Interview Advice
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From 1999 to 2004 I was unemployed due to health reasons. However, I have recovered and since 2005 have been working as a consultant. Now I have been offered an interview for a more permanent position. What is the best way to handle the issue of my interruption in employment?
By Federal law (HIPAA law - http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa ) an inteviewer, or anybody else for that matter, has no right to your private health information without your written consent. Even your insurance provider must have your written consent to access your health care records and cannot share that information. Your health care is considered one of the most private of matters. The "ocr" in the above URL stands for Office of Civil Rights. J
2MileHill Everything is temporary...
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From 1999 to 2004 I was unemployed due to health reasons. However, I have recovered and since 2005 have been working as a consultant. Now I have been offered an interview for a more permanent position. What is the best way to handle the issue of my interruption in employment?
I would simply mention that it was an acute health issue which will not re-occur. If they push it further then that, then it starts to wander into a legal area, as a company cant discriminate against a person on health issues, and if they require further information then that, then its obvious that they require the information to factor it into their decision.
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IT may not be their business, but if another person with no history of health issues interviews as well, do you really think it wouldn't become a factor ?
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "Iam doing the browsing center project in vb.net using c# coding" - this is why I don't answer questions much anymore. Oh, and Microsoft doesn't want me to.
Christian Graus wrote:
do you really think it wouldn't become a factor ?
It may. But I did work once with a guy who did have a health issue due, and when he had to go in for surgery every so often, he had us prepared so we could keep up on the projects he was working on so it could continue while he was out for 6 weeks at a time.
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer "Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon "Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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You say there is some legal reason that he cannot ask more details about the time off?
New Guy Windows Vista wrote:
You say there is some legal reason that he cannot ask more details about the time off?
HIPAA, which ensures your insurability, also includes a privacy clause which prevents an employer from disclosing or requiring private health related information.
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I would simply mention that it was an acute health issue which will not re-occur. If they push it further then that, then it starts to wander into a legal area, as a company cant discriminate against a person on health issues, and if they require further information then that, then its obvious that they require the information to factor it into their decision.
I agree with this approach which is both honest and not overly revealing. Be aware that larger companies may have a pre employment physical requirement. During the physical, the doctor can ask you about any health issues. The doctor can not share your specific answers with the employer, but he can tell them if your health issues are likely to cause a problem performing the work or significantly impact thier insurance rates. So you may want to target small to mid sized companies for a few years.
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From 1999 to 2004 I was unemployed due to health reasons. However, I have recovered and since 2005 have been working as a consultant. Now I have been offered an interview for a more permanent position. What is the best way to handle the issue of my interruption in employment?
It would not surprise me if they are more concerned about you going permanent after being a consultant (since many consultants tend to stay independent). Also keep in mind that most interviewers will see your resume for the first time when you are sitting in-front of them, so an interesting story or friendly banter can go a long way in establishing a good rapport and using up interview time, leaving them just enough time to focus more on questions about your experience. If it does come up, be vague enough for your answer to be forthcoming yet not revealing, and answer the question like any other (so that you don't draw any more attention to that answer as compared to the other answers).
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From 1999 to 2004 I was unemployed due to health reasons. However, I have recovered and since 2005 have been working as a consultant. Now I have been offered an interview for a more permanent position. What is the best way to handle the issue of my interruption in employment?
Maybe tell them you were a man of leisure for a few years? Extended vacation? Oh, oh, I got it! You were living off your investments for five years. None of those are false, but they don't go into the specifics of what your illness was. If you don't want to talk about it, I wouldn't even mention a medical reason.
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From 1999 to 2004 I was unemployed due to health reasons. However, I have recovered and since 2005 have been working as a consultant. Now I have been offered an interview for a more permanent position. What is the best way to handle the issue of my interruption in employment?
The only exception to what others are saying... If interview is with USA DOD or one of thier contractors, all bets are off, they will find out whether they ask you directly or not.
MrPlankton
(bad guy)"Fear is a hammer, and when the people are beaten finally to the conviction that their existence hangs by a frayed thread, they will be led where they need to go."
(good guy)"Which is where?"
(bad guy)"To a responsible future in a properly managed world."
Dean Koontz, The Good Guy -
The only exception to what others are saying... If interview is with USA DOD or one of thier contractors, all bets are off, they will find out whether they ask you directly or not.
MrPlankton
(bad guy)"Fear is a hammer, and when the people are beaten finally to the conviction that their existence hangs by a frayed thread, they will be led where they need to go."
(good guy)"Which is where?"
(bad guy)"To a responsible future in a properly managed world."
Dean Koontz, The Good Guydepends what the job is. AFAIK for uncleared positions they can't do any more than any other employer. If you're in for a clearance *everything*, including theoretically sealed thinks like a juvie record are on play.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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They can ask about the details, however, once you state "Health Reasons" vaguely they cannot legally inquire the specifics. Only as to whether you are fit to return, which your recent past history indicates.
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Most of this sig is for Google, not ego.Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
they cannot legally inquire the specifics
The same applies to to sick days, at least here in Oz. You get a medical certificate that says you are/were unable to work for x days (I've never heard of a doctor writing the particulars of an ailment on a medical certificate) & your employer cannot (or rather, is not supposed to) ask what is/was wrong with you.
T-Mac-Oz "When I'm ruler of the universe ... I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I'm just as frustrated as you are. It turns out to be a non-trivial problem." - Linus Torvalds
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From 1999 to 2004 I was unemployed due to health reasons. However, I have recovered and since 2005 have been working as a consultant. Now I have been offered an interview for a more permanent position. What is the best way to handle the issue of my interruption in employment?
New Guy Windows Vista wrote:
What is the best way to handle the issue of my interruption in employment?
Honestly. Health issues can hit anyone, and I think we all understand that. The fact that you continued to do consulting work indicates an interest in staying active, and probably can be shown to have kept you current in your field. Both are positives, to my thinking. The only drawback I see is if the health problems were of a sort likely to return; that might give a prospective employer second thoughts about hiring you. In that case, lie convincingly, preferably by ommission.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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The questions themselves may not be illegal, but you should not ask them because it *does* open up the company to the possibility of discrimination lawsuits. Courts are pretty sensitive to discrimination cases, so if there's even the hint of a pattern that could suggest discrimination it's likely the case will end up both messy and expensive, and produce bad PR for the company regardless of the final outcome. If you have an HR department and/or a legal department and you're in the US, they will almost certainly have a policy that those particular sorts of questions are not permitted. So, legal or not, just don't go there. You can't make use of the answers legally as part of your decision-making process anyhow, and therefore they're nothing but useless smalltalk at best, a risk to the company at the worst.
Caffeine - it's what's for breakfast! (and lunch, and dinner, and...)
Yes, I completely agree. The reason I brought up the point about the questions NOT being illegal is that using certain information to discriminate is illegal, regardless of how the information is found. That's what makes it so important to recognize the difference between inappropriate questions and illegal discrimination. Some of the sites I saw presented alternate questions that can be asked instead of the "illegal" ones, in order to get the same or similar information. They're missing the point that using the information to discriminate is what's illegal, not the questions. Pretty misleading if you ask me. Cheers, Drew.
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Yeah, I can understand why you wouldn't want to reveal that. I guess, as I said, the key is to obsfucate the gap. I mean, 3 years is long enough for you to give a recent history, and then just talk vaguely about major things you achieved before that. I doubt they'd take a special interest in what you were doing in 2004 if your last three years are strong, they will want more to ask you technical questions to see if you can back up the experience you're claiming.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "Iam doing the browsing center project in vb.net using c# coding" - this is why I don't answer questions much anymore. Oh, and Microsoft doesn't want me to.
Christian Graus wrote:
I doubt they'd take a special interest in what you were doing in 2004 if your last three years are strong
Depends on the employer. Some like to go back ages. Though faced with that type of interview I usually conclude that the company is not for me.
Kevin
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From 1999 to 2004 I was unemployed due to health reasons. However, I have recovered and since 2005 have been working as a consultant. Now I have been offered an interview for a more permanent position. What is the best way to handle the issue of my interruption in employment?
Depression ?? What a ugly word. You were not suffering from depression, you were burned out and you wanted to regain your spiritual balance and reconnect with your inner self. And now that you achieved an inner peace and your spirit is free, you felt you were ready for a challenge so you have made a come back in the world of software development. Not only you did not lie, but you have managed to put a bad passed experience in a very positive light. This should also work with DoD and the other alphabet soup entities.