[schnaars]

At the beginning of 2007, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. At the end of the year, I left my company and was looking for a new job. Good healthcare was critical to me and my family, so it was naturally one of the things that I asked about early on during the interview process. Beyond good insurance, I was also very clear that, while her illness wouldn't impact my performance, there are going to be unique situations where I was going to have to leave or not show up and was that acceptable?

I opted to be really transparent about it because a.) I didn't want it to be a surprise when I texted in the middle of the night that I wasn't able to make it in to the office and b.) I wanted to work for someone that would be supportive when things went sideways. I was lucky and found a great person to work for who became a very good friend.

There are enough people today that either deal with depression personally or know someone that deals with depression on some level or another. If I was hiring you, I'd want to know about it upfront. I've always told my employees that I can deal with bad news, but I hate surprises.

I'd own it and I'd explain how you handle it and how it won't impact your performance and this is why. I'd be pretty impressed with someone coming to me saying BTW, I've got this issue, but let me show you how I handle it and assure you that it won't be an issue if I work for you.