This may not be the best sub for my question, but I have an inkling that it will be the most vocal and balanced set of answers I may get. Ok, here goes: I technically left my job as a jail guard in jun of 2018, after a suicide attempt. as it was a government job, I was placed on LTDI for my recovery period, which ended in April 2022 when I finally quit and was paid out with a severance package.
So while I technically was a government employee for 14.5 years, I was only on the floor for 10 of those years, and then on disability until April of this year. Now that I've started job hunting, I'm at a loss how to explain :
A) I was / not was employed for 14.5 years but really only worked 10 of those years; and
B) Having been away so long, I can't use any prior managers / supervisor as a reference.
I'm really stuck on this, and have an interview next Thursday where I am sure it will come up. Even if it doesn't during this one, it will eventually. I feel like to much honesty will sink me (I don't want to mention that I tried to kill myself due to work and military induced PTSD, talk about over sharing on a first date), but trying to lie about it that I've been working my position (then not being able to back it up with strong references) would be even worse .
Any advice you can give or offer would be great. How would some sub members respond, say, to total honesty about my timeline and mental health challenges, or would that just make you smile and nod while frantically pushing the Emergency button?
It's been 15 years since I job searched, and everything on websites like LinkedIn say do this, Glassdoor says do the opposite. There's almost toouch information to help me decide on a way forward