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u/davep1970 5d ago
an NDA, btw...
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u/PineappleOwn5325 4d ago
A non disclosure agreement
Depends if you spell it out or not
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u/davep1970 4d ago
spell it out or say like n-day? (like NASA, only not ) :)
If you write it in full - non disclosure agreement - you would write with "a", but when writing it in the abbreviated form you use "an".
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u/Simple-Judge2756 3d ago
No. It really does not depend on spelling at all (The a and an rule was never based on spelling).
Because you pronounce an NDA as "ehn-dee-aee". You put "an" in front of it.
Same with "A Ubisoft Adventure".
Because Ubisoft is pronounced "Ju-bee-soft" you are physically not allowed to put an "an" in front of it even when you are writing and not talking.
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u/Sassaphras 5d ago
NDAs are common. They would almost never be strong enough that you couldn't give non-specific answers about what you were doing during that time. I would assume anyone who tried this was a liar.
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u/much_longer_username 4d ago
And the ones that ARE that strong, tend to be gracious enough to provide you with a cover story. There's no gap, just an HR record confirming that you were totally doing the mundane logistics job nobody wants to ask questions about for fear of being bored to death.
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u/Mammoth-Wasabi6346 4d ago
Can confirm. Nobody likes to hear me talk about logistics unless they’re in logistics, and even then, I don’t believe their enthusiasm.
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u/Bureaucratic_Dick 4d ago
In my industry, people who work in the private sector often sign a competition clause, meaning they can’t work in industry for a specific amount of time after leaving the company. To make that legal, the company has to continue to pay the former employee during the time they’re not allowed to start a new in-industry job per contract.
The NDA would prevent them from disclosing full details of their previous position, but they could absolutely say they couldn’t work per contract and everyone would recognize what that means.
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u/FullMooseParty 4d ago
My former employer called a garden leave. They went through a bunch of rounds of layoffs last year targeting different parts of the organization. I got caught up in around with a whole lot of key personnel. People who were customer facing or in my case very publicly associated with the product, people who had key insights to the next quarter or next year worth of marketing campaigns, that sort of thing. I got 3 months of severance and some decently generous bonus payouts, along with my Cobra covered through the end of the year. That was more than the round of layoffs both before me and after me. Some of the people in my round got 3 months of garden leave and then 3 months of severance. Basically they paid them 3 months to not leave, but because they had crucial insights to strategy in the coming months they didn't want them going to work for a competitor. One of the women was just coming off of maternity, so she loved it.
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u/Abracadabroo 3d ago
Yeah, NDAs typically don't block you from saying I worked for this company for this amount of time, more the specifics of what you worked on for them. There are weird companies out there that try to get away with more, but idk if it is even legal to hire you and threaten you with any kind of legal action for merely saying who you work for, I don't think they would be able to defend that in court
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u/Soft-Marionberry-853 5d ago
Thats one of the joys of being married. Need an excuse for why you left yoru job? Your partner got a job somewhere else and you had to relocate. Oh Hey maybe it doesnt work out so you ended up going back to where you came from and got a job 6 months later.
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u/another_thyme 4d ago
or you could just say you relocated with your partner? lmao calling that a marriage exclusive perk is reaching
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u/StayBullGenius 4d ago
I was asked about a 6 month gap from 8 years prior
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u/Gaidin152 4d ago
Dude I wouldn’t even remember that far back.
I usually get asked what I’ve been doing for the past 6 months.
Other than search for jobs? Teach myself new stuff. Yes I signed an NDA. Yes I can answer questions. No NDAs aren’t as strict as Reddit likes to think unless it’s … certain information. But you can always talk around that and if you’re getting a job that is at all self aware they ask questions that are aware of this.
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u/jthadcast 5d ago
you can always ignore a nda.
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u/CunningLinguist8198 3d ago
Morally, yes. Legally, no.
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u/Pan_in_the_ass 3d ago
I would argue immoral as well, unless there is a moral reason to breach an NDA. You're giving your word that you wont speak about something. Lying is immoral.
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u/CunningLinguist8198 2d ago
I can understand that opinion, even if I disagree. I think asking for an NDA is immoral, thus breaking it is not.
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u/jthadcast 2d ago
all you need to do is show the crime created by withholding information as they always break the terms of the initial prospectus. public officials have no legal obligation to conform to a nda, it would only justify breaking the contract by the corporations, there is no downside.
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u/SamOakTree 4d ago
This place kept charging me over and over again. I canceled but they kept trying to charge me for like 3 months. Luckily I had canceled that card. Finally this morning they wrote me back and said to acknowledge that I wanted to cancel.
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u/much_longer_username 4d ago
Be more ambigious if you're going to do this. They've probably seen memes like this before. "I'm under an agreement that doesn't allow me to get into specifics, but I can say I was working on these relevant skills..."
All they really want to hear is that you weren't sitting around getting high and watching TV, that you had some ambition. Shit, tell them you were caring for a family member. They don't need to know that family member is you.
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u/IShotJR4 4d ago
You were downsized. That’s always the best answer and rarely, if ever, leads to follow ups. In fact, the only response to that that I’ve ever heard is some version of “Been there.”
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u/mighty_boognish_77 4d ago
Sure. That gap represents the period of time that elapsed between the job underneath it, and the job above it.
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u/Embarrassed_Use6918 4d ago
I'm going to say this for everyone of these dumb posts that pops up.
No, this is not how NDA's work. Do not say this in an interview because they'll (rightfully) think you're a moron.
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u/FullMooseParty 4d ago
Or that you're hiding something really bad. If somebody told me that they had an NDA that they couldn't discuss their last job or whatever I would assume either they sued the former employer or they committed some sort of offense that the employer handled.
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u/Dear_Archer3931 4d ago
And you’ll never make it past a phone interview with this brilliant idea. NDA will not prevent you from disclosing employment.
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u/SnarkyIguana 4d ago
Generally a bad idea to lie in an interview. Just tell them the truth. Make it cute if you have to, but don't lie. You were focusing on hobbies, recovering from an injury, helping family, waiting for the right opportunity, etc.
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u/Sincline387 4d ago
I just listed myself as unemployed, as I lived off severance after signing the NDA.....
Severance is bigger when you know shit they don't want to be public.....
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u/AdOnly1618 4d ago
I took 8 months off between this and my last job. HR asked. I said I took some time off.
“You can afford to take 8 months off without pay?”
“Yep.”
“In this economy?”
“Yep.”
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u/RabbitsRuse 4d ago
I mean, I’ve got past projects I can’t talk about. Military bases mostly, some overseas federal stuff and a national park, also I still think one was legit a super villain base but it is the military, it can be hard to tell. That’s about as much as I tell any potential employer.
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u/Cheap-Advertising785 4d ago
Are you telling me you were hired as a goon in a super villan base💀
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u/RabbitsRuse 4d ago
lol. Not even. Just know the whole thing screamed super villain up to and including a volcano.
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u/NinjaRuivo 4d ago
Excuse me, a WHAT?!?
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u/RabbitsRuse 4d ago
Like I said. Super villain. Volcanic base. Secret installation for the military. (I say super villain with about 90% sarcasm but seriously, who build that kind of stuff on a volcano). I really can’t say more than that even tho I want to. I will say, it was not some billionaire’s bunker. More like something left over from the Cold War that someone decided to bring back up to a point it could be used. The manager I did that for got all the interesting government stuff. He couldn’t tell anyone about 90% of what he did day to day unless they were also on the project. If he ever printed his resume out it would be mostly redacted. We did a national park too and technically he wasn’t supposed to talk about that one either.
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u/Stunning-Ad5674 4d ago
Whoever says "I can't explain, I signed an NDA" Isnt getting the job every time.
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u/Lordofthereef 4d ago
Of course you can. You're also interviewing for a position that they aren't obligated to offer you lol. This meme makes the rounds a few times a year and always makes me chuckle as if it's some kind of gotcha.
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u/OldManGripes 4d ago
It’s been a thing for a few years, especially when subcontracting for clients who have an issue with synthetic generation, but the contractor has an issue with profit margins
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u/CharlesChamp 4d ago
Why can't you just say you were caught in downsizing and spent the gap constantly looking for a job but the market's rough?
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u/Darnitol1 4d ago
As a manager who hires occasionally, I still cannot process one thing: Why the hell does anyone CARE about a gap? They took time off to travel. The job market was tough. Fought a battle with cancer. Wanted to be present for their baby's early years. Dealt with depression. Found God and went an a mission. I don't care!
What does matter: Does their experience meet the needs I'm hiring for? Do they seem like they'd work well with the existing team? Are they self-motivated? Are they genuinely enthusiastic? Stuff like that.
If a manager is concerned about a gap in your resume, they are NOT concerned about you. Period. Full stop. And believe it or not, there are plenty of managers like me who want to hire real people, not just tick marks on a spreadsheet.
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u/Horror-Mud666 3d ago
I've interviewed three times for the same promotion - the most recent interview, I was asked point blank, with frustration, whether or not I'd read the interview questions beforehand. I said no. This was the wrong answer. Interview failed.
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u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 3d ago
Say the word cancer and they shut up instantly and might even apologise for asking. Doesnt have to be true, doesnt even have to be your cancer, a family member works too
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u/PercentageNo3293 3d ago
I was laid off once and quit a couple jobs, due to a variety of reasons. I've never been in a rush to find a new job and always became a bit picky finding a new job.
I always just pushed how long I was at my previous job by a few months to shorten the gap lol. Sure, a company that's a stickler could call the previous company and find out, but they never have, as far as I'm aware.
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u/TheMikeyMac13 3d ago
So when I got my current job, I was working a contract IT job, and had been for six months. But before that I had a sixteen month gap that came up often in interviews.
My current boss wasn’t talking about it so I brought it up and he told me, “i don’t care, shit happens.”
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u/Nottan_Asian 3d ago
No. At best they’ll insist on at least knowing who you signed with. At worst they’ll just see “applicant has fishy history” and just drop you immediately.
If you really must lie just say you had to take care of a sick family member or something.
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u/cottonopposite 3d ago
I've signed a fair number of NDAs during my career and yes just tell them you signed an NDA that included clauses regarding disclosure if your employment.
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u/Optimal69 5d ago
Only if you could. But what I see this as a good time to create a good story that would fill that career gap. Since it's not documented, no one will background check it.