How to approach long-term sickness when applying for new job

yasminejobadvice

I was just hoping for some advice on how to approach a long-term absence in my recent employment history.

I was off work for almost a year due to mental health issues. I’ve recovered and want to get back to work, but not to my current place of employment as that place and the people were a huge contributor to the issues I had. I’ve handed in my notice and started applying for other jobs, but I know I’m going to have problems and am not sure how to approach it.

I can be totally upfront and honest about my long-term absence and explain the situation at the interview stage. I feel that if I can explain the specific circumstances of the situation and explain how I’ve now turned things around and am confident I’m going to be okay going forward, maybe it will make the absence seem like slightly less of a deal-breaker. But then the drawback is, there’s a 100% chance of the details being on the table, and I could lose opportunities because of this.

Alternatively, I could not mention it at interview. But then if I get made a job offer, I might have to complete occ. health forms and they might request sickness history from my last employer. If they do this and are then made aware of the long-term absence, the offer could be withdrawn without me having the opportunity to explain my circumstances; details which I believe may make a difference to how they feel about hiring me despite my sickness record.

I don’t know what to do. If I bring it up voluntarily, I can guarantee myself the chance to explain, but I’m giving them a big reason to say no. If I don’t bring it up voluntarily, I might get lucky and it might not actually come up. But if it does, I think I have a higher chance of losing the offer as I may not get chance to explain myself. It's a difficult situation, so I was just hoping for some advice on what might be the best way to approach it.

sangie595

I'm afraid that whilst I can't say there isn't discrimination out there, so I understand your reluctance to say anything, I agree with you entirely. You need to be up front at interview. If you aren't, it'll come back to bite you.

Can you explain this without saying anything critical about your former employer and colleagues? Because, all things being equal, lay the blame at their door, true or not, and you are leaving a potential employer to consider whether the problem is you. Things that are "over" are easier to explain - a difficult bereavement, a marriage breakdown. In these circumstances, whilst it is important to tell the truth about your sickness absence, whether you tell the truth about what caused it is a different matter!

IAmWales

If I bring it up voluntarily, I can guarantee myself the chance to explain, but I’m giving them a big reason to say no.

The way I look at it is, if they were to say no, it's not a company you'd want to work for anyway. Plus there are a few (admittedly not many) that might even give you a chance because of your honesty, that's how I got one of my current clients. Their client base is vulnerable people, so my personal experience means I am able to relate to the difficulties they face.

At the other extreme I once had a call centre job offer revoked because I had bulimia. At the time I'd no history of absence, it was just a single line on the GP report, and they decided I would be a health and safety risk. I don't know what they thought I was going to do, throw up on the computers?!! :cool:

Best of luck

daytona0

IAmWales wrote: »

At the other extreme I once had a call centre job offer revoked because I had bulimia. At the time I'd no history of absence, it was just a single line on the GP report, and they decided I would be a health and safety risk. I don't know what they thought I was going to do, throw up on the computers?!! :cool:

Best of luck

I've worked in managerial roles within a call center many moons ago... They could be very cut-throat like you've described. HOWEVER, I have seen both sides of it!

I remember one employee who gained employment with us but didn't declare a disability at interview stage. They agreed to work the hours set. A week into their employment they handed in a flexible working request due to the disability and a few sympathetic managers strong-armed it through. It was entirely at odds with the requirements of the business!

That employee lasted a fair amount of time as well!

I did take my hat off to that employee because they played the whole company and gained employment. Declare that right off the bat and it might have been similar to your Bulimia situation....

Takeaway_Addict

daytona0 wrote: »

I've worked in managerial roles within a call center many moons ago... They could be very cut-throat like you've described. HOWEVER, I have seen both sides of it!

I remember one employee who gained employment with us but didn't declare a disability at interview stage. They agreed to work the hours set. A week into their employment they handed in a flexible working request due to the disability and a few sympathetic managers strong-armed it through. It was entirely at odds with the requirements of the business!

That employee lasted a fair amount of time as well!

I did take my hat off to that employee because they played the whole company and gained employment. Declare that right off the bat and it might have been similar to your Bulimia situation....

Doesn't that show though that it wasn't at odds with business requirements if the employer and employee found a suitable agreement?

Fireflyaway

Have you been off for the last year or was this a while ago? Reason is because most people will ask what you are doing now. If this were me, I'd be honest if its current because they will probably ask for references anyway. If historic I'd not say. I think most employers want to know you are better now so just explain that its behind you and you are ready to get stuck in. To me your mental illness would not put me off at all. I recently hired someone who was really honest and told me he had a breakdown and was still on medication. Part of the reason was stress from his previous job. He first joined as a volunteer and when a paid position came up he was hired. Remember there are many people who have mental illness but nobody knows. Your honesty and courage helps those people too.

sangie595

To be honest, my reading of the OP is that they are currently off sick and are never going back - because they consider something in the workplace a major contributor to their sickness. Now they might be right about that - or they might not be. We've all seen both sides of that coin. People off sick because of bullying or bad management. But also people off sick because they can't cut it with disciplinaries, or performance management, or something similar - in other words, they may truthfully be sick but the honest situation is that they are being treated fairly, no matter what they think. But at this point the OP has chosen to walk away. So it doesn't matter whether they are right or wrong about the workplace - they aren't asking for opinions on that.

On that basis, I think that the OP can truthfully say that they are "over it" in terms of what has caused this this sickness period. They may or may not have a previous history of the illness. It may or may not return. But what the OP needs is to know how to explain this situation.

Many employers are becoming better with mental health issues. Some not so much, but as was observed, who would willingly want to work for them? But the better ones, whether they say so or not, are going to be looking at how realistic it is to suggest that they won't end up landed with someone off sick for a year. So tagging the reason to an event that is unlikely to happen again, if possible, is a better explanation - "i really struggled with the death of my mother" is something most people would have empathy with, for example.

Then there is the general rule - never criticise your last employer to the potential new one! If you start introducing how awful they were, how toy were overworked and underpaid, or whatever, then the interviewers are going to go to another place. They will wonder if you are a difficult employee. Perhaps you are a malcontent. Perhaps it was all your fault. It's human nature to wonder what the other side of the story is. And whether toy will end up regretting this. So you avoid any criticism, and where you must, you downplay it - "the shifts that I worked changed constantly, and I found that I didn't adapt well to this pattern which left me exhausted and unable to cope, whereas this job had a clear shift pattern that I know I will manage because..." or " I found the work wasn't particularly satisfying, and having now had this upheaval in my life I have revised my priorities and realise that I want a job that challenges me and makes me feel proud to do, so I have applied to you because...". Comments like this can be truthful, but gloss over a multitude of sins.

And as in the above cases - always get the subject back to why you would be their dream employee!

The type of employment also matters. As soon as I hear someone had been off sick for a year, my head goes to "occupational sick pay" - I assume that they have a years sick pay! That often means public sector employers, and they are often pretty good at recruiting staff in such circumstances provided they are confident that they won't be putting someone in harm's way by causing another breakdown. But it can also be the case that in some professions (social work comes to mind) the people who haven't had a year off sick due to stress don't outnumber the ones who have! It's pretty much accepted that someone will have a hard time of this at some point. So they are less judgemental about it, and will be more willing to assume that you have now developed better coping strategies- because that is what those who do go back into the job have to do.

So there are a lot of factors to consider.