[living_room_pc]

I have a gap on my resume, I went thru-hiking, sure that is a good enough and maybe positive explanation, but if brought up on an interview I'm going to pass on any offer unless I'm desperate.

I don't want to work for someone that judgemental. I enjoy my work, and making good things, but also work is work. If an employer is going to judge me beyond just the skills I bring to the table, that is a major red flag.

maybe I am not the ideal candidate then, but if you are looking for someone perfect on paper, your going to get someone who _was_ perfect on paper

[dougmwne]

It’s most likely to be brought up by a recruiter during a 10 minute phone screen, and since a tru-hike takes maybe 6 months max, I wouldn’t expect you to get asked. If you went hiking for over a year, I think the recruiter might ask, but that it doesn’t really reflect on the company’s values, it’s just a standard kind of question any recruiter might ask if they get a sense there could be a problem there.

If the hiring manager asked about a short gap, that would be a bit wtf to me.

[living_room_pc]

I think you're over thinking this.

I mean to say if a recruiter asks me about a gap in my resume, I would see this as a red flag. The length of the gap is almost arbitrary. If I sat at home for 2 years straight playing Quake3, but have provable skills (e.g. technical assessment) for the job, the employer should not care what I do on my time. It is MY time.

[dougmwne]

As a former recruiter, I very much disagree:)

Even if a candidate passed a strong technical assessment, there are many other factors and skills that make a person a successful team member. A gap is just one of many possible signals that a person might not be a perfect employee. It’s a common sense question to ask for recruiters. They do not need to be explicitly told by their bosses to ask the question and it does not have much to say about the organization. All it takes is to talk to hundreds of candidates for various roles and see how inconsistent the candidates quality is and tie it back to employment history.

The ideal resume is a series of 2 to 5 year stints or promotions within the same company where each role is of increasing responsibility and level. 80th percentile candidates who want to work do not spent long periods of time unemployed. It’s always a matter of someone having major priorities beyond work or an inability to work.

And I say all this as a person who took a year break because I had priorities outside of work, then with awareness of that impact, aggressively jumped back into the workforce at month 12.

[zero-sharp]

>All it takes is to talk to hundreds of candidates for various roles and see how inconsistent the candidates quality is and tie it back to employment history.

Oh good idea. I'll make sure to never hire "former recruiters" now.

[living_room_pc]

> As a former recruiter, I very much disagree:)

Then agree to disagree. I find it offensive that an employer would care what I do in my free time.

I wouldn't want to work for you. :D sorry

You will of course find someone, but its not me.