[borkt]

Precisely what happened to me. Doctor botched the disgnosis, my department in local government did everything in their power to push me out immediately upon sharing an honest assesment of how I was feeling, asserting that I was voluntarily resigning rather than genuinely ill - which came across as retaliation for some of them having to return to the office in my stead, as prior to catching covid-19 and suffering the above effects I had been the sole volunteer to work from the office and liase with the public on everyone elses behalf. There wasn’t much if any info about ling covid at the time, and HR ignored emails sent over the next year as I tried to apologize for my illness and communicate what it clearly turned out to be.

Completely healthy now, but passed over after every first interview no matter what I do or do not share about what lead me to leave the previous role. If you had to leave work, do you have any suggestions as to how I may come accross as employable again?

[SOLAR_FIELDS]

I was not working at the time I got sick (for unrelated, voluntary reasons), and ended up having a 2 year gap, at which point when returning and interviewing I essentially told people during interviews that I was “taking care of a sick family member” during my gap period, implying that this was the primary purpose of my gap. I left out that the sick family member happened to be myself. All the responses I got were understanding and no one ever pressed further.

[notabee]

Don't mention health issues in an interview, ever. It's unfortunate and really should be illegal to discriminate (not to mention passing up on people who have learned a lot of resilience traits and recovered function) but it's pretty much the kiss of death to mention any kind of sickness or chronic issue.

[SOLAR_FIELDS]

Yeah. But because it’s not explicitly illegal it is a very easy rejection from the employer. A chronic illness is zero upside and only downside from the employers perspective, so if they aren’t legally obligated to ignore it it’s a very easy no from their perspective. So as the candidate there is basically no reason to ever share that information up front because all it will do is get you basically instantly rejected

[A_D_E_P_T]

I didn't write the parent comment, but I'd note that being unemployable is a great reason to start your own business, and if you do it right you'll never need to answer to anybody again. (Besides customers, that is, but customers are usually a lot friendlier than HR departments.)

Another option would be to pick up freelance work. This can often lead to fulltime employment, particularly when a company hires you for a short gig and you impress them.

[johnnyanmac]

People generally see work because they need money, and meanwhile a business is one of the biggest money sinks when starting out. I don't really understand why people suggest this as general advice. If you're not already extremely experienced and established in your field, or if you don't have years of savings to live off, I can't imagine starting a business impromptu going well. You need a plan.