Jobseekers should keep quiet about past psychological problems

Dec 5, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Hamburg - Honesty is the best policy - usually, but perhaps not when it comes to a history of psychological illness and applying for a job.

Hamburg-based career adviser Svenja Hofert says her experience of potential employers is that they are rapidly scared off by the prospect of employing someone who has suffered from depression, for example, in the past.

She advises jobseekers with a gap in their curriculum vitae resulting from psychological illness to think of softening the information, rather than coming straight out with it. 'Many employers ask themselves: Do we really want this? Someone who is a depressive?' And the answer is usually a flat 'No', Hofert says.

Jobseekers with this problem should perhaps say that they were in fact ill in hospital without going into the precise nature of the illness.

Another way out is to say they were on sabbatical or simply taking a break from work. Recuperation after a serious accident or having to look after a sick relative are also options for explaining employment gaps.

But labour lawyer Nathalie Oberthuer points to potential legal problems should the employer ever find out. 'Because, anyone who tells a lie during a job interview is deceiving the employer,' Oberthuer says. Should this come to light, the employer is in a position to challenge the employment contract signed with the employee.

In her view a jobseeker should rather say: 'I was ill, but I would prefer not to go into the details.'