Is anyone in recruitment about?

[LesAnya]

I would appreciate some opinions on this.

I finished working for my former employer in the early part of this year. I’ve been caring for a relative over the summer and am now in a position to start looking for work again, so have signed up to some recruitment agencies. One agency has a two part registration; online and in person with possibly an interview.

Now to the tricky bit - I have concerns that they’ll ask why I left my old job. What would an ‘ideal world’ answer be? I had thought of answering this question with “I had some health issues at the beginning of the year and my employer was not supportive” (truthful, vague but not bitchy) but after a quick google I think this would come across as negative?

Can you start doing some online training courses, then in your explanation you can say you were caring for a relative and combining it with self-study to increase your skill set.

Keep it vague, nobody will start digging into the finer detail, they just need a tick in the box as to a reason you left your last role. If they do want specifics about the study, you can list the subjects eg GDPR, Excel, PowerBI, whatever.

Never criticise a previous employer, re "not supportive" of health condition. Always keep it non-judgemental.

Telling the truth about being a carer is definitely preferable to saying you had health issues. And PP is right, don't criticise your previous employer.

I've worked in recruitment and HR for 13 years and would recommend just telling the truth on this one!

Say you had a caring responsibility but no longer an issue and leave it at that. Much better than saying you had health problems - you won’t get the job then.

Thank you all. The caring responsibility only came about after I left the role though - ended employment in first quarter and relative had an accident in June.
I had thought that saying they were unsupportive was being as brief as possible whilst sticking to the truth was a good idea - might need to think up ways to put a positive spin on the whole thing 🧐

Really, really listen to the above advice. Do not allude to any criticism of your previous employer. Especially in relation to your health problems. Rightly or wrongly, they will assume that you were a difficult employee/ had high absence/ lower output/ wanted lots of accomodations etc.

I used to work in recruitment and that answer is not a good one. Never sound off about your last company even if it is 100% true.

You should say you left you last role for a fixed period of caring for a relative which has now finished and you are ready to find a new role. No one will enquire further if you say this.

Good luck!

My CV has 'to consider career pathway options' and 'caring for family' and 'studying' to fill my gaps. All truthful. I work in health and social care and CQC come down heavily on employers that don't have a documented account for employees' employment gaps.

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Agree with the others. Never lie. You will get found out but I'd be upfront and honest to say relative had an accident and you've taken time out to care. Now you are able to return to employment.
Will you get a good reference from your ex employer?

Just to add it doesn't sound like you've been out of employment that long anyway

To be clear - I have no intention of lying about it, just wanted to have a clear answer in my head if it comes up so I’m prepared - hence posting on here. I didn’t want to be unprepared for it and end up going into why I left

The caring responsibility only came about after I left the role though - ended employment in first quarter and relative had an accident in June.

OP forget about the detail, it really doesn't matter, just leave it vague "caring responsibilities and training", the more you over-analyse it the worse you'll sound. They actually won't care about the minutiae, they aren't going to dig into every last detail. They are far more worried about what skills you can bring into their organisation than whether your relative was ill in May June or December!

I would just think 'oh what a nice person!' if they put caring for a relative. Have see this before on CVs! Don't get the downside!