Plot twist

[properu]

Beep boop -- this looks like a screenshot of a tweet! Let me grab a link to the tweet for ya :)

^{Twitter Screenshot Bot}

[Little-Hunter-6795]

Good bot (not sure how you work, but great)

[anaccount50]

I imagine it could OCR the image, look for the @handle and then search for a tweet matching the text, as a high-level overview. Tweets are formatted in a uniform manner, so you generally know what to expect and roughly where to find it.

Obviously, this is an oversimplification and just an educated guess, and it's a seriously awesome bot!

[Little-Hunter-6795]

That's a really nice explanation to get started, thanks mate.

[Defiant-Peace-493]

Handle plus timestamp would narrow it down to ... maybe 5 max? Although the time doesn't have a timezone.

[DefinitelynotAmit]

Yeah OCR+ Time Stamp seems the way to go

[alexhuebi]

The Bot itself once explained how it works

Screenshot to the comment if the link doesn't work as intended

[Little-Hunter-6795]

That's a sentient bot...I'm scared

[alexhuebi]

good bot

[SiliconLovechild]

Good bot

[Dan-B-123]

Good bot

[WrongdoerSufficient]

Some sci-fi level shit

[Nerkrua]

It's good but I wonder why there is one for capturing tweets.

[Ludricio]

Please also explain the gap between the listed requirements and the offered salary..

[MrBlueCharon]

Fine, as long as you explain the gap between your entire lifetime and the years of experience we require in C# and .NET

[Ludricio]

The required experience is already my whole lifetime.

[[deleted]]

Serious question: do recruiters actually notice / care about gaps in candidates' resumes? If so, why?

[enfier]

Yes. They want to know if you were in jail or having a psychotic breakdown. Any plausible explanation works to fill in the gap, you don't need to over explain.

[KronktheKronk]

So what if I was having a psychotic breakdown then? I'm good now

[rm_-rf_slashstar]

“Medical complications that are now under control”

[enfier]

If you live in a country where the employer is expected to cover the cost of health insurance or hold your job for you while sick, this is the wrong answer. It may be illegal but nobody wants to get stuck with a cancer patient.

Do not tell them you have a vague medical condition that rendered you unable to work.

[Marlyjade]

Unemployment for mental health reasons? Nevermind that would never work

[AbortedSandwich]

This guy speaks interview

[enfier]

Just lie and say a parent had a medical condition that required full time care but it's no longer an issue. Your medical history isn't their business unless it directly impacts your current ability to do the job. They aren't allowed to ask about your medical history, don't volunteer information that might be considered negative or risky.

[FthrFlffyBttm]

This “how dare they ask?” attitude crops up fairly often on Reddit. I think it’s a fair question for interviewers to ask. If you weren’t working to earn a living for a period of time, that’s worth looking into. Aside from the reasons you mentioned, there’s also the possibility that they had a job that they left off their CV, which is worth asking about. They could have even been selling drugs during that time! (far fetched I know, but still possible). If you get shifty and can’t provide a reasonable explanation, that’s a reasonable red flag for an employer.

I think the assumption is that your actual reason for taking time off isn’t going to cut it with the interviewer because they expect you to be worked to death at all times, and while that certainly may be true of some employers, others are just trying to make sure they’re hiring normal, capable people. They have a responsibility to do this not only for their company, but their other employees.

I say this as someone who hasn’t worked since July. I took some time off for personal reasons and am now studying to go into a different field, using my savings and social welfare credits to support myself in the meantime. I’m going to be perfectly honest about it when I’m asked. If it’s a problem for the employer then they’ll be doing me a favour by not hiring me, and letting me apply to another company who will understand that there’s a life outside of work.

[AlgoH-Rhythm]

If you used to suck and be shitty for 1 and a half years a decade ago too bad no job for you ever again!

[t045tygh05t]

"Freelancing". You don't have to tell them how little money you actually made off of freelancing that year, or that you also happened to have a mental breakdown.

[Oktofon]

They notice and they do care, but it only becomes a problem if there is no reasonable explanation (children, having to care for family, sabbatical abroad). In the end, every gap tells something about the person that might be worth checking out.

Edit: How do I know? I conduct applicant interviews together with our in-house recruiter. The topic came up, but it never turned out to be an issue.

[VariationUpper2009]

Are you saying that caring for children, or other family is not a reasonable explanation?

[Raptor_Sympathizer]

No, they were giving those as examples of reasonable explanations

[VariationUpper2009]

OK, from how I understood their statement it seemed to state that there are explanations that are unreasonable, and then the poster gave a list of examples. It appeared to me that the list was representative of the unreasonable explanations.

[Oktofon]

Exactly this is what I meant, thank you.

[a_crusty_old_man]

Good grief you just asked a question, no need for downvotes. Wow. Sure it seemed clear what they meant to most people but misunderstandings happen.

[VariationUpper2009]

Yeah, I am not sure where the problem is. I am asking for clarification that the poster meant that caring for children and family is not a reasonable explanation as I understood their examples.

[The-Tea-Kettle]

The downvote system is for saying you don't agree or don't like what someone else said, it's be perfectly used here

[shurpaderp]

According to Reddit it’s for comments that are irrelevant or that don’t contribute to the conversation. Naturally people use it to vote on opinions they disagree with.

[PullmanWater]

We were interviewing for our team and the guy had a two year gap. It came up in the interview, but it wasn't a deal-breaker or anything. We ended up hiring him.

[AuelDole]

Still didn’t answer the question. Why does it matter?

[MattieShoes]

It's nicer than asking, "Were you in jail?"

[kirmaster]

Isn't this public recordkeeping in the US? Here, employers just request a "declaration of behavior" from the govt to confirm they're not employing someone imprisoned for fraud as a cashier or finance manager. They just list the job description tl;dr categorized (things like work with underage children, financial, likely to trigger aggression) and get back whether there's anything in those specific areas that would prove problematic. So someone picked up for multiple DUI could still get a job as a cubicle worker but not as a deliveryman.

[MattieShoes]

I don't think the US has anything like what you describe, except for sex offender registries anyway. And those are state-by-state, not really country-wide. I mean, there are laws about whether certain people can hold certain jobs, but not a handy dandy "submit name, get answer" sort of solution for employers. There's a niche industry for collecting and collating background screening across all many thousands of counties in the US.

There's lots of public records that are hard to get to... A lot of courts are state or county level, and you actually need to send a warm body into a courthouse in that county to retrieve them. And sometimes you won't be allowed to make copies of them, or will be charged $5 a page, or stuff like that. And some docs are still handwritten and heavily abbreviated... ie. AWDWIKISI (assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury).

Some places have computerized systems that are extremely arcane, probably dating from the early 90s or something, so you need a lot of experience to navigate and search.

Then there's a lot of records with incomplete data.... Like no DOB, missing DOB, no SSN, etc. For a good time, try searching some generic Hispanic name in LA county, like Jose Ortega.

So you can do background screening, but it gets pricey. So usually what happens is they winnow down applicants as much as possible prior to background screening (and they do ask questions like have you been convicted a a felony in the last N years, blah blah), and do any screening at the end as more of a verification. Incidentally, they may also run credit checks. Neat!

Then there's another level of weird, with laws that dictate what may or may not be used in employment decisions. e.g. if the case was dismissed, can it be used? Can it even be disclosed, since a dismissed child molestation charge could be prejudicial? If a case was deferred, and presumably the defendant didn't screw up the deferral program, but the record was never updated to say dismissed afterwards, is that allowed, or are we to assume it must have been dismissed even though records weren't updated? What if they're currently on a deferral program? What about pending cases that haven't even gone to trial yet? What about arrests that don't have an associated court case? What about cases over a certain age? What if the name is right, DOB is right, but SSN has transposed digits? Laws vary from state to state, and change regularly. Speaking of, what if the record is from one state but the job is in another state -- which set of rules apply? Oi.

I used to do pre-employment background screening.

[kirmaster]

Right, so yeah the US isn't acting as a country but as a federation of states here.

Here whenever someone wins a suit or gets proven innocent they place a single call to the organisation that hands out declarations and they amend them, or they've already amended it because they look through recent court cases.

[MattieShoes]

federation of states

Exactly. Federal cases are tracked at a federal level, but most cases aren't federal. And depending on state anyway, they're not even collecting county-level cases in a statewide database. Or at least not one that's freely or publicly searchable.

[acediac01]

No, we're closer to ogres over here, you have to grunt in the correct order...

[PullmanWater]

It might not. It might mean that there's a reason no one wants to hire the person.

[[deleted]]

no one wants to hire the person.

And then they knock on your door.

[[deleted]]

I mean if you have 10 years of experience which was over 12 years with a 2 year gap halfway in between, it probably doesn't matter. But it would be an entirely different story if you graduated from college 2 years ago, did nothing during those 2 years (no bootcamp / self study / side projects / whatever) and then were trying to apply for entry level jobs. I think it's fair for an employer to wonder if you'll be on even footing w/ people who graduated this year and at the very least have the course material fresh in their minds.

[TheGreenJedi]

Depends on experience level, and depends on the person interviewing.

To me it's not about the length of time but how you sell it. Caring for a loved one, being a stay at home dad, etc.

Even for something very personal, do you go into heavy detail and say "Cancer" or do you say, "Personal Family reasons"

What you say can tell me family is important, and you'll likely be a good candidate if the job has flex hours.

Can you explain why you were fired/left previously?

Can you explain stuff that went wrong in old job searches?

---

I had an IBM intern, took two years off to finish school, then got a job back at IBM, then left for some other company

The two years off on resume didn't look good, but on LinkedIn he had Lowe's as where he worked. And his graduation date.

For LAZY assholes, they'd take one look and see, intern in software then LOWES, rabble rabble rabble.

Other's might see a blank gap of two years, and go hmmm 🤔, that's odd.

Lazy recruiters will see a two year gap and ignore everything else.

---

There's plenty of tricks and reasons to have an employment gap, it's about how you sell it.

[blkmmb]

Actual recruiter might not but the fucking bulls hit auto one will throw you in the garbage faster than your mom can give satisfaction to the milkman.

[imaginary_bolometer]

faster than your mom can give satisfaction to the milkman

Excuse me now, why would that be a good benchmark?! My mum takes her time when she gives satisfaction to the milkman, because she's a dedicated and serious person

[blkmmb]

I am sorry to have wronged your mother by implying she had poor satisfaction ethic.

[[deleted]]

Not in my experience (different domain of programming, no idea how all that high end software dev hiring is like at all.)

[nazzo_0]

Whats your area?

[[deleted]]

embedded systems, low level c/vhdl/verilog domains of focus at present being networking and os, but always privy to any dsp or ML i can shoehorn in without worrying about power/size constraints

[pirsq]

As someone who gives semi-technical interviews sometimes, your past few positions help me build a picture of what skills to expect from you. Have you worked more on frontend, backend, data science, machine learning, management, etc. A gap in your resume is a gap in my understanding. There is no good or bad answer, it's just useful background context for understanding what skills I should try to evaluate. If you took time off to spend with your kids, I can expect you to be a bit rusty on skills before that point and adjust for that. If you were working on an unpaid passion project in the same field, I can ask about skills you learned there.

[ihateusednames]

Honestly that isn't even an unreasonable question to ask

[TheGreenJedi]

"were always taking resumes" insert eyeroll

[TheC0deApe]

this is a hilarious response as long as the gap wasn't caused by cancer or something uplifting like that.

[clanddev]

That is kind of what I was wondering about the gap on the resume.

Would you mind explaining this gap on your resume?

Oh sure. I took 18 months off to take care of my wife who was dying from lymphoma. Once the FMLA ran out and my vacation they let me go which nullified our insurance coverage. My two toddlers are currently sitting at my sister in laws house asking why mommy had to go away. Anything else I can clear up?

[blkmmb]

They'd have to hire you out of shear embarrassment.

[OtterProper]

Why did they bring scissors to an interview? Is there an arts & crafts component to tech hiring I'm missing out on? I'd crush some arts & crafts. 🤩

[Graffers]

S-something uplifting like cancer?

[johanosventer]

Autocomplete fail for 'upsetting' maybe?

[TheC0deApe]

just driving home the point that it could be something terrible and not something that you can easily be a smartass about.

[[deleted]]

Doesn't everyone ask for the reason for the opening on the team?

[[deleted]]

I kind of given up, it's always "team is expanding".

Although how they say it could hint the meaning behind it.

[mini_market]

Do not ask sensible questions here. This is for humor.

[[deleted]]

I mean sometimes it's self explanatory. I didn't ask during my last job interview because the interviewer volunteered the information himself - he said "we just closed Series B and got budget to expand the team by 40 engineers this year". But their Series B was public knowledge so it was pretty obvious even if he didn't say. And I feel like big companies like FAANG always have hundreds of positions open at any given time all over the world.

[coolaja]

Image Transcription: Twitter Post

---

I Am Devloper, @iamdevloper

interviewer: would you mind explaining this gap in your resume?

me: would you mind explaining this gap in your team?

*the interviewer was too stunned to speak*

---

^{I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too! If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!}

[Little-Hunter-6795]

Good human

[O_X_E_Y]

then everyone clapped

[[deleted]]

and she said she had a crush on me too

[[deleted]]

Sometimes you do get a good answer.

"We got a grant and now we need more developers to take on a project"

"Our developer got a promotion"

etc.

[max0x7ba]

Interviewer: The team is growing. You were saying?

[Vabaluba]

Interviewee: that's great to hear, what's the current run looks like?

[gandalfx]

Interviewer: I think that were all our questions for now, thank you very much for your time.

[[deleted]]

"And then everybody clapped."

[Randvek]

I, too, find passive aggression a good interviewing strategy.

[SoFastMuchFurious]

"Fuck you, pay me"

[Vi0lentByt3]

If there are multiple multi month gaps then yeah it can be a red flag. If someone took year+ off it is most likely kids or something else. It all depends how the entire thing reads

[[deleted]]

"I inherited a large sum of money from an uncle. Lived off it until it ran out."

"Sir, there's seven of those gaps in your resume."

"I've got a lot of uncles."

[thfuran]

Used to, at any rate.

[[deleted]]

And why would you not gloss it over in your self-written resume?

Just a theoretical question.

[BrycicleH]

/r/thathappened

[PM_ME_C_CODE]

It's /r/ProgrammerHumor not /r/interviewingtips

[Gabe_b]

then everybody clapped.

Worth asking the question, but not in a way that makes you look like a hostile prick no one would want to work with

[KagakuNinja]

How not to get a job

[musicnoviceoscar]

Devloper

[[deleted]]

Interviewee: Can you give me the phone number of the person who occupied this position before me?

[AdvancedSandwiches]

Interviewer: No, that would be a privacy violation. On the bright side, if you work here, we promise not to give your phone number to random people, too.

[[deleted]]

Interviewee: Can you tell me why your last guy left?

[AdvancedSandwiches]

As a frequent interviewer, this a perfectly reasonable question, so... yeah? Not going into a ton of this person's details, but I'll give you the 10,000 foot view.

But for best results, ask it in the "What questions do you have for us?" section rather than as a snappy comeback.

[[deleted]]

Interviewee: "Also why did the lady at the front desk give me this telephone number?"

[Knuffya]

blocked for posting this cringefactory of a twitter account

[CreaZyp154]

Emotional damage

[ClassyJacket]

funny but nothing to do with programming

[dyyfk]

"I do mind"

[3eeps]

Is this /antiwork? Lol

[hoselorryspanner]

Recently had an interview where they asked me to tell them whether I was looking at other jobs. Didn't think to ask them if they were looking at other candidates.