Advise me.

[neonspectraltoast]

I need advice. What should I tell interviewers when they ask why I've been out of work for so long.

[Osquirrell]

I have a mental illness, why are you judging me..

[Youfreeme]

do you have any idea what you might say?

[Vanilla Gorilla]

You were working as a mercenary for ISIS but the guy that was supposed to write you a reference got vapourized by as US air force drone


Or, if the gap was this year, just say you were in hospital with covid

[6-eyed]

Taking time off to travel and do the nomad vagabond lifestyle would be a great excuse for a timeframe of zero employment.

People admire folks who do that

Just be sure to have a good make-believe adventure story to back it up

[Vanilla Gorilla]

In other words lie, everyone else does

[6-eyed]

Fake it until you make it

[WritersPanic]

Not me!

[Quark]

Tell them you daytrade crypto and to mind their own fuckin business.

But for real, if I recall you were screenprinting about a year ago. I’m positive the interviewers deal with people that have never had jobs on an almost daily basis. It’s really not that big of a deal.

Could say you’ve been looking into attending a trade school. Or even just say you’ve been working for cash.

[Jessica]

No, don't lie. I actually like what Orison said, but then yeah, it might not be so successful.

It depends what the job is and who the person is, and how understanding they are. But even if it's risky, I would tell the truth. If you can make people believe that you're capable and willing, and doing all you need to do to keep yourself healthy, it shouldn't matter.

There should also be some fucking system to help people who have struggled because of mental illness. Okay I did a search and obviously such things do exist.

https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog...rk-is-Recovery
The trouble is, that if you live somewhere where there isn't support, you have to motivate yourself to either move somewhere else, or write letters and try to make things happen to create those services. Honestly if I were you I would probably look properly into what Orison was describing in another thread when he told you to move to Pittsburgh.

[Meliai]

^In most cases I would absolutely advocate that honestly is the best policy
but I don't think it's wise to tell potential employers about mental illness. They will use it against you. Unless you are specifically applying for some sort of job with a focus on employing people who are often considered unemployable elsewhere. An employee at Goodwill once told me this is what Goodwill Industries is all about, which I didn't realize and I think is cool

Most employers don't like to hear about things like mental illness though, unfortunately. I'm in an at-will employment state, I assume Iowa is one as well....and I've heard so many stories of employers looking for reasons to fire someone after they learn an employee has a mental illness.

My brother took a year off work and told employers he was caregiving for a family member. It was ...a big stretch of the truth. But it seemed to work and employers generally accepted that response in job interviews and he got some decent job offers.

[Amerijuanican]

Tell them the last few jobs you inquired about, they told you that you were overqualified.

[Jessica]

^In most cases I would absolutely advocate that honestly is the best policy
but I don't think it's wise to tell potential employers about mental illness.

I do agree :-(
that's why I mostly think Andy needs to seek work through an avenue who understands.
Because from all I know of him, dishonesty isn't something he would find easy. Perhaps I'm wrong.

Andy, if you feel comfortable making something up, do one of the suggestions in this thread. But I feel like it would cause you stress. So if you do, go with one that's never going to come up again, or require back stories. Dr. Doom's over qualified or something. Not travelling.

[Din Djarin]

I would only go with an exaggerated truth, not a bold lie

[Quark]

Could also just say you worked at your last job longer than you actually did (tell them you quit/were laid off last month). If you need a phone reference I’ll tell the jackals whatever story you want.

[Din Djarin]

But.. if there's a chance his former employer could affirm things positively I would go with that. Oh yeah, preferable in writing. So if the new company bothers to verify, they will only call them to ask if the reference is real

[Din Djarin]

You don't lie, but you brush up your work history. Like, you bring a resume with you right? You did some print work on clothing in the last year(s)? Well, hole in work history closed

[WritersPanic]

Claim it as volunteer work. There's no proof it wasn't.

[Undies]

it kind of depends on what jobs you're applying for. i think most places are so desperate to hire people, they won't even bother asking. if they do, it seems like it would be easy enough to blame covid; you lost your job due to that and have been doing odd jobs while looking for the right new opportunity, or something.

An employee at Goodwill once told me this is what Goodwill Industries is all about, which I didn't realize and I think is cool

theoretically, but i've also heard a lot of claims that goodwill uses that "mission" to exploit their employees into working for less than minimum wage and with no benefits. i don't know how accurate it is, but i've heard it repeatedly.

[Meliai]

Yeah that occurred to me, that it would be easy to exploit workers that way. The employee who told me about it was super gung ho about it though

[Osquirrell]

It's against the law here to use a non violent mental illness against you for employment.

Millions of people have one mental illness.

Companies get tax write offs for hiring disabled.