To not want to disclose reasons for gap on CV?

[llaying]

I know this is supposed to be part of safer recruitment: I could have been in prison or under investigation for any sort of offences.

But my (enhanced) DBS would disclose this if I was. So genuinely, what’s the point of it?

It’s not about admitting it. It’s about not having an income and explanation. That is suspicious.

But they wouldn’t know about your income. Why would they?

It could be savings, inheritance, living with parents, living from benefits, living with a partner: literally any of the above. I haven’t ever had to disclose my income, just to explain any gaps on my CV.

It is true that ‘took time out to travel / took a break for health reasons’ are fine, but that’s why the whole thing is a bit of a nonsense.

It is absolutely tied to safeguarding! OP is deluding themselves.
You may have left gaps in your CV where you were actually employed but were dismissed or left in bad favour but the screening organisation wouldn't know this if it hadn't been significant enough to result in barring.
You could have been a terrible employee and be trying to prevent your next employer being able to seek references from that org and cover it with "I was caring for....kids/parent/dog."
Regardless of whether you might have perpetrated any dodgy behaviour towards vulnerable adults or children, anyone who lies on their application or CV should not be given an opportunity to work with these groups.
If you aren't prepared to go under this scrutiny, then don't apply for jobs where it is required.

Sorry @Cuwins I quoted you in agreement but it looks like I'm disagreeing 🤣

Don’t leave a gap. If you do, it gets noticed but if you write, ‘took a year out and travelled round Asia’, took five years out to raise children’, ‘cared for family member with dementia until their death’, ‘set up and ran a small pottery business’, etc. it sounds quite impressive, and something to be proud of. You’ll have stories to tell of how you overcame adversity and developed resilience.

If it is something like prison then state it, and also what you did and what you learned. Say something like ‘Prison for fraud. Taught mixed martial arts to inmates, did distance learning course in robotics’. Developed skills in xxx.

Hiding something alarms people - not just because you’re hiding something but because it says something about who you are or who they perceive you to be. If you’re an open book it shows you’re trustworthy, confident about who you are, and have learnt from your experiences. Many people, especially women, have breaks in their CV for one reason or another. It’s nothing to be ashamed of so don’t let them think you are.

And the reason for wanting an explanation is to check you can explain it.

Most of my gaps are travelling. My 20s was a great time - whilst others were busy getting into careers, I did work and travel.

No one's ever actually looked into whether I did travel or not. Or looked up previous jobs apart from my last one.

I get what you’re saying OP, it feels intrusive to have to account for and justify your life trajectory and choices without a really clear reason.

However, many things in life are unfair / pointless / a bit shit, and we just have to crack on! I’m assuming you had time out because of some sort of personal crisis or mental health issue? You could say “career break due to personal / family circumstances” and if they press you for more info, pick something like bereavement / divorce / family illness.

The gap could be because you were doing something legal but which raises doubts about your suitability for the job. Eg was unemployed living in a commune growing vegetables and 'finding myself' is a perfectly reasonable thing to do but might imply / put doubts in interviewers' minds that you are not cut out for the rigors / following the rules of certain jobs. The actual detail of what you did in the gap is less important than the way you respond to being asked about it. They might see it as a positive depending on the job and how you talk about it. If you lie / obfuscate and they later find out you weren't truthful they will lose their trust in you and could very well sack you for lying during the recruitment process even if you have been doing ok work-wise. If it's something sensitive eg you had time off to recover from an illness or care for a relative you find it upsetting to talk about you could ask to explain it privately to the headteacher (if a school).

Basically, they are putting trust in you by employing you in a position of responsibility for vulnerable people. It's not wrong of them to expect honesty and trust in return, especially when they (the recruitment panel) will be the ones losing their jobs / facing legal trouble if it goes wrong/ you do something bad and it turns out they shouldn't have hired you in the first place.

I’ve seen and accepted so many different explanations - just as simple as career break for personal reasons, or caring responsibilities is enough. It’s not giving any explanation that’s a red flag and results in it being binned.

I agree. I had a applicant who had had a conviction for fraud (not a prison sentence though) she was very open about it and explained the whole circumstances, took the blame- didn’t just try to blame it on someone else. I actually came away from the interview hoping she was employed as she really seemed to deserve a 2nd chance. I put in a good word with HR but I’m not sure what happened in the end.

OK so you don't want advice, you just want to be told you are being unreasonable? OK. YABU.

Also yes, if someone does genuinely intend to do harm they might build up a convincing lie about what they were doing during a gap in employment. No system is perfect at catching bad people before they do harm. However, the more chances to talk to them / question them / check their background which we build into the recruitment process, the more likely we are to catch them, or the more likely they are to withdraw their application because they fear being found out. Not a perfect system and there will occasionally be people who sneak through who really aren't suitable to work with vulnerable people but recruiters have the obligation to do whatever they can to weed such candidates out.

I think it's completely normal to expect a brief explanation of long gaps though. I mean...

"Can I ask why you were not working for 5yrs?"

"No, it's none of your business!".

Okay, that's fair enough but it would mark you out as sounding like a cagey weirdo 🫠

Don't blame you OP - 20-30 years ago it was still possible to give a right back atcha account of what you really have been doing in those 'blank blank' years and still get jobs.

Not now Jose, it really isn't just MN that is rife with identikit explanations of how life is (eg: do this, then do that and then you must to this = good life, correct choices, superior human), the HR bots are just the same - bland, bland, bland.

Nothing to suggest to improve this, but I do sense in the air that a period of change is coming, it could just be the first signs of summer; but at some point the humans will rebel.

I actually agree it shouldn't need to be disclosed. I understand why employers want to know, but I have a friend who was out of work for 2 years because her child died. Why should she have to disclose that deeply personal, traumatising information to an interviewer?

And combined with a public media check. There maybe information thrown up online which is matched (or not) against what the candidate has said.

I would suggest if it were something traumatic like that (and I totally understand not wanting to discuss that) then either add it on the CV in gap so it doesn’t need to be asked or when you send your CV include a covering e-mail to HR explaining this and asking that it be passed to the interviewer as you don’t want to discuss it. As an interviewer if I had received that then I would certainly understand and not raise the subject.

Caring, career break to raise children, travel … they don’t mind you having gaps but showing that you haven’t been in lots of jobs and been sacked is important

I had a great interview as PP said I told them I got redundancy after 18 years and took the time out doing not a lot

not sure why you asking the question if not relevant to you

Yes it is, it's safer for the employer making sure they don't have flakey employees. I wouldn't employ someone that refused to say.

Actually, people do disclose convictions all the time. It doesn’t preclude people from working.

They are just doing what the government say they must do under 'safer recruitment', there is no hidden agenda.