4 ms·

> Lying is not a solution Agreed. You should not lie in interviews. A common way of avoiding having to lie is registering your own consulting company after g

by RajT88 4y ago

> Lying is not a solution Agreed. You should not lie in interviews. A common way of avoiding having to lie is registering your own consulting company after getting laid off. No resume gap! As far as if it fools recruiters, no idea. It's got to sometimes, right? I see it too often on LinkedIn for it to be useless.

Waterluvian 4y ago
I’d personally see that as lying.
- smeagull 4y ago
  Just actually register the company. In my country you don't even need to register, you just do business as a contractor. As long as you're under certain revenue limits, there's no registration necessary.
- atemerev 4y ago
  Well, you can actually, you know, consult. Or don’t, if you don’t feel like it. That’s the beauty of consulting.
- fauigerzigerk 4y ago
  Perhaps in a very narrow sense, but I think it's more complicated than that. Let's assume that there are facts that a person has a legitimate right to conceal in a particular context. What if the only way to conceal such a fact is to create a false impression? I would hesitate to call that lying, because the word lying ususally implies that it is not legitimate, which contradicts the assumption.
- CuriousCosmic 4y ago
  I mean as long as you have done some degree of contracting or consulting with the corp you made or at least can reasonably say that you planned to, it's not really lying. When pressed it can be as simple as "maintaining a corporation for any work I do (when not working as a FTE/salaried employee) is preferable for accounting purposes". Of course if they press further you should probably have your accounting in order/understand the topic so you can explain this without looking like an idiot but it's unlikely they'd press you much further than that.
- thih9 4y ago
  I'd say it's reframing the problem in a way that makes the original question about resume gap pointless.
ramesh31 4y ago
>A common way of avoiding having to lie is registering your own consulting company after getting laid off. No resume gap! As far as if it fools recruiters, no idea. It's got to sometimes, right? I see it too often on LinkedIn for it to be useless. "Consulting" is the programmer equivalent of claiming "Entrepreneur" as a job title. Sure it exists, but it generally translates to "Unemployed".
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  This is false. Consultant is interchangeable with contractor for many people. Consultants and contractors are numerous in this industry.
- RajT88 4y ago
  Wayyy more than programmers use this trick. It does not even seem to be limited to IT.
- dilyevsky 4y ago
  I’m consulting on a part-time contract while working on my own thing the rest of the week, am I doing it wrong?
- kergonath 4y ago
  I’ve seen consultants make around £30,000 a month. Including at least one case where the person in question did that after being let go, consulting for the same people who were her customers when she was employed. Not too bad for unemployed people.
  - mcv 4y ago
    When my last employer went through a technical bankruptcy and had to fire some people, I volunteered because it would enable me to start my own business. I've been doing pretty well since then. Not 30k/month, but good enough.
    - kergonath 4y ago
      Congratulations! It is not for everyone, but I have friends thriving in this role. Now, to be clear they did not make £30,000 pcm year after year. Ups and downs average out over the long term, and the average certainly is lower than that. Still, they do complain about stress and such, but not really about the money.
hapless 4y ago
It doesn't fool anyone.
- jfrbfbreudh 4y ago
  Fools lots of people in my experience.
  - Buttons840 4y ago
    Some people think, "he says he was consulting, whatever, he's got the skills and seems like a good guy". Are they really fooled? Or do they just not care? The real question is, will "consulting" fool the people who would reject you for a resume gap?
    - apelapan 4y ago
      You would obviously need to give an overview of the types of customers and assignments and you had while consulting. And provide references on request. No different to any other job.
  - RajT88 4y ago
    At the very least it seems like it's useful for fooling the first tier recruiters who filter people out based on things like resume gaps or not having a particular keyword. It keeps your resume out of the wastebin, at least until you get to chat with the next tier recruiter.
smeagull 4y ago
That's just another way of lying. If it makes you feel better about it, then fine I guess.
- flangola7 4y ago
  It's lying but it's a lie that is backed up by your history when they search your previous jobs
- lmm 4y ago
  I've had plenty of employers tell me something in the interview that was technically true but very misleading. They seem to think that's quite different from lying.
  - kergonath 4y ago
    It’s a lie if you get caught and are in a position to be punished. You cannot do anything against a recruiter, ergo they cannot lie. Or rather, even if they lie they can give as many bad faith explanations or further lies as necessary and there is nothing you can do about it. Unless it is so egregious that you can sue them, in which case you have either a fat settlement or a court that demonstrates that they did in fact lie.
    - autoexec 4y ago
      If you can't do anything against them, but they can do many things against you, there's not much hope for a fair agreement/outcome. I don't know what the fix would be, but it sure seems like there's something fundamental that needs fixing to make it so that when a would-be employer and a would-be employee meet to decide if they want to work together they meet on equal ground.
      - kergonath 4y ago
        > If you can't do anything against them, but they can do many things against you, there's not much hope for a fair agreement/outcome. Yeah, I tend to agree. It is depressing, but we are where we are. That said, I might be naive but I think things are fair most of the time. But mostly because people tend to do the right thing, often nudged by laws and regulations and not because they cannot get away with figurative murder, which some employers do. > I don't know what the fix would be, but it sure seems like there's something fundamental that needs fixing to make it so that when a would-be employer and a would-be employee meet to decide if they want to work together they meet on equal ground. I am not sure either. A good step would be to increase the bargaining power of the employees, which implies strong trade unions and a working social safety net. Employers have no qualm making informal agreements and coordinating hiring policies. Otherwise employees or would-be employees have intrinsically the lower hand: if they don’t work, they starve but employers don’t lose sleep over a worker’s life. In an ideal world, this would be unnecessary because a bad employer would soon have trouble finding workers and an equilibrium could get established. We are not in an ideal world, and the equilibrium is unstable.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

by RajT88 4y ago

Waterluvian 4y ago

I’d personally see that as lying.

smeagull 4y ago
Just actually register the company. In my country you don't even need to register, you just do business as a contractor. As long as you're under certain revenue limits, there's no registration necessary.
atemerev 4y ago
Well, you can actually, you know, consult. Or don’t, if you don’t feel like it. That’s the beauty of consulting.
fauigerzigerk 4y ago
Perhaps in a very narrow sense, but I think it's more complicated than that. Let's assume that there are facts that a person has a legitimate right to conceal in a particular context. What if the only way to conceal such a fact is to create a false impression? I would hesitate to call that lying, because the word lying ususally implies that it is not legitimate, which contradicts the assumption.
CuriousCosmic 4y ago
I mean as long as you have done some degree of contracting or consulting with the corp you made or at least can reasonably say that you planned to, it's not really lying. When pressed it can be as simple as "maintaining a corporation for any work I do (when not working as a FTE/salaried employee) is preferable for accounting purposes". Of course if they press further you should probably have your accounting in order/understand the topic so you can explain this without looking like an idiot but it's unlikely they'd press you much further than that.
thih9 4y ago
I'd say it's reframing the problem in a way that makes the original question about resume gap pointless.

ramesh31 4y ago

>A common way of avoiding having to lie is registering your own consulting company after getting laid off. No resume gap! As far as if it fools recruiters, no idea. It's got to sometimes, right? I see it too often on LinkedIn for it to be useless. "Consulting" is the programmer equivalent of claiming "Entrepreneur" as a job title. Sure it exists, but it generally translates to "Unemployed".

TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
This is false. Consultant is interchangeable with contractor for many people. Consultants and contractors are numerous in this industry.
RajT88 4y ago
Wayyy more than programmers use this trick. It does not even seem to be limited to IT.
dilyevsky 4y ago
I’m consulting on a part-time contract while working on my own thing the rest of the week, am I doing it wrong?
kergonath 4y ago
I’ve seen consultants make around £30,000 a month. Including at least one case where the person in question did that after being let go, consulting for the same people who were her customers when she was employed. Not too bad for unemployed people.
- mcv 4y ago
  When my last employer went through a technical bankruptcy and had to fire some people, I volunteered because it would enable me to start my own business. I've been doing pretty well since then. Not 30k/month, but good enough.
  - kergonath 4y ago
    Congratulations! It is not for everyone, but I have friends thriving in this role. Now, to be clear they did not make £30,000 pcm year after year. Ups and downs average out over the long term, and the average certainly is lower than that. Still, they do complain about stress and such, but not really about the money.

hapless 4y ago

It doesn't fool anyone.

jfrbfbreudh 4y ago
Fools lots of people in my experience.
- Buttons840 4y ago
  Some people think, "he says he was consulting, whatever, he's got the skills and seems like a good guy". Are they really fooled? Or do they just not care? The real question is, will "consulting" fool the people who would reject you for a resume gap?
  - apelapan 4y ago
    You would obviously need to give an overview of the types of customers and assignments and you had while consulting. And provide references on request. No different to any other job.
- RajT88 4y ago
  At the very least it seems like it's useful for fooling the first tier recruiters who filter people out based on things like resume gaps or not having a particular keyword. It keeps your resume out of the wastebin, at least until you get to chat with the next tier recruiter.

smeagull 4y ago

That's just another way of lying. If it makes you feel better about it, then fine I guess.

flangola7 4y ago
It's lying but it's a lie that is backed up by your history when they search your previous jobs
lmm 4y ago
I've had plenty of employers tell me something in the interview that was technically true but very misleading. They seem to think that's quite different from lying.
- kergonath 4y ago
  It’s a lie if you get caught and are in a position to be punished. You cannot do anything against a recruiter, ergo they cannot lie. Or rather, even if they lie they can give as many bad faith explanations or further lies as necessary and there is nothing you can do about it. Unless it is so egregious that you can sue them, in which case you have either a fat settlement or a court that demonstrates that they did in fact lie.
  - autoexec 4y ago
    If you can't do anything against them, but they can do many things against you, there's not much hope for a fair agreement/outcome. I don't know what the fix would be, but it sure seems like there's something fundamental that needs fixing to make it so that when a would-be employer and a would-be employee meet to decide if they want to work together they meet on equal ground.
    - kergonath 4y ago
      > If you can't do anything against them, but they can do many things against you, there's not much hope for a fair agreement/outcome. Yeah, I tend to agree. It is depressing, but we are where we are. That said, I might be naive but I think things are fair most of the time. But mostly because people tend to do the right thing, often nudged by laws and regulations and not because they cannot get away with figurative murder, which some employers do. > I don't know what the fix would be, but it sure seems like there's something fundamental that needs fixing to make it so that when a would-be employer and a would-be employee meet to decide if they want to work together they meet on equal ground. I am not sure either. A good step would be to increase the bargaining power of the employees, which implies strong trade unions and a working social safety net. Employers have no qualm making informal agreements and coordinating hiring policies. Otherwise employees or would-be employees have intrinsically the lower hand: if they don’t work, they starve but employers don’t lose sleep over a worker’s life. In an ideal world, this would be unnecessary because a bad employer would soon have trouble finding workers and an equilibrium could get established. We are not in an ideal world, and the equilibrium is unstable.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]