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Comment by pmiller2 | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to submit a small correction:

> But nobody will hire me after six months away...

> Not true. Nobody will hire you if you're bad at what you do and have terrible interviewing skills.

Instead of "...and have terrible interviewing skills," it should really be "...or have terrible interviewing skills." Being good at what you do and having good interview skills are very different things. I can't do much of anything with someone literally looking over my shoulder, or while being put on the spot in front of a whiteboard, but I'm 3.5 years into my career as a developer and doing just fine on the job.

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Also great interviewing skills is a good way to paper over being bad at what you do.

After 6 months of unemployment, companies do start giving you glances. It's rare to get much more than that. Taking 6 months off can also put a big dent in your net worth if you have fixed expenses.

What do you mean by glances? You mean they are suspicious of your work quality? They dont want to hire you? Or they just give you a quick glance (because of the gap) and hire you anyways?

They will start questioning the gap in your work history and if you don't have strong resume or interview, it may tip towards not hiring you.

Yet another reason to make lots of friends\connections in the industry. :)

Yet another reason to LIE

This can come back to haunt you bigtime. If I knew someone materially lied on their resume during the hiring process, I'd terminate them immediately.

yes, every resume counselor also says that

reality: get the equity, get out, get an exit

the incongruences in your resume won't matter, the number of vacation days you took compared to someone else won't matter, the number of hours you stayed late won't matter

solve the inefficiencies in the hiring process if it bothers you

Why? If they were doing there jobs satisfactorily until now then why would you fire them for lying on their resume?

Absolutely. Who knows what else they'll lie on later. Status? Their ability to hit a deadline? What a customer said? I wouldn't be able to trust them again.

By your logic, if someone is doing their job satisfactorily, but they hid several major felonies (say armed robbery, and robbing from their prior employer) from you during the interview process, you wouldn't fire them?

I'd rather have someone have the courage to own up to their issues. If they don't in the interview process, they won't later. And I like to hire folks who have something to prove. But not folks who overtly lie.

> Absolutely. Who knows what else they'll lie on later. Status? Their ability to hit a deadline? What a customer said? I wouldn't be able to trust them again.

But in this case you're firing them for being honest and not keeping up the lie.

You'd be sending a signal to all your staff that they better keep lying.

I've never seen anyone confess to lying on their resume. I've seen several instances of people being caught. If someone came clean, that's one thing, but I've never seen it happen.

Yup you are right this is the best counter to these problems. If you have a good network of people you worked with in the industry they can vouch for you.

Yes - and add Happy Customers to that. Whether it's internal or external, if you have a lot of people happy with your output, you won't be unemployed for too long. But you do have to keep in contact with them.

I'm sorry - was too vague. Meaning they look at you poorly for having had extended periods of unemployment. Unless it's a mass-hysteria time like 2008, they'll ask "Why can't this person find a job when unemployment is so low?" When you add this to age discrimination, it can be very tough.

Hasn't been my experience. I have recent 11-month and 7-month gaps and it hasn't been a problem. Additionally, I've switched companies a LOT during my career and I don't get asked about that very often. When I do, I just say "I kept getting offered better opportunities and more money" (100% true statement).

That usually ends that part of the conversation and we get onto something more relevant.

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