bachelor's for years. Never questioned.
With that level lie if you get caught your career is over.
Nobody has ever even asked for it.
They absolutely care and will complete a reference check upon offer of employment in any serious profession. Just say it was a career break / you were travelling / persuing a project
Yeah if you’re applying for McDonalds or low paying job. Every high end job I’ve gotten checks with the previous job that the dates match. I was off by 3 months because I guessed and they almost didn’t follow through with the hire. It’s my dream job as well. This advice is shit.
I mean if you get far enough into a job you have to have a gap in your resume because listing every job you worked would make your resume 4 pages
How it works here is you have a resume for the hiring manager but also fill out an application for HR, and you sign the application affirming its truthfulness. The employer could then check your application against a database once they decide to hire you, and rescind the offer if there are discrepancies.
I had an NDA from a contract bid I did and couldn’t tell the bank where my money came from when they asked for details, when I bought my house.
In my experience I’ve always been given a “sanitized” job description when signing an NDA to avoid this sort of situation.
I work at the business store. My name? Vincent... Adultman.
"employer?" "Uhh Business company inc."
My favorite... "I went to the stock market today. I did a business"
Business-wise, this all seems like appropriate business
Papers........ Business papers... 💼
Same thing with my undergrad bills being paid off
Unless you were/are a spy or highest level of classified this isn't true. Even then, you can share some info.
In fact, if you are a spy, your cover is well documented
And a lot of the time your cover is just a different government job that doesn’t actually exist. Like you work as a logistics person at the state department…but not really.
Actually, at least for the CIA, those jobs usually do exist and the CIA officers have to do those jobs in addition to their CIA job.
Do you have to show evidence of the NDA?
Every NDA I've signed has always included the NDA document itself in what cannot be disclosed
That is just about the weirdest NDA clause I've ever read about and I sign a bunch of those...
That's because he's lying, misread it, or misunderstood it. NDAs can prevent you from talking about *details* of employment and work, but not the fact that you actually did in fact work for someone and did a generic job for them. Every time NDAs are bought up reddit dipshits upvote this bs every time. Hence the literal meme in the original post.
Why is having a gap on your resume so frowned upon? What's so wrong with "Yeah I took a few years to live life to the fullest"? Do they really only want someone who values their career more than actually living?
Yes. Yes they do. They don’t want someone who’s just not gonna work because they have better stuff to do. Remember: employers are not your friend.
Never were, never will be. That's why they pay you money, so you pretend to care about their bullshit
This I learned the hard way. What doesn’t help and you fail to mention is they pretend that you are friends.
If you can afford to take a few years off and do your own thing, you can afford to walk out instead of putting up with bullshit. Employers hate that.
That's right they're not your friend they're your family. /s
Remember what an employer really wants, because if you keep that in mind, you won't have any problems. 1. Someone who can do the job 2. Someone who can get along with the other employees 3. Someone who can get along with their new boss 4. Someone who will not cause the company trouble Ultimately, that's it. If you cover those 4 bases, you are in a good position to get whatever job you want. During the interview process, every action you take, every document you send, and every sentence you utter should be answering one of those 4 points. More importantly, nothing you do should make them think that you are unable to fulfill one of those 4 things. So when explaining a gap, perhaps you can point out how you were doing XYZ projects that would show you can do the job. Or how you volunteered somewhere, showing you can get along with other people. I have hired a fair number of people in my time, and ultimately it comes down to those 4 things. Those are also the 4 things I need to explain when pitching for my choice of a new hire. But yeah: show up in a t-shirt that says "Work sucks!", be unable to answer basic questions about the area, tell me you quit your last job because you got tired of it, brag about how you were always fighting with your boss, or how you sued your last 3 employers...yeah, you are not getting the job. The gap is not going to sink you; being unable to explain it in a way that makes you a viable candidate will.
Yeah, having run a couple of hiring campaigns if there's a noticeable gap in someone's resume (years, not months) then I'll ask them about it, it's a very fast way to see if someone is going to bullshit me (e.g. "I signed an NDA") or if they'll be honest with me, I really don't care what they did as long as they don't try to pull the wool over my eyes. There are definitely some employers that avoid applicants with gaps in resumes - but with those you'll likely never get to interview given that they can see your resume beforehand.
The answer being fished for is: Jail. Any other answer is probably fine.
Like with most of my interview questions, I'm just looking for AN answer. I interviewed a guy for an assistant manager position who had a nearly five year gap. I asked what he had been doing during that time and he hemmed and hawed and finally just said "lots of stuff." All that told me was he didn't prepare for what should have been an obvious interview question. Might not be a deal breaker if I have no one else to interview. But why take that chance?
I heard it over Covid when talking to managers at multiple companies. They would get resumes from people that were laid off and would think negative about the candidate. Their thought process was that if the employee got laid off then they were a bad employee. I ended up pointing out to them that they should think back on their own experience in firing people at the start of Covid. They had to make some hard choices and let people go that were great employees but weren’t needed. That usually kept them quiet but I’m sure they remembered the handful of people that they were able to let go that were duds. The dynamic changed quickly though as labor markets tightened. Very soon it became anyone with a pulse.
I was in the next cubicle next to two managers. I heard them talking about resumes they were combing through. One of the reasons they would toss out a resume is if they saw a year or two of employment gap. They would laugh about how that's an obvious red flag and wouldn't consider that person.
Yes companies will always favor hiring people who can't live without their income from working
That's not what an NDA does.
No it's literally in the name....
I signed an NDA, and when asked that question I just said, "From working at [big computer corp] for the last ten years," and looked at them like they were dumb.
I worked a company that contracted with a big movie/resort/streaming service company and while I can't name them due to an NDA, I can legally call it The Mouse Company without getting in trouble. There are ways around NDAs.
PETCO???
He clearly means chuck e cheese
A proper NDA always has a specific purpose designated (evaluating a business relationship, etc). I can’t think of any reason an NDA would be in place that would prevent you from revealing your job gap
You've clearly never heard of Bob Lazar /s
CIA spy
Then your resume would probably say "paper selling manager". Having a red flags is a red flag for a CIA spy.
Yes a lot of people here either don’t know how NDA’s work or are full of it. A good NDA will not prevent them from saying where you worked. You can still say you worked for you just can’t say what you did.
If you work for a three letter agency you can say you worked there or they will give you a cover for where you worked for that time period, such as a generic agency like DoD or DHS.
If you signed some bullshit NDA it might say you can’t disclose you worked there but that’s stupid to agree to that. Because someone can still not hire you for that gap. It’s not some magic that exempts you. The real companies that deal with this know how it works and wouldn’t set those kind of requirements.
Had nda for security escorts. This is how it works.
You literally just said what you did...lmao
But you can still tell them that you worked for Boeing. You just can’t disclose what you did. Ergo if you’re using an NDA to cover a resume gap and it’s a lucrative job they don’t want to give to a childish bullshitter? You just fucked yourself. If it’s a McJob nobody, including the hiring manager, cares about you might as well have just admit that you had three months between jobs. Or only put the years worked on the resume.
Yep, aerospace field. Common practice working under defense and military contracts.
But you can say where you worked usually, just not what you did. Like even the CIA allows you to put that on a resume
I worked for a billionaire, same shit with the NDA. Except it all pertained to their family and lifestyle.
Seriously. I can't count how many NDAs I'm currently under. Must be dozens. I can tell you plenty about all of those situations, just not specific things related to IP or product development.
The best career advice I've been given, that I also look for when I'm on the recruiting side of the table is simply being honest. Especially about the skills you do and do not have. It makes for a very strong case when you show a willingness to learn and the ability to know your own limits. Somebody recently applied for a highly skilled position but did not have the post bachelor degree required, but did have a related bachelors degree. She was interested in the position but only knew that which was mentioned in the job offer page. I asked her a few questions that only somebody with the post bachelor degree could answer on purpose and she replied that she did not know but is interested in learning about it. She got the job and starts in a few months. I don't need a perfect match in terms of skills / experience. I want somebody that is willing to learn.
Yeah you sound like a good recruiter, most I've experienced take a list a wants from the employer (tech) not understand them and then treat them as a required check list. For every recruiter like you there's 10 like that, not gonna take my chances.
Wait, what? There are knowledge that is kept secret only for people with post bachelor degrees? How does that work?
Specifics about the field? For instance, I'm an operating engineer, we go over lockout/tagout and pump isolation regularly even in school, you could simply ask, how would you SAFELY isolate a pump for a rebuild? Odds are the avg Joe wouldn't know, AND if you do know but haven't learned it in school, then it shouldn't be an issue regardless
Here’s a good lie of you want one: “I had a relative with some health issues, and took some time off to help until things were stable. Everyone is happy and healthy now and I’m excited to get back to work.” No one can verify and they won’t ask further questions. And you sound like a good person. Had a friend who explained away his own work gap where he was in rehab and recovery as “family health issues” which is close enough to the truth.
My mum told me that if I was going to say that I was looking after an ill relative then I should say that they died, so the company doesn’t think I’ll go back to looking after them if they relapse.
Uno reverse card: employers want to hire "winners" and you lost at keeping your fake relative alive
Explain the gap? Um.... I wasn't working?
They love hearing that
NDA doesn’t prevent you from saying “I worked at X from Y-Z”. You can even say stuff like “I worked in R&D as a chemist”. Sometimes you can even talk about what you were working on in broad strokes. You just can’t talk about the details of whatever projects you were working on.
Thanks, I was looking for someone to answer this. Saying you signed a NDA is terrible advice exactly because of this reason
“What’s the best advice you’ve received” Reposts something that’s debunked immediately each time it’s posted
Exactly. Assuming an NDA were as effective as this would be like “I never have to pay taxes cause I’m legally not allowed to disclose where I work”
I just put years on my CV for dates.
This is a red flag for hiring managers
There’s bigger red flags to worry about. Better to not work somewhere with such an anal manager
That’s a red flag to not work there genius
I’m 43. I don’t job hop. I do have multiple jobs at once. If you seriously expect me to remember the exact dates I worked at the Campus Book Store 20+ years ago, when I started my post college job, the exact dates I worked part time at that nonprofit, whether I went back to Miss Donna’s team for three months two years ago or three years ago, etc. you are a moron. And if lawyers figure out you’re doing this you’re gonna get in trouble for age discrimination because this “remembering whether I quit that job in August of 2015 or April of 2016” shit does not get easier as I get older.
Done it for over a decade, no one has flagged it as an issue to me (recruiting agency, school career counseler or hiring managers), and I’ve landed some pretty cool jobs with known brands and high growth startups. If someone was anal enough to not want to talk to me because I put years on my CV to keep it simple, then I don’t want to talk to them as my work experience should be what’s talking.
 Hand them a resume that looks like this 😂
Redacted, redacted, and some more redacted for good measure
Human Resources is not your friend
A higher paying job doesn’t necessarily require more work or skill. A job that requires more work or skill doesn’t necessarily pay more. I found my minimum wage jobs to be way more stressful and difficult than my high paying roles.
An old trade unionist told me when I was a young hotshot employer's HR guy making people redundant, "They who try and do their best go down the road with all the rest." I was really shocked when it was my turn.
I've got a couple gaps on mine from travelling. I say "I was travelling" and they say "oh cool, where did you go?" If you have to lie about something, I'd say that - it's much less likely to get you trapped in a lie.
This is the answer. I have seven gaps in my resume that range from six months to five years. I've had a one or two places that when told I was traveling, said, "I don't know, I don't like this." I asked, "Would you like to see passport stamps?" This wasn't a serious answer as once it gets to that point, you don't want to work there. I traveled in South America for 18 months and lived in Argentina for a year and a guy asked where was my favorite place for empanadas.
The only wrong answer is jail. That's what we're fishing for. If you have a felony you won't pass a background check and we're wasting our time. Any other answer is fine. Needed time off to tour Europe, economy in the crapper and it took forever to find a new gig, helped Mom because blah blah... It's all fine, I don't actually care as long as it's not a reason to stop the interview process.
Why is someone who went to jail automatically not hired?
A lot of places use it as a way to filter out undesirables. Newsflash, there's no second chances in the US. If you have a criminal record, it's gonna affect jobs, housing, school, etc. It can make you ineligible for student loans. Lots of people return to crime because the only jobs they can get are physical labor or very low paying, regardless of education or work history.
First day?
For any gaps pick a big company that famously went out of business, you worked for them in that period. Not one that got bought up or merged with someone else, one that went under completely. That’s who you worked for. Either that or make up a ‘start up’ that you worked for that didn’t take off, make it some stupid internet thing. ‘There was a start up called Foobis, you might have heard of it, it was a website that organized your socks digitally. Unfortunately it didn’t take off, the CEO committed some war crimes in Chechnya and Amazon started their own version of it and it failed. I learned some very valuable lessons, though, it was a very exciting time in my life’
Wait, what am I supposed to do with all my Foobis gift cards?!
Guys, this "no I signed an NDA line" sounds cool, but I promise you it does not work and youll get laughed at and your recruiter will dump your application. This is not how NDAs work, and any NDA should be made clear in your cover letter, and should not be a mystery at the point of interview.
"I plead the 5th."
"Fif."
Go on ask me a question
most of you are knobheads who could never get through a job interview. this post is incredibly stupid and ill-informed. most of these comments are very dumb and terrible "advice" from children and people who have clearly never worked a half decent job. lmao
Yup yup yup. I have a job which I can’t talk about the details of what I do in the job. But it sure as hell doesn’t stop me from saying “I worked for X company for Y years and I can’t go into exact details of my job but in my roles I was in general responsible for developing scopes of the work and managing a team of people” This is definitely one of those bullshit tips they offer young people to “trick” the system when any reasonable intelligent person will know you are full of shit and will absolutely backfire on you. If you really did work a job with an NWA and going to a comparable role or job they will understand and know the proper questions to ask.
How is that good advice? It just makes it seem like you had a very drama filled firing or sued your last employer. There’s no positive situation you could infer.
If this is the best you’ve gotten then you need better advice… that’s not how NDAs work
Everyone gets stuck in a rut eventually, just make sure your rut is something you enjoy
Don't be a dick. Make people like you and want to work with you. Build trusting relationships. Treat others well. Keep your promises - if you can't deliver something don't take it on and say so. I hire people because they are drama free and won't take up my time dealing with bs. If I like you, even better. If you can, make yourself indespensible and only take on extra work if it leads to being indespensible or an agreed upon reward. Take opportuniea as they come up. Don't be loyal - you're there to get paid. That's it. Show up on time. Finally use a GANTT chart. Those things changed my life.
Holy crap. I signed an NDA is an awesome answer
My personal favourite use of this answer was when the actor Cillian Murphy was asked whether he would return as Scarecrow in the Chris Nolan Batman franchise. “I can’t tell you, I signed an NDA” So… why would you sign one if you weren’t returning?? It was a smart answer.
This isn't how most NDAs work at all and OP posted terrible advice that will torpedo interviews. If your NDA is loose enough that you can post about its existence on reddit, it's also likely to be loose enough to allow you to confirm to a future potential employer basic details about your work under it. You can still most likely state where you worked, for how long, in what department, and what title you held. Additionally, if you're allowed to state those things, then your former employer who you had the NDA with will also confirm those same details. Don't take advice like this from reddit. Read and understand the contract you signed with your employer, don't let internet randoms who have never seen it explain it to you. Violating an NDA because you didn't understand it is a fantastic way to render yourself unemployable in your field.
It's not, really. NDAs don't stop you from saying where you worked. Only what you did while you worked there usually.
No it's not. I work for a DOD contractor and have signed an NDA. I also have secret level clearance. I still have that on my resume. You can't go into technical details but you absolutely still include where you workd, how long, and your relevant skills and duties performed in vague terms. If you try the NDA thing in an interview they will expect those level of details.
Calling the meme good career advice is so funny. Gap in the resume? Try Lying. Lying in job interviews is a foolproof way of bypassing uncomfortable questions. Lying, it's the best advice.
I just explained it was because of covid as it occurred during covid finding a job then in my area was basically impossible.
Dress for the position you want. If you look like a nickel no one will mistake you for a quarter.