How to explain the gap in my resume due to cancer?

Question

I have been laid off at the same time as I was diagnosed with cancer. Now, after almost a year of battle, I want to update my resume and start looking for a new job. And I want to address the “gap” in my resume and on LinkedIn but I am not sure how. I haven’t been actively searching till now.

How can I show in my resume / LinkedIn what my employment status is without opening up too many questions about my health?

@JoeStrazzere hence me asking here. “Good luck” implies it was wrong to assume to get an answer where. — KMSTR, Feb 17 '21 at 13:13
Are you open to disclosing the fact that it was cancer? Or would rather find ways to be as vague as possible? I can't imagine anyone would hold it against you if you told them you took a year off to fight cancer. — Aubreal, Feb 17 '21 at 21:36
Does this answer your question? Fell ill - huge gap in time on resume - what do I do? — Bernhard Barker, Feb 18 '21 at 05:56
@AlexandreAubrey I certainly didn’t want to be vague, due to all the drawbacks mentioned. But I’m not happy disclosing personal medical information either. I guess I was hoping for a best practice. I can adapt the question. — KMSTR, Feb 18 '21 at 06:09
Longer time period but similar health related question How do I explain a 17 year gap in my resume? — Lio Elbammalf, Feb 18 '21 at 09:51
Do you really have to disclose this at all? People frequently take sabbatical years, go back to school, take care of children etc. This may differ by country but I would not want to work for a company that wouldn't hire me simply because my CV is not filled with continuous full-time positions (or explanations for a lack thereof) from graduation until death. — Peter, Feb 18 '21 at 10:52
@Peter so would you recommend to leave it empty or write sabbatical? — KMSTR, Feb 18 '21 at 10:55
@KMSTR It's a tricky situation, in a perfect world you'd write nothing and nobody would ask. But in reality people are going to ask you questions. And while your health is not your employers business lying is also not a good strategy because someone will eventually find out. My comment was more of a mini rant than an actionable suggestion in that sense. — Peter, Feb 18 '21 at 11:05
@Peter I get that. But I try to extract a solution out of it. “Medical sabbatical” perhaps? — KMSTR, Feb 18 '21 at 11:07
@JoeStrazzere is it? I can always say I fought cancer. As I said, I’m guessing here too. — KMSTR, Feb 18 '21 at 15:12
Have you tried seeking a referral for a job rather than going through the usual cold application process? That might improve your chances, especially in this situation where it is easy for companies to dismiss your resume in an ATS with no obligation to say why. — q-compute, Feb 18 '21 at 16:23
I have the same question about social platforms like LinkedIn, where everyone (not just who I send my cv to) can see my career steps. Should I open a new question about this? — KMSTR, Feb 23 '21 at 09:41

score 105 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 17 '21 at 11:54

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Just keep it simple:

2020: off work due to a health issue which is now resolved

2018 - 2019: Senior Widget Wrangler, Acme Corporation
<description of senior widget wrangler role>

2016 - 2018: Widget Wrangler, Acme Corporation
<description of widget wrangler role>

Nobody should ever be asking for details of the health issue, but if someone does you just say "that's a personal matter, I do not expect it to impact my work going forwards".

answered Feb 17 '21 at 11:54

Philip Kendall

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Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Neo Feb 18 '21 at 13:33
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If you are applying for a commercial plane pilot, or other mass transport driver position, the employer would like to be sure you won't just drop dead all of a sudden while in full speed. For some jobs, you just cannot avoid it. – stackoverblown Feb 18 '21 at 14:00
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@stackoverblown And in that case, the potential employer can provide documentation for why it's not a personal matter. But until then, there's no reason to volunteer the nature of the medical issue. – chepner Feb 18 '21 at 15:01
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Sound advice generally, I think, but cancer has a sort of a special place in our collective minds, where beating it has a special sort of triumph that beating, say, alcoholism or COVID doesn't have. It may seem silly or even distasteful, but "cancer survivor" can be made into a benefit on a resume. – Michael W. Feb 18 '21 at 16:53
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@MichaelW. I think that assuming the default response will be "wow, they beat cancer!" rather than "wow, they have an elevated risk of getting it again!" is optimistic. – Useless Feb 18 '21 at 18:13
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For a commercial plane pilot, "health issue, now resolved, with a medical clearance for flight" Flight licenses are tied to medical clearances anyway (in the USA) so stating you're cleared for flight is all they'll need to know. Personally I don't find cancer a show stopping item, and I wouldn't mind sharing it; but, if you're private, you don't need to share it. – Edwin Buck Feb 18 '21 at 20:50
@stackoverblown For that kind of position the employer will require any candidate (not only those who acknowledge previous medical issues) and in fact any employee to do a checkup with a doctor, and the doctor would write a certificate telling if the candidate is suitable or not for the position, but without explaining the details of the medical condition. – SJuan76 Feb 20 '21 at 10:52

score 75 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 19 '21 at 08:01

Phillip Kendall’s answer is the correct, here is why.

Unfortunately you have a tricky trade-off. On one hand, you are not required to explain anything and the company can't really ask (in the US). On the other hand the company is not required to hire you and if there is anything in your resume or the interview they don't like, they will just move on to the next candidate.

So you need to decide what level of disclosure you are comfortable with and you can practice what you will say if the questions are getting past your comfort zone.

In the US a good phrasing on your resume would be "Medical Leave of Absence, fully cleared to return to work, no future accommodations required or expected".

These are legally well defined terms that say the following:

You had a medical issue as certified by a physician
A physician has also certified that you are "cured" and are able to return to work
Your medical condition has no further impact on your ability to work, you can be treated as any other "healthy" employee.

If they still ask for more details, it's really up to you. There is nothing wrong with "I prefer not to discuss this as it's personal. If there are specific concerns or considerations about the current role, I'm more than happy to address them directly".

That sentence redirects the inquiry to the potential impact of your health on your expected job performance. This could be questions like "can you lift stuff", "are you ok with pulling the occasional all-nighter if a project is on fire", "do you need frequent breaks and/or limit on work times", etc.

These are GOOD questions and you should encourage or bring them up proactively. Every interviewer will THINK these questions. If they can't ask, they will just guess and make up their own answer. It's much better if you actually get them out in the open and answer them truthfully.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. — Lilienthal, Feb 21 '21 at 16:46

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 17 '21 at 19:25

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A close friend of mine had to stop working for a few years because of health issues. When everything was resolved and she started looking for a job, she didn't update her resume. Instead, she explained the gap during interviews by saying "I had to stop working because of health issues, but now I'm completely healthy and ready to work again".

From all her interviews, only one interviewer dared ask her what was the health issue. She responded that she didn't want to talk about it.

She faced a lot refusals, many of which stated that the gap was the issue (which was really stupid, because the gap was clearly apparent in the resume, and yet, they decided to call her).

But overall, she found a job after a couple of months of research.

You don't have to give details if you don't want to. Just be as vague as you can, and if people get nosey, just tell them you don't really want to talk about it. They should be respectful enough to change the subject.

answered Feb 17 '21 at 19:25

Doliprane

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Interesting story. When a gap is specifically stated as from a medical issue, and an interviewer actually is dumb enough to tell you that they are rejecting you because of that gap...that's an open and clear admission of rejecting you based on medical discrimination. I'm not at all surprised that people medically discriminate, but I am surprised they're actually dumb enough to call the person and tell them they're medically discriminating against them. That's a fantastic way to get sued into oblivion. – Jimbo Jonny Feb 18 '21 at 03:41
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Not updating the resume looks kind of unprofessional to me and a probable reason for being rejected (depending on how many candidates they were). HR asking about health issues is unprofessional+opening a door for a law suit. – Quora Feans Feb 18 '21 at 06:30
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@JimboJonny Or they object to the fact you haven't worked, gathered experience, or practiced your skills for however many months/years, regardless of the reason why that happened. Especially when compared to a candidate that doesn't have such a gap. – AmiralPatate Feb 18 '21 at 10:44
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@JimboJonny That's not correct. They don't know there's real medical issue because you declined to tell them. All they know is that you claimed it was a medical issue and when they asked you to elaborate so they could also know that it was a medical issue, you refused to do so. You would be right if the OP offered details such that the interviewer did in fact know that it was a medical issue as opposed to simply hearing someone's bare assertion that it was. This is the danger with not providing details, you can't then turn around and say they rejected you because you had cancer. – David Schwartz Feb 18 '21 at 11:37
@David Schwartz I agree with AmiralPatate. It's mostly because she hadn't practiced her skills for a long time. But there's also a little part of not wanting to hire someone who quit because of health issues, because they might do it again. Would giving more details increase your chances of being hired? Yes. But most people don't like sharing their traumatic past (and very personal) experiences, especially with potential coworkers. And if they do, they'll mostly be hired out of pity than something else. Maybe it's worth doing if you've been looking for a job for way too long without success. – Doliprane Feb 18 '21 at 15:26
@Doliprane You can't not tell them that you had cancer and then complain that they didn't hire you because you had cancer. If you don't explain, then they are not hiring you because you didn't explain a gap to their satisfaction. It's your choice whether to tell them or not, but if you don't tell them it, it's not their fault that they don't accept the perfectly reasonable explanation. It's hard for me to know what I would do in that situation but I suspect I would tell the employer that I had cancer and needed time to recover. If they want to not hire me for that, I dodge a bullet. – David Schwartz Feb 18 '21 at 16:18
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@DavidSchwartz How does elaborating help them "know it was a medical issue"? How much private medical information would satisfy them? If you said it was a health issue you did tell them, so either they're going to press for your medical records or they're just prying (or I guess constructing grounds for future dismissal). – Useless Feb 18 '21 at 18:07
@Useless For me, them saying it's cancer would be sufficient. You saying it's a health issue does not say that it's a physical condition like cancer that causes temporary and severe disability the way saying it's cancer does. Otherwise, all I have is your opinion that it's a medical condition, and I don't have to believe you and it would be entirely reasonable not to. – David Schwartz Feb 18 '21 at 19:26
@DavidSchwartz I'm not sure it ought to be up to the employer to decide how intrusive they feel like being, but I'm also not certain how accurate your mental model of cancer is. It's not a temporary condition, it's an entire family of conditions with similar biological cause but different effects and wildly different susceptibility to treatment and likelihood of recurrence. Cancer of the what? What stage did you catch it at? Which treatment did you have, how many times? You seem to expect the word "cancer" to give you information that's only really available with much more detail. – Useless Feb 18 '21 at 22:08
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@Useless I guess I'm coming from my personal experience of people I know both personally and professionally who received varying cancer diagnoses, needed lots of time to recover, and then rebounded successfully. It might be a quirk of my experience. – David Schwartz Feb 18 '21 at 22:18
@DavidSchwartz - No, that is correct completely and 100% in every way. If an employer straight up says they are rejecting you for a gap that you've stated is the direct result of a medical issue then lawyers will line up to take that case. If the employer doesn't believe you then the "cover your a$$" move is for them to say nothing about rejection reason, because if they were wrong and told you the reason was the (explained) gap then, again, they're going to get sued into oblivion. – Jimbo Jonny Feb 19 '21 at 19:07
@AmiralPatate - I didn't claim the laws were fair to the employer, and they're not. Someone with a gap for direct medical reasons cannot be discriminated against legally regardless of the very real and very true fact that a year away from work makes real skills differences. As far as the law is concerned, that cannot be considered relevant. That is why I said I'm not surprised they would discriminate. I'm only surprised they were dumb enough to tell the person that. – Jimbo Jonny Feb 19 '21 at 19:11
@DavidSchwartz You're not required to give them details about the medical issue, and they're not required to prove it. Additionally, even if you give them more details, they're not gaining greater certainty that you aren't lying: they just learn how good you are at relating a story. – employee-X Feb 19 '21 at 23:43
@employee-X It has nothing to do with certainty that you aren't lying. It has to do with the picture you paint and the impression it gives them. – David Schwartz Feb 21 '21 at 02:41
@DavidSchwartz That's what I said. If the interviewer presses for details, it only tells them how good of a "talker" you are. It doesn't reveal anything else, so why isn't "I'm not comfortable talking about this." a valid response? – employee-X Feb 24 '21 at 22:01
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@employee-X Because if you cut it off too soon, you risk implying that the interviewer needs less information than they think they need. Obviously, it's going to be a subjective issue. – David Schwartz Feb 24 '21 at 22:20

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 17 '21 at 14:12

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Personally I wouldn't even include it on the resume. I would just put in the work you did and just the time you did it in. Don't explain "gaps" between those time frames.

You're right to assume people will be curious, but you have to also understand that when you're being vague and lacking any sort of clarity, people will assume the worst possible thing. With that said, if you said you took a year-long stay at home, they will probably ask what you mean by that. And you'll just say it's for personal health reasons and they'll just say "Ok" without pressing any further. At that point they'll do one of two things: take your word for it, or move on to the next person. They may just ignore it since they had a good interview, or they may assume the worst possible things about it.

Best way to handle it is to not show it on the resume and wait for them to ask. If they say, "Why is there a 1 year gap between your previous job and this job?" And you'll just say, "I had health issues that had to be addressed and it took me up until recently to resolve that. I am well now and recovered and ready to work again."

answered Feb 17 '21 at 14:12

Dan

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Sorry, that won't work. A resume with an unexplained 1 year gap is highly unlikely to survive the first scan. You will almost never get to a point where they would even ask the question. – Hilmar Feb 17 '21 at 14:25
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@Hilmar Can you cite some source for that? If you have a gap and generally people will assume you had some sort of issue that needed to be taken care of. As I said if it is a one-off type situation, then that is fine. I know a person who taken a few years off from work to take care of their sick parent and after the parent passed away, they were looking for a new job and their resume had a few years gap. That person found a job without ever having to mention the gap. So it works. If you put something vague on the resume, expect questions no matter how personal. – Dan Feb 17 '21 at 19:52
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@Hilmar, I've had more than 1 one year gap in my employment history, and they were due to a lack of work available in my industry combined with a massive amount of people looking for the same work in that geographic area. Simply explaining the gap as something you don't have any control over is good enough for reasonable employers. There are people who take a leave of absence for even multiple years that end up getting jobs again. That's not very common here in the US, but in the EU I hear it's less rare. Yes, I got interviews with many "unexplained" gaps. That's what the interview is for. – computercarguy Feb 17 '21 at 20:47
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If I'm not having luck finding someone to hire, sure, I'll pull in the person with gaps in their resume and ask about them. If I have 100s of qualified applicants, anyone with gaps is going to be an easy pass. Having a brief comment about the gap (health etc) would definitely put that resume above one with no information about the gaps. – Dragonel Feb 17 '21 at 21:45
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I would assume the gap was there because the applicant wanted to hide some information. And I don't really want to waste time interviewing somebody who might have just spent a year in jail as a result of something involving their previous employer, so I'll put them at the bottom of the pile. – alephzero Feb 18 '21 at 01:01
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@Dan It doesn't work like that. I've had few candidates where we had gaps in their CV. We were having real trouble recruiting, so we decided to give them interviews anyway. But those gaps in the CVs, we needed them to really justify why they'd not been working, and raise it themselves rather than trying to hide it. Not to put too fine a point on it, in every case we went into those interviews with major concerns and expecting to reject them. And in fact we did reject them all. If we'd had more candidates, they wouldn't even have got a chance of an interview. – Graham Feb 18 '21 at 02:11
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@computercarguy Unemployment is a perfectly valid reason though, and it doesn't have to be left "unexplained". Similarly a leave of absence for an understandable reason (looking after a sick relative, perhaps) is fine and won't be marked down. But just an unexplained gap looks like you chose not to work and sit on the couch in front of daytime TV instead. It directly reflects on your work ethic, and you're a lot less likely to get that interview in the first place because of that. – Graham Feb 18 '21 at 02:17
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@Graham > "just an unexplained gap looks like you chose not to work and sit on the couch in front of daytime TV instead" actually it may look like this for you, but I don't think that would be the case for everybody. Anybody can probably come up with 3 or 4 reasonable explanations for a gap, why assume the most negative one? Especially as it's easy for anybody actually sitting on the coach for 1 year to fill the gap by lying or wrapping the truth in a very professional explanation ("I took 1 year to work on personal projects") – Laurent S. Feb 18 '21 at 08:46
@LaurentS. My ex-manager and I rejected one applicant because whilst he had decent technical chops, his CV showed a pattern of taking a job just long enough to pay for his next gap to work on personal projects, and we couldn't expect him to stick around. Even without that pattern though, a personal project is a reflection of who you are as a person, and if you're putting in equivalent amounts of time to a full-time job then it absolutely belongs on your CV with as much detail as you'd give to a paying job. It doesn't matter if it's a different area - what matters is showing professionalism. – Graham Feb 18 '21 at 10:51
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@alephzero If you follow what the OP said, he mentions putting a vague item in his resume to explain the gap. In your own words, you would still reject this person's resume because it is too vague and you're left with speculations that the person might have been in jail for a year. Also since the OP said "health reasons" right away I would think the person had a meltdown at their previous job and couldn't handle the pressure from his/her peers and/or bosses. So it's not a resume problem but the interviewer having issues. You already made assumptions. – Dan Feb 18 '21 at 13:55
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@Graham, the problem is that to many employers, unemployment isn't a valid reason. Many think that because I couldn't get a job, I didn't want a job, just like you thought about your example. Even putting in a couple dozen or over a hundred resumes a week, sometimes a day, didn't get me jobs, but all some employers saw was a gap. As is often said, "it's easier to find a job if you already have one". What they don't say is why, and that's because employers often think that any gap can't have a good reason. – computercarguy Feb 18 '21 at 17:12

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 18 '21 at 08:43

Be open about what happened. That builds trust. You don't have to be it every time but if you find an offer interesting, tell them what happened. I interpret your question as it wasn't something "shameful" (being hospitalised for a year after a car accident due to DUI would, in my eyes, be shameful because it would signal really bad judgement - but just being randomly sick can happen to anyone).

Be proactive - if they show even the slightest interest in what happened, don't wait for them to ask but instead have a prepared story to tell. This way you set the narrative. I don't mean that you should lie but you can emphasize whatever you feel comfortable to talk about and let out details that are private.

This is good, just don't overshoot. Some people come across as surviving cancer is the defining attribute of their persona. — Džuris, Feb 18 '21 at 11:29

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 18 '21 at 12:53

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It certainly depends on the location, but I (as in "if I was in that situation") would be completely open about that.

I would put 2020: off work due to a health issue which is now resolved (to use Phillip's example) and, then during the interview, at the slightest hint of a question, I would openly say that it was cancer, it is now all good and I am happy to be back to work.

You want to show that you are fine and that you are eager to work.

If I was the interviewer, I would be glad and appreciative if someone told me this because such vague wording can indicate anything. Ultimately I am hiring someone to work and I want, all things equal, to make the best choice for the company.

answered Feb 18 '21 at 12:53

WoJ

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If you're going to be "completely open" and tell all at the "slightest hint of a question", why not put the details in the resumé in the first place? Particularly since the details are "Off work due to cancer treatment; all good and ready to work" or words to that effect. – Andrew Leach Feb 19 '21 at 09:26
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@AndrewLeach: because this is medical information and a CV is not a good place to discuss it. Depending on the place it may even be a problem (for instance, HR may be legally obligated to black such information out, and then it really becomes a red flag). Discussing it orally is easier, more informal, more reassuring. OTOH the way you put it is very sensitive (and sensible) so why not (though the legal part above may be a problem) – WoJ Feb 19 '21 at 09:46

How to explain the gap in my resume due to cancer?

6 Answers6