Answer: "In a much better place than I am now."

I think we can safely assume that almost everyone got that question wrong in 2014 ...

I used to say : "No one can predict the future, so I take it how it comes. I could win the lottery. I could get hit by a bus. What ever happens it won't be from not putting all my effort into what I am doing in my life and what ever benefits I get from that I will be happy knowing I have earned it" It has landed me a job quite nicely. Now I'm disabled... Who would have predicted that?

I got such bad vibes from one interview for a job I no longer wanted I just said "a million miles from here" - that ended things quite abruptly.

“Drowning in a pile of handsome men.”

I was asked that once (in a German company, because they have to copy every sh*** Americans do). I answered: on your seat. I got the job.

Jill haha

This answer to the gap question is entirely necessary. I interviewed a guy with a gap - said he'd been travelling. Turned out he'd been in prison. If it's too personal, just say "I decided to take some time to myself". You can't expect them to just ignore it altogether.

Back in 2015, when asked "where do you see yourself in 5 years", I responded "what? Do I look like I have 2020 vision?"... ha ha, but at the end of the day, EVERYONE asked that question in 2015 got it wrong... who would have guessed what the world is like now.

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"Off deferred deposition hopefully" is the wrong answer

I always say hopefully in your position.

Why? It’s a more honest question that makes a little more sense for them to ask. It’s definitely not worse than “why didn’t you have a job? You have to have had a job every day or we can’t give you a job!” Work culture is stupid as fûck. You can tell the truth to your question. “Spending time with my family and hopefully earning more and being more productive.” That’s pretty much what anyone would want.

Jill lol

Lol.. Replacing you as head boss 😆😆

I think there seems to be a lack of knowledge on both sides of the table. Interviewers should keep their questions appropriate but asking about a gap isn't unreasonable. Expecting huge amounts of detail is. Questions should be based on skills, experience and knowledge that are relevant to the role. A few based on the persons CV or application where there are gaps or something unusual should be expected but people have lives, people sometimes don't need a job, or have families, travel, illness - none of these things should bar people from being employed & are sufficient answers in themselves. In the UK there are regulations around what people need to disclose and what can and can't be asked - regulations so no discrimination can take place. If someone has been in prison (if people are wondering if that's the gap) you only need to tell a future employer if the conviction is unspent or relevant to the job (because of children's safety - will get a criminal record check anyway).

I understand the rationale behind asking, I don't think that the question offers any usual information. What's the difference to the company between someone taking a year off to care for a sick child, to go backpacking across Europe, or staying home to work on their quilting hobby, or even just staying at home and doing nothing in particular because they wanted to take a break from working. The answer to the question tells the employer nothing about the employees motivation level after going back to work. I guess if the employee said "I took a year off to take an intensive programming bootcamp", that would be a good sign, but the employee would have almost certainly put that on his resume in the first place.

That’s literally the point. Doing nothing with yourself isn’t a red flag and it’s straight up none of your business. You’re so deep into the work culture you can’t understand life outside of it. I have like six year gaps in my resume because I made so much money I didn’t need to work and didn’t want to work. If I ever need to work as someone’s employee, they wouldn’t accept that. What did I do in my gap? Straight up none of your business. I fûcked my husband and traveled the world and spent three hours a day on skincare. So? What’s that to do on whether or not I’m good at processing loans? Get a grip, lady. You’re asking a question you know people are lying to you about anyway. In that case you can’t actually be worried about red flags, because you know all the answers are lies. It’s like you just want to see who has the most creative lie. Mine would be, “I had to go back home to Iran to help my family with blah blah” and make the plight sound sad since most Americans have no clue what’s happening in Iran anyway.

It should be taken seiously when you explain that several family members died and they ask for "proof", as mentioned in one of the posts above. No, in most cases they want to find a weak spot in your resumé to deny the job. There are not many "decent" companies out there, if you haven't noticed yet. I'm happy that where I live at least the law is protecting me, even encourages me to lie, if the company asks too personal questions.

It's called due diligence. Companies are increasingly being blamed when a hire doesn't work out for whatever reason and in some cases the employee has sued for a bunch of silly reasons. So employers are very cautious, obvious gaps need some explanation. You would be surprised how many employers are very understanding, and you do want to work for those ones

Agree! Or I've seen people who just quit a job with no plans and then spend months desperately looking for a new one. In some scenarios that is understandable, but if it's a pattern on a resume, then that could be a red flag for a person who makes hasty decisions or has a lack of foresight/planning ability. It wouldn't be a deal breaker necessarily but it would be a factor to consider for hiring.

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Troux no