Explaining time not working to a potential employer

[welder]

How do you deal with explaining any kind of time for not working because you were not able to find a job due to anxiety? Do you tell them the truth?

My situation: I am 19 and was working my first real job at a farm doing welding/fabrication for about 7 months. I went looking for another job because I was never told I had a permanent position there. I found another job and I worked there for about a month and quit.

My anxiety was not a big factor in leaving either job. But now here I sit, about 7 months later with no job because it's hard for me to go out and look for one and sit through an interview.

So do I tell the truth if they ask? Or do I come up with some other reason, and exaggerate some truths to sound more believable?

Hopefully this all makes sense...

 

[GhastlyCC]

I've been wondering about this myself.
Was planning on just telling them if I could just get called in for a damn interview somewhere.lol
It would be easier than trying to make **** up or avoid questions.

Worth a try I'd say.

 

[dottie]

when you are 19 you can still get away with the excuse, "i wanted to focus on school work."

 

[dottie]

can you go back to your old welding job?

 

[welder]

Well I don't know if I would get away with the school explanation since I wasn't going to school. lol I haven't been sitting around the whole time though, I've been doing some summer jobs mostly hauling hay.

I have started going to therapy, so I guess that would look good to an employer if I was going to tell them the truth. Most of the work i've done is by myself, so maybe it wouldn't be too much of a negative in my case.

I was told I could go back to the first job if I wanted to, but having to face people and explain why I am back is the main reason I've been looking somewhere else.

 

[MikeyC]

Truthfully, 7 months without a job isn't really that long. I doubt they would ask.

 

[Flanscho]

As a programmer, I can always just say "I was self-employed, but then missed colleagues and teamwork, so here I am".

 

[Nanita]

Say that u have been travelling. Studying. Meditating.
I have lied, when it was necessary. Why, because I needed the jobs to pay rent. I am sure I wouldn´t have gotten those jobs, if I had told the absolute truth.

 

[vitalis]

Yep, use study as an excuse, as those idle gaps are something that is usually asked in interviews. Employers use to like employees with initiative, and a kind of passive attitude uses to be conceived as bad.

 

[TheFlamesWithin]

Here and there is more than a year in between my jobs on my resume, and I tell them I was in school, or taking babysitting jobs, or every now and then I get away with saying I just had some personal things going on and didn't want to work.

 

[gustavofring]

You're 19. Try explaining it when you're 26!

I've had huge gaps in years when I should've been working. I've only really had 3/4 sidejobs in my life.

Anyway, soon I'm gonna look for a job, once graduated, and I think I'll lie to fill things up a bit.

 

[coyote]

i don't think it's as big a deal to have gaps in work history as you may have been led to believe - particularly for entry-level positions

i have interviewed and hired quite a few people myself, and that's generally a minor consideration as long as they are otherwise qualified and/or experienced

a great many people are often out of work through no fault of their own - recessions come and go, employers frequently lay off workers they can no longer afford to pay

a seven month period is nothing to worry about

seven years would make a difference

 

[TheFlamesWithin]

You're 19. Try explaining it when you're 26!

RIGHT?! Lol

 

[giantyx]

Its exactly the same freaking problem i am having now. I have been unemployed for 8 months and i am already 28, worst of all i have a degree and its so embarrasing. It just sucks so much to even try to go for an interview cause i got nth to say about myself.