UKC

You may know I'm kinda new back to the UK and job applications, having held the same job for most of my career. But within 20 years I had a 3-4 year break where I was very ill and under constant treatment and recovery. On my resume now I have this break to fill, from 2004 till 2007-8.
As a boss do you prefer that time to be accounted for even though it is not work related, or just left empty and it is not important. Left empty I could have just been voluntarily out of work, filled in it is a little personal and I feel unnecessary, but I dunno.

Any employers out there?

In reply to Dominicandave:

I'm not an employer but I thought the convention was that unaccounted time looked suspicious. Possibly put it on there in a very generic way? Though assuming you to be in full health now, worded so it won't bring on a concern.

Neil

In reply to Dominicandave:

I am not an employer as such but I have been in a position where I was recruiting people. I think left empty it looks like you are hiding something. It was 6 - 7 years ago and I assume you have been in continuous employment since then so in my view it would not be that much of an issue that there is a break in employment. Did you do no work during the 3-4 years you were ill? I'm wondering if it is too much of a stretch to say you did some freelance work?

In reply to Bob Hughes:
Yes, I was ill and under treatment for 3-4 years. It does look suspicious leaving it blank which I have been doing, but something is wrong as I am not receiving any replies from my applications. And so this morning I decided I must change something, and this is all I can think that may be wrong.
I filled in the years and said 'unable to work due to illness, treatment and rehab, but this now looks like I could be a liability should the illness return. And so....................... Hence I am looking to others for some input.

In reply to Dominicandave:

I would have thought try to make it a positive.
Sounds weird but can you say , in 2004 I contracted XXX and was seriously ill. While I was unable to work formally I continued to learn relevant skills through managing the healthcare professionals involved in my care, rapidly understanding the complexities of the condition and healthcare system and demonstrating appropriate challenge to the treatment decisions of my physicians. It has also taught me both humility and helped inspire my drive to succeed in (XXX business XXX) as demonstrated by my successful return to full time work in 2007/8 where I did blah...

In reply to Dominicandave:

a small change but I would say "unable to work due to illness" rather than "illness, treatment and rehab".

The word "rehab" makes it sound like you had a drink or drugs problem.

I wouldn't elaborate much further than that in the CV itself but you may want to add a few sentences on the illness and, especially, how you got back into full time employment after it, in the covering letter

In reply to Dominicandave:

Its far enough back to not worry on your CV, i'd open out at interview (or be honest with a good recruiter).

Its part of your story and experience and generally health problems can lead to better focus, drive and people skills. (I have a similar 2/3 year gap from cancer, glandular fever and some other sundry illnesses....

Not caused me a problem so far, I doubt it would be an invite to interview stopper, If I was recruiting and saw a gap that I wanted to know more about I'd give you a call to clarify.

All the best with the job search, what are you looking for?

Kev

In reply to Dominicandave:
'Unable to work due to illness, but regained full health again, as illustrated by getting back into work for the next 7(?) years doing X. Further detail can be provided'?

In reply to Dominicandave:

Aside from the illness, I notice you call it a Resume. In the UK, it's usually a CV, resume is a common term in the USA. Whilst the name doesn't matter, there also tend to be substantial differences in format and length between US and UK style. So maybe check that your CV fits the common UK style.