[caminante]

>“Head space” pries a bit far into someone’s personal life.

> it only takes one empathetic hiring manager to recognize skill rather than feelings.

IMHO, you're overlooking the obvious.

I can't possibly go into the back corners of your mind during an interview process. But, I can get some datapoints on your headspace with how you compose responses about your profile and story.

My point is candidates need to sell themselves and take some risks on how to present themselves to their employer. All else equal, positive framing is better and increases your chances of getting hired at "more" of the "many" companies.

Good luck on finding your next career step.

[sillysaurusx]

Haha, I didn’t mean me. I’m an ML researcher. Thank you though.

I think it’s fine to agree to disagree. I talked with my hiring manager friend and she said one of their strongest hires said he hasn’t been doing shit for the prior year, and that he’d been super burned out after his last job. She said cool, what do you want to do now? And the rest was history.

Your philosophy does cause you to miss out on strong candidates, though.

[caminante]

> Your philosophy does cause you to miss out on strong candidates, though.

Respectfully, no, and I don't think we're disagreeing, but are talking past each other.

[edit: I am supportive of (and share) your mindset that it's constructive to go on a case by case basis and look closer at candidates.]

What I'm proposing doesn't necessarily limit cases. Anecdotally, I've hired people that took long breaks with similar burnout stories and upside.

The fact that your anecdotal hiring success story starts with the "burnout" making it to the hiring interview is statistically very favorable for that candidate, the candidate was pre-qualified by the hiring manager, the candidate was interested enough in the position to interview, and it was a matter of fit.

They've already MOVED PAST the gap in your resume issue. Going back to the original comment, you didn't address (as in your original critique) as to whether the candidate had some explanation for their time. Maybe they didn't and still got/passed the interview? Who knows.