WatersheddFeb 26, 2023
The Duality of Xan

"Can you explain this gap in your resume?"

Yes. Life is about more than constant and meaningless toil for 40-50 years and a desolate twilight of failed ambitions. The social contract is broken and the system is a lie. You and I are both trapped in the same Sisyphean hell, where no amount of working harder or longer will ever truly grant the rewards we were promised. The real question is, why are there no gaps in YOUR resume?

“…”

Errr, freelancing. I was freelancing.

Feb 25, 2023 at 11:05amWeb
Show threadthe square holeFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I travelled to the land of the Free (lancers)
Show threadAlex the Artistic AutistFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I might have this printed on a t-shirt
Show threadSchroedingerFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo Oh that was when I was screaming into the void, and trying to work out why even the void wasn't listening. Yes, for 2 years. It was a dark time.

But then I did a deal where I lost my soul for some basic standard of living. So I would make a perfect junior software developer.

Show threadBeBoFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo "Come on, you were working with Trump, right?"
Show threadRica Tatiana 🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇷🏳️‍🌈Feb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo trying to explain the two year pandemic gap.
Show threadBarryKnightFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo “can you explain this four year gap in your résumé?”
“That when I went to Yale”
“Impressive. You’re hired”
“Thanks. I really need this yob. “
Show threadFemtoFeb 26, 2023
@merlecat @XanIndigo This one wins the internet. 👏👏👏
Show threadDuncanFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo "i signed an NDA" is what i would reply
Show threadSeanFeb 25, 2023
@duncte123 @XanIndigo 👏🏾👏🏾
Show threadPatty KimuraFeb 25, 2023
@duncte123 @XanIndigo Nope. You will be shown the door. Another candidate will have a more believable lie.
Show threadDuncanFeb 27, 2023
@pattykimura @XanIndigo their loss tbh
Show threadDebbie YoullFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo Exactly.
Show threadDioramic LifeFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo truth.

worse, for me: #freelancing for so long it's documented in my résumé

Show threadYahia LababidiFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo Sigh, yes, that’s when I left my home in Egypt — a ten year career at the United Nations, family & loved ones — and moved to the United States with just a suitcase full of dreams. Since then, I’ve written 10 books & married college sweetheart :

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Yahia%20Lababidi/author/B0042SRQWG #friday

Yahia Lababidi: books, biography, latest update

Follow Yahia Lababidi and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com's Yahia Lababidi Author Page.

Amazon.com
Show threadThe Polish DispatchFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo This hit hard and close.
Show threadDaleFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo
Ruh-ro. Another one meets Bobby McGee.
Show threadSasyecatFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo
Me: I had kids.

Them: Oh that's to bad. We might have hired you if you had done something with your life.

Me 2 months later: "Welcome to Walmart." 😩

Show threadNafeon the BearFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I want to go to an interview at any big corp and say exactly that and wait for their response.
Show threadRick GundlachFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo That one is the biggest bullsh*t question in all of the resume world. From the late 20th century on, EVERYONE has gaps. When it was postwar stable employment, even, people had "gaps" from the slow time in their 30-year jobs. Or doing projects that were about just showing up. You don't think Abraham Lincoln didn't have gaps in his resume? Or a lot of the 19th century people during those recurrent depressions?
Show threadPatty KimuraFeb 25, 2023
@hoofin @XanIndigo It's a trick question. Most people have some gaps. Tell the truth or make up something plausible. Do NOT say "I signed an NDA, or I worked as a spy". Those only work if the hiring manager is a 12 year old boy - if he is, then go for it, and also offer to let him drive your car.
Show threadshyduroffFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo … +++ …
Show threadJohnFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I'm in this post and I don't like it.
Show threadJRFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo Huhh, well we are looking for a people person. Do you think you could be a good fit?
Show threadHelen BackFeb 28, 2023
@Csosorchid @XanIndigo Uh, well I'm a person...
Show threadCaptainSmartassFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo I just say "that was work that wasn't germane to the position I'm applying for." There's no sense wasting anyone's time with trivia they won't care about.

Also if someone actually cares about gaps that's a red flag that they'll be horrible to work for.

Show threadRyan RichardsonFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo ‘i was taking time to care for a family member. But you’re in luck she’s dead now…’
Show threadWiredfire Feb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo I absolutely covered up a few months I took off between jobs with some “freelance” noise 😆 it’s the assumptions that it must have been something nefarious that I could be arsed with.

Mind you when an old boss of mine interviewed someone with a large gap the guy admitted he was in prison. Boss asked why (not sure that was really on 🙄). Guy said “you wouldn’t hire me if I told you”. Guy was not hired. Turned out to be a convicted child molester 😳

Show threadWiredfire Feb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo not really sure where I was going with all that. Take from these anecdotes what you will 😅
Show threadKevin RRW Feb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo
“I see you haven’t been employed for the past 5 years.”

That’s when I was #freelancing.

“Oh, were you receiving unemployment benefits?”

No I was receiving payments from multiple people.

“I’m sorry. That sounds like illegal activity. We can’t employ you.”

#writingcommunity
#artistlife

Show threadSusannaAuthor Old White HippieFeb 25, 2023
@ClinicalNovellas @XanIndigo I was running my own business providing written content (or whatever you were actually doing) for a variety of clients.
Show threadRenoir BoulangerFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo I'm starting such a "hole" now as a stay-at-home dad.

I'll probably be quoting your first answer. So well put.

Show threadIdealistic Pragmatist Feb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo Honestly, I wish there were gaps in my resume. Or at least one? I've done fine in my career (some would say very well), but I think if I'd had a gap between my undergraduate degree and my graduate (in my case career-prep) degrees and done something different for that time, I'd have had an easier time of it because I'd have been more mature and more knowledgeable about work life beyond my narrow field. And I'd still have been youngish when I reached the traditional career milestones.
Show threadCTrevethan🐡🥣Feb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo “I could but then I’d have to kill you”
Show threadonline catFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo

@KhaoGenes

"No, i signed an NDA" is a great answer to this

Show threadJoeChipFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo

Lancing is serious business.

Show threadCurmudgeonFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I always just go with “Alien Abduction”.
Show threadDr Robert N. WinterFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo At which point the interviewer, realising the futility of work, ups and quits.

Now sitting alone in the room, Y realised why the gap in the resume kept getting longer.

Show threadWade WainioFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo Like a ghost.
Show threadTamar WyschogrodFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo -Can you explain the gap in your resume?
-After15 years in my chosen field, I launched a startup that produced 3 functional humans. Provided care, support, education, guidance, mentorship, transportation. Supervised 1 part-time staffer whose primary job supported our venture, supplemented by me working part-time in my previous field, earning a tiny fraction of what I used to make. Now I'd like to return to that field in a full-time, well-paid position.
-So no recent experience.
Show threadSimone RescioFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo as told by avicii https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxorvhSIz1_IepOO0v5FC2Kf8iMGQtAp4f
✂️ the system

11 seconds · Clipped by Simone Rescio · Original video "Avicii vs Nicky Romero - I Could Be The One (Nicktim)" by AviciiOfficialVEVO

YouTube
Show threadMichel PatriceFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo

" - Can you explain this gap in your resume?
- well, I signed a non disclosure agreement, so... "

Show threadDavid LohrFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo #Camus
And I, too, felt ready to start life all over again. It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I’d been happy, and that I was happy still.
Show threadHobson LaneFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo that gap? It's the highlight of my life. My proudest accomplishment! The one time I did something big that was totally me!
Show threadstraygoatFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo Prison is a hell of an answer to that one 😀
Show threadMinnesotaMinnFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I went with "unpaid sabbatical" for my resume gap. Just didn't feel like working for a few years. Had some savings and went back to school instead.
Show threadwebhatFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I have Sabbatical on my CV, which is what it is when I didn't work
Show threadNigel Elric WadeFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I’ll never forget the idiot who squinted at the three year gap in my employment—at the detailed rundown of my three year stretch in community college—and, blinking incredulously, asked me “And what did you *do* during this three year gap??”
Show threadAimee in OC 🍊🦁Feb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo this is brilliant!
Show threadBuster McNuttFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo

Sing it. It's the truth and needs to be heard before it can become a cultural norm.

Hiding it only prolongs suffering.

Show threadBrassica-boy now in #F9CBD3Feb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo
Thanks for coming in for an interview, now may we have your resumes?

You first. Let me speak to the guy who had this position before.

Show threadJonKramer, CIS-HETFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo Great, something else to memorize....
Show threadChuckFeb 25, 2023

@XanIndigo
"Can you explain this gap in your resume?"

I'm into recycling, he clips coupons.

Show threadNebbyBeulahFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo
Once upon a time, I changed my name tag on my office to Sisyphus. It took awhile before it was taken down. Meanwhile, many walked by, nodded and smiled.
Show threadDaniel YeoFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo I feel seen.
Show threadjec&Feb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo That's my go to reply as well. Tho in my case, it was me being unable to find a job...
Show threadVoronFeb 25, 2023
@XanIndigo can you explain the most recent layoff along with the company profits & stock buyback b/c it’s an important issue for potential employees when considering job security
Show threadJoeStewartFeb 26, 2023
@XanIndigo
Fantasy is refreshing, reinvigorating, don’t you think?
#GoodStuff #MadeMeSmile
Show threadMazzaFeb 26, 2023
@XanIndigo yay someone in touch with reality 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👌🏼👏🏼 and brave enough to say so - I have plenty of gaps in my resume- I’ve done some living - I’ve worked super hard all my life but have not always been paid for it. There are other rewards… worth more 😉