A reader writes:
I have seen this TikTookay going round that mainly says when you are requested about a gap in your resume, you should say that you are beneath an NDA, it doesn’t matter what the gap was for.
A coworker lately repeated this recommendation to me, and stated that the interviewer can’t ask any follow-up questions.
I believe that is horrible recommendation for a lot of causes, and that any sane hiring supervisor would discard somebody doing this. What do you assume?
Yes, it’s horrible recommendation.
First, it’s not true that the interviewer couldn’t ask any follow-up questions. Even if there have been a actual NDA, the interviewer wouldn’t be sure by it since they’re not a social gathering to it. They can ask no matter they need.
Second, if you actually have been beneath an NDA, you’d usually present some kind of context — “I was at a job from February to June that’s governed by an NDA so I can’t discuss details, which is why it’s not on my resume, but very broadly speaking I was doing X type work.” And then your interviewer nonetheless would possibly have questions: Is there an NDA as a result of of the circumstances beneath which you left? Something else? In different phrases, there nonetheless is likely to be a dialog as a result of you’ve simply thrown some stunning info into the dialog and they’ll want to make sense of it. You wouldn’t simply say, “Oh, top secret NDA, can’t answer” and then transfer proper on.
Third, an NDA that prevented you from acknowledging even the existence of the job (as opposed to, for instance, particular commerce secrets and techniques) is so uncommon — not unattainable, however extremely uncommon — that that is doubtless to strike the interviewer actually oddly, except you navigate the dialog about it fairly skillfully. And if you don’t — and I’m guessing anybody taking recommendation from this TikToker is unlikely to — then you’re going to appear shady, and your interviewer goes to view your complete candidacy with a lot extra skepticism than they in any other case would have (or sure, simply reject you).
Fourth, and most necessary, there’s no level to any of this! It’s not that tough to speak about a gap on your resume. Gaps aren’t some grievous sin that you should cowl up in any respect prices. Gaps are regular. They’re often not huge offers. The truth that somebody misunderstood this to the extent that they assume you want a asinine lie to cowl it up says they have no thought how interviewing works or how to interview successfully.
If anybody ever tries to persuade you they have This One Weird Trick To Get Hired, it’s often a signal to ignore them on job stuff fully.
