5 ms·

In 40 years I have only ever put the start and end year of each item on my resume. I guess this dates to when most jobs / education lasted multiple years. But I

In 40 years I have only ever put the start and end year of each item on my resume. I guess this dates to when most jobs / education lasted multiple years. But I've stuck with it and no-one has ever questioned it. The couple of jobs I have had which were less than one year spanned a year-end so it never looked odd. When I am reviewing incoming resumes small gaps never bother me. Ocassionally I have seen multi-year gaps on interesting resumes and made enquires which always turned out to be completely legitimate career breaks and never lead to us not making offers.

AlecSchueler 4y ago
Curious what you would consider an illegitimate career break?
- susodapop 4y ago
  Jail time.
  - r_c_a_d 4y ago
    Not all "jail time", but yes, many convictions would preclude candidates from employment at my current company... and most of the previous ones.
  - pnutjam 4y ago
    why this gap in your resume? Yale That's very impressive, you're hired. Thanks! I really need this yob!
  - giaour 4y ago
    If you're worried about a criminal history, do a background check. This heuristic would miss people who lie about "consulting" during the time they were in jail and would incorrectly catch someone who was falsely accused and then exonerated.
- DonHopkins 4y ago
  Working for Oracle. ;)
  - sillysaurusx 4y ago
    I actually laughed out loud, and really needed that today. Thank you. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31548548 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31548548 was great too. You should turn these into TikToks or do standup or something.
  - jstaines 4y ago
    Prison for 5 years for being a black hat lol
  - mikro2nd 4y ago
    Oh gods, and I misread it at first as "Legitimate career break". :O (Also Laughing Out Loud!)
  - giantg2 4y ago
    Haha we just had someone leave our team to work on Oracle Cloud. I hope it works out for them, but it's not a job I would have taken.
- qkls 4y ago
  Substance abuse related career breaks. At least recent.
  - swiftcoder 4y ago
    Hang on, you are going to penalise someone for taking time off to get clean... presumably on the basis that it's better they come to work hiding the fact that they are high, than that they get help?
    - qkls 4y ago
      How would I even know they are clean? And if they are clean and they presumably have a greater chance of a relapse than other random candidates.
      - giantg2 4y ago
        Drug tests are pretty common. If they pass that, there's no reason to prevent hiring. It could even be illegal since it's a health condition. This comment makes me sad. It seems illegal biases in hiring and management practices are rampant. Worker protections seem to be a joke when they're blatantly ignored.
        qkls 4y ago
        Well... I don't hire people so don't take my comment as proof that any illegal biases are rampant. I was just stating one possible issue an employer might have with career breaks.
        giantg2 4y ago
        I do hear a lot of illegal things from other discussions on here too. So it wasn't based on just you.
      - lttlrck 4y ago
        Why should you even know they were not clean at some point in their past. And what about the future? Like the sibling comment, I find this very sad. Perform drug tests if you're worried.
- Clubber 4y ago
  Prison, at least that's how it was explained to me in the mid 90s when I started out.
  - giaour 4y ago
    Obviously this depends on the job and what someone did that landed them in prison, but that shouldn't be an automatic dealbreaker. If they are applying for a job after being released from prison, then they're trying to reintegrate and should be given a fair shake. If a criminal record is an insurmountable hurdle for a specific role, then it would come up in a background check (which would almost certainly be a requirement for such a job), and the job posting should be explicit about the required clean criminal history. A gap in someone's resume is a pretty worthless signal for whether they've ever been incarcerated.
    - Clubber 4y ago
      >they're trying to reintegrate and should be given a fair shake. Agree. Things were different in the 90s, think peak crime and crime bill. Also, everything wasn't categorized as a felony back then, it seems like felony was limited to much more severe crimes (except drugs crimes), unlike today. >it would come up in a background check (which would almost certainly be a requirement for such a job) It would, but background checks cost money and I'm guessing it was a pre-screen method to save. I'm not defending it, I'm just repeating what I was told back then. >A gap in someone's resume is a pretty worthless signal for whether they've ever been incarcerated. Unfortunately, people have been doing stupid filters on hiring for decades. It's not a new phenomenon.
    - toss1 4y ago
      The current landlord for my shop has several businesses and mentioned that he specifically hires guys getting out of prison (presumably selectively of course). He said that they tend to be grateful and incredibly loyal. He had one on my site doing some setup construction who was very good, worked very hard (including driving 1.5hrs to get here around other work), and did really good work, so can confirm to the extent of that anecdata. It's enough for me to seriously consider it for some roles. People really do need to get a leg up. Overall, for me hiring, I never considered a resume gap to be a problem, and think that employers who do are literally stupid (sadly, nothing prevents such stupidity). At most, it is a potentially interesting interlude for a person's life and career - what did they do with it? For OP, I'd definitely recommend rearranging your work situation so you are not so exploited and pressured. Either get your employer to hire more people so you can work on something other than a constant firefighting basis, or leave. It very much looks like the main reason you have not yet "come up with a solution from scratch of my own and provide any value" is because you aren't given a moment to breathe (and your assessment of not adding value is wrong - you are obviously adding value, it's just that you can see some left on the table). Seems what you need, at almost any cost, is to get perspective. Good that you see it and here's to your future success!
zrail 4y ago
I also only put years on my resume. 15 years into my career and I have never once been asked to elaborate on the exact timeline of my resume. I've taken breaks, some voluntarily and some not so much. If I ever take a multi-year break I'll just take occasional freelance clients and list it as "consulting".

AlecSchueler 4y ago

Curious what you would consider an illegitimate career break?

susodapop 4y ago
Jail time.
- r_c_a_d 4y ago
  Not all "jail time", but yes, many convictions would preclude candidates from employment at my current company... and most of the previous ones.
- pnutjam 4y ago
  why this gap in your resume? Yale That's very impressive, you're hired. Thanks! I really need this yob!
- giaour 4y ago
  If you're worried about a criminal history, do a background check. This heuristic would miss people who lie about "consulting" during the time they were in jail and would incorrectly catch someone who was falsely accused and then exonerated.
DonHopkins 4y ago
Working for Oracle. ;)
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  I actually laughed out loud, and really needed that today. Thank you. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31548548 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31548548 was great too. You should turn these into TikToks or do standup or something.
- jstaines 4y ago
  Prison for 5 years for being a black hat lol
- mikro2nd 4y ago
  Oh gods, and I misread it at first as "Legitimate career break". :O (Also Laughing Out Loud!)
- giantg2 4y ago
  Haha we just had someone leave our team to work on Oracle Cloud. I hope it works out for them, but it's not a job I would have taken.
qkls 4y ago
Substance abuse related career breaks. At least recent.
- swiftcoder 4y ago
  Hang on, you are going to penalise someone for taking time off to get clean... presumably on the basis that it's better they come to work hiding the fact that they are high, than that they get help?
  - qkls 4y ago
    How would I even know they are clean? And if they are clean and they presumably have a greater chance of a relapse than other random candidates.
    - giantg2 4y ago
      Drug tests are pretty common. If they pass that, there's no reason to prevent hiring. It could even be illegal since it's a health condition. This comment makes me sad. It seems illegal biases in hiring and management practices are rampant. Worker protections seem to be a joke when they're blatantly ignored.
      - qkls 4y ago
        Well... I don't hire people so don't take my comment as proof that any illegal biases are rampant. I was just stating one possible issue an employer might have with career breaks.
        giantg2 4y ago
        I do hear a lot of illegal things from other discussions on here too. So it wasn't based on just you.
    - lttlrck 4y ago
      Why should you even know they were not clean at some point in their past. And what about the future? Like the sibling comment, I find this very sad. Perform drug tests if you're worried.
Clubber 4y ago
Prison, at least that's how it was explained to me in the mid 90s when I started out.
- giaour 4y ago
  Obviously this depends on the job and what someone did that landed them in prison, but that shouldn't be an automatic dealbreaker. If they are applying for a job after being released from prison, then they're trying to reintegrate and should be given a fair shake. If a criminal record is an insurmountable hurdle for a specific role, then it would come up in a background check (which would almost certainly be a requirement for such a job), and the job posting should be explicit about the required clean criminal history. A gap in someone's resume is a pretty worthless signal for whether they've ever been incarcerated.
  - Clubber 4y ago
    >they're trying to reintegrate and should be given a fair shake. Agree. Things were different in the 90s, think peak crime and crime bill. Also, everything wasn't categorized as a felony back then, it seems like felony was limited to much more severe crimes (except drugs crimes), unlike today. >it would come up in a background check (which would almost certainly be a requirement for such a job) It would, but background checks cost money and I'm guessing it was a pre-screen method to save. I'm not defending it, I'm just repeating what I was told back then. >A gap in someone's resume is a pretty worthless signal for whether they've ever been incarcerated. Unfortunately, people have been doing stupid filters on hiring for decades. It's not a new phenomenon.
  - toss1 4y ago
    The current landlord for my shop has several businesses and mentioned that he specifically hires guys getting out of prison (presumably selectively of course). He said that they tend to be grateful and incredibly loyal. He had one on my site doing some setup construction who was very good, worked very hard (including driving 1.5hrs to get here around other work), and did really good work, so can confirm to the extent of that anecdata. It's enough for me to seriously consider it for some roles. People really do need to get a leg up. Overall, for me hiring, I never considered a resume gap to be a problem, and think that employers who do are literally stupid (sadly, nothing prevents such stupidity). At most, it is a potentially interesting interlude for a person's life and career - what did they do with it? For OP, I'd definitely recommend rearranging your work situation so you are not so exploited and pressured. Either get your employer to hire more people so you can work on something other than a constant firefighting basis, or leave. It very much looks like the main reason you have not yet "come up with a solution from scratch of my own and provide any value" is because you aren't given a moment to breathe (and your assessment of not adding value is wrong - you are obviously adding value, it's just that you can see some left on the table). Seems what you need, at almost any cost, is to get perspective. Good that you see it and here's to your future success!

zrail 4y ago

I also only put years on my resume. 15 years into my career and I have never once been asked to elaborate on the exact timeline of my resume. I've taken breaks, some voluntarily and some not so much. If I ever take a multi-year break I'll just take occasional freelance clients and list it as "consulting".