It yielded different results (TLDR at the bottom).
For background, I am only almost 2 years into my career. I got my first and only job experience at a huge corporation right out of university. I was very enthusiastic at first and was doing quite well, but then the pandemic hit, WFH setup shook me as a trainee, found it difficult to cope and like my job as an accountant (especially bc it was quite far from my degree), and a LOT of family issues came out. All of these ruined my mental health and I just lost all motivation to do anything (not my past hobbies or even basic self care). I abruptly submitted my resignation to my manager’s surprise, and gave myself time to recharge.
Fast forward, I was finally able to fully recharge and I’m now really motivated to work again and grow my career, so I started applying to a few companies (I was still being choosy). I managed to get an invite from an international company where I was really interested to work for as my close friend was referring them to me so much.
Come the interview, since it was evident from my resume, one of the first questions I got asked was why was there a huge gap between my previous exp and the month I was applying to them. I explained with all honesty in the last interview (which btw looking back at it now felt so stupid), that I took it bc my previous job wasn’t aligned with my personal interests and that I gave myself a break to take care of my mental health. I really thought I did good with the interview since I brought my confident facade (interviewers even praised me for it), but surprise surprise, they ghosted me.
I didn’t hear anything from them at all after that (up until today and this was back on January). HR didn’t even notify me that I wasn’t selected which would be okay for me, but no, nothing. Nothing at all. I was frustrated ofc bc they’re so fucked up, they lacked basic decency and respect, and it made me feel that my honesty cost me that job.
After that, I stopped being selective and applied to every company and every role where I see myself fit. These are mostly entry-level jobs but I didn’t mind, I just wanted a job. After getting ignored or respectfully refused by a lot of those companies, I finally got some interview invites again. Naturally, I got the same question asked, but this time I learned that being completely honest with these shitty corporations and managers will get me nowhere, so I decided to lie.
On the interview, I didn’t ever mention anything about mental health. I answered their question with partial lies and twisted truths, specifically telling them that my dad got a stroke last year (he really did, but not one of my actual reasons), and as he was the one “who manages our family business” (my mom really does but I don’t want to say my mom got stroke lol) and it was an emergency no one expected, I had to take on our family business. Told them that I tried to balance my career and the family business at first, but then it went out of hand and I had to make a difficult decision. I decided to take a break from my career for a while bc I didn’t want all of my dad’s “years of hardship on our family business” to go to waste. I guess I convinced them easily because I really told the story as dramatic as that and they were awkward to ask further lmao. Anyway, just two days later, I’m already on the job offer stage.
It’s both so sad and unfair how these companies will make you feel so bad about prioritizing yourself and your own well-being. Really shows that they only see you as a working machine and wouldn’t truly value you as a human who can go through rough times occasionally. I don’t feel guilty at all about lying on that bit because it felt like this stupid capitalism was what cultivated this dishonest environment and encouraged me to do it.
Ofc I’ll just make it up to my upcoming job by trying my best, but now I really learned an important lesson that I will carry throughout the rest of my career.
TLDR: I explained honestly that I took the break for my mental health and the employer ghosted me. Then I partially lied on the next company and immediately got a job offer.