I just say “it’s personal, and I won’t be discussing it.” If they don’t want to hire me because of it, I don’t want to work there anyway.
It’s absolutely none of their business what I was doing, especially that I went into a deep depression after my mom died and my live-in ex cheated on me while I was caring for her, and then spent a couple years selling her non-sentimental possessions to live off. And I’m not willing to make up some bullshit to hide it either, it happened and I’m not ashamed of it, but I’m not sharing it with interviewers. Meh meh.
“I signed an NDA and cannot say more.”
Tell them you did something unverifiable but technical.
“I started a game studio with a buddy from college. No, sorry, I don’t have a TIN (tax identification number [IRS])”
Give them a number to a burner phone and fake an accent.
“Tom? Yeah we worked together at ___ I felt like he was a great guy to work with.”
Tell them you were deathly sick.
“Yeah I had skin cancer. Nothing major but I had to take it easy and after beating it we all went on vacation to celebrate”
Tell them you lived the software engineer dream life
“After leaving my last job I wanted a change of pace so I went to become a bartender in Melbourne. It was all under the table”
Tell them you were deathly sick.
“Yeah I had skin cancer. Nothing major but I had to take it easy and after beating it we all went on vacation to celebrate”
It may depend on where you live, but it may be illegal for an employer to ask about anything medical in an interview. I have a two plus year gap and if I get asked about it, I just say, “illness.” They can’t ask any follow up questions.
I have occasionally expounded on it, saying, “I’m fully recovered now.” Just to reassure them that I don’t expect to miss work due to illness in the future.
