I seriously recommend against putting this on your resume. While it is illegal to discriminate against someone for having a disabled family member, is is extremely hard to prove and the ADA does not apply to every single employer. As we saw in this thread, even people trained in hiring discrimination may not pick up on the finer points like this, or may just decide to chance it. They’re thinking a worker who needs a lot of leave and adds huge medical expenses from a disabled spouse to the medical plan would sink their business. Not saying that’s the real situation, but it’s definitely something a business owner might consider.
I can think of one way to potentially spin this to your advantage. That is to use the skills you’ve developed to take a leadership-level volunteer position for a group like Meals on Wheels or American Red Cross. By leadership level I don’t mean it needs to be full-time, just that you want a role that’s more like scheduling the meal deliveries or training volunteers, not just delivering meals yourself. In other words, sell your personal experience to the non-profit, then sell your non-profit leadership experience to future employers. Getting active in volunteer leadership is a good job search tool anyway, because it gives you opportunities to network, apply your skills, get references, etc.
Yep - I remember reviewing a resume where the woman had been a stay-at-home mom for 15+ years.
Fine - she was applying for a junior level position so a break like that probably wasn’t a huge deal; however, she tried to dress up the fact that she was a soccer mom into some kind of amazing work history. I’m sorry - getting your kids to their soccer game on time is slightly different than ensuring that a $2 million dollar grant application is submitted on time.
I’m starting to rethink the response I gave. Now that I’m reading others’ replies, I’m remembering that I recommended that people not use it on the resume so much but as a response to why the long employment gaps. But I do wonder if some industries are more forgiving? If you were looking for a job as a case manager, for example…
Although I’ll take just about any kind of job if it will pay the bills, I’m primarily looking for two types of jobs. The resume I may or may not put this on would be for clerical/office work.
My experience with such: My wife is (legally) blind, so no driving or similar activity. Ironically, met her on IRC chat almost 15yrs ago, so she is not helpless, and makes a great mother. Her healthy/active mother (my MIL) fell in bathtub around a year-and-a-half ago, busted her left knee bad, still can’t walk on it, etc. We all live together since, and family is ‘tight’ and all that.
Since I was only person able to get anyone anywhere further than a few city-blocks, I left my (part-time, ~30hrs/wk) job so I could get MIL/wife to all their medical appointments, basically to just ‘be there if needed’, and I was definitely needed. Some months had me attending appointments of theirs 15-20 times/month with most being known about just a few days beforehand. Planning things beyond a week out were chancy at best.
A few months ago, things got easier for everybody, so I put in applications for jobs. Plenty of interviews, no jobs. EVERY time I have mentioned a blind wife and MIL who cannot walk (slightly mobile w/ a walker, drives car fine with good Rt leg, fwiw), I immediately see physical signs of reaction from the ‘interviewer’, and always get follow-up questions of “who cares for them now?” or other focused-only-on-that inquiries. Makes zero difference when I say that I am not needed like that any longer, and want to get back to work, badly. Without fail, I am told they have more interviews to do and they will be in touch. That nugget of info shuts things down then and there (!). Never had a problem getting a job before (~20+yrs experience), but my choosing to go ‘unemployed’ for my family has fucked me royally. I have no doubt of this as it is so obvious from actions I see and hear in interviews. It is important to multiple employers, ime. I would still go unemployed again should it be required, but I know what happens, instead of thinking employers would see it as ‘righteous’. These were all largish hospitals, some of them ‘Catholic’ or Baptist-based (gotta throw that in there, hehe).
Just so ya know YMMV as with everything. Good luck (honest!)
Thanks. Although I haven’t made my mind up I was entertaining the idea, but thought I should get some advice first. From everything I’m hearing I might not do it. The only reason I considered it is that employers don’t like long periods of unemployment, even though it should be totally understandable in this economy.
Technically I’ve been unemployed for a little over 3 years, but since I went back to college for two years after losing my job I don’t really count that, but employers might.
I am one of those people. Can you provide a cite regarding employment?
That’s of no concern to me. I am just a middle manager. I assume our health care plan deals with it in an acceptable way or else he wouldn’t be interested in the job. If anything I wonder if it means he will be unavailable often.
Which brings me to another point. He should word this, if he includes it at all, to indicate that there were certain accomplishments, as he would for listing other jobs, and then it is easy to say that the task is done and not needed anymore, or is scaled back to the point that he can work again. Then, no problem!
Seriously, unless you’re applying for a job as a Professional Caregiver for an institution of some sort (hospital, assisted living facility, etc.) leave it off.
I don’t see this working for you. Taking care of family members is a noble, honorable use of your time, but it doesn’t belong on your resume at all.
Hello Again had provided one upthread, but this may be even clearer:
"Q. Who is protected from employment discrimination?
A. Employment discrimination is prohibited against “qualified individuals with disabilities.” This includes applicants for employment and employees. An individual is considered to have a “disability” if s/he has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment. Persons discriminated against because they have a known association or relationship with an individual with a disability also are protected."
You say that as a middle manager you don’t care, and that may be true. However, plenty of managers try to avoid hiring people who they think will be absent a lot, and might be tempted to skirt the law for that reason. Also, if you are in a big enough organization the health insurance hit may not be obvious to you, but in a smaller organization it could be obvious enough to affect your premium personally and that of all employees. So in some cases people do care about it, and are again tempted to skirt the law.
Then I would suggest leaving this off your resume, at least to the extent that it identifies the care recipient as family. And I would avoid that during the interview too.
A well trained manager will avoid seeking to draw out information that presents discrimination information. And a good candidate won’t bring up the issue either. that is why information like age are not suggested to be put on resumes. It is why you don’t put a picture of yourself on them. Unless you are the only qualified applicant, it is easy, and presumably legal, to not offer you an interview. There is no obligation to interview everyone qualified before making a decision, and putting the manager on the spot regarding discrimination is a good way to make sure you don’t get the interview.
I’d make the material focus on the accomplishments during the period, maybe along the lines of “nursed client back to health from such and such to such and such, evaluated care providers, etc.” Stateit in a way that the skills are somehow transferable to the job.
Just take out who the client was, and don’t answer if asked. Just say “I’d rather not discuss the client’s health with a 3rd party for privacy reasons.” No one will press beyond that, and in many jobs, where the ability to keep proprietary matters secret is valued, that will make a very positive impression actually.
There’s an easy way to find out. Get a Google Voice phone number. Then make up a phony resume similar to yours but a bit different then apply for jobs using the info you gave us.
Then sit back and wait. If you get phone calls for the resume it works. If you get no one calling you for an interview then you know to redesign it to omit or rework the entry.
It’s actually not legal under the ADA to deny someone an interview because of a disability-related reason. It would be easy, and difficult to catch, but as a ferinstance…Let’s say they know your organization well and find out the person eventually hired seems less qualified. They could pursue that.
The other situation where you might be more likely to have an exposure is if someone keeps encountering this, gets fed up with it, and just makes a habit of filing complaints.
If you were dumb enough to state your reason in front of witnesses or write it down, they would stand a better chance at winning their complaint. Even if they don’t win, it takes up your and your company’s time to fight.
So you are suggesting every manager needs to interview everyone who applies who is remotely qualified? I think not. Sorry. If your qualifications are no different than anyone else, I can choose among them randomly or with some other system. Maybe I just hire the first one and be done with it. Has nothing to do with anyone’s disability.
There is also no legal standard to hire the most qualified applicant either, as far as I know. I am having a hard time even imagining a position where I could measure the relative qualifications. Maybe if I am hiring a McD burger flipper and one guy used to work a near identical McD across town, and the other candidate came from Burger King. But it is a pretty rote job, and a lateral move, and even those jobs are rare. But maybe the BK kid will work for less, or is eager to advance and likely to take initiative with customers, or sweeping up or something. It is always subjective, what someone’s qualifications are for nearly any job.
Agreed, you’d have to be pretty dumb to do that. But then you’d have to be pretty dumb to discriminate in the first place. I am just saying, no disabled person is entitled to a job or even an interview simply on the basis of the disability either. They compete on the same basis as everyone else.
No, not hardly. What makes it illegal is deciding not to interview someone* for an illegal reason* - disability, race, sex, age. Random is fine, because of their disability/ disabled family member is not. Whoever trained you on hiring discrimination didn’t do a particularly good job.
The best way I’ve found to get around the problem of what I’d call “productive unemployment” – that is, a period where you’re not working for wages, but you’re not sitting home eating bonbons and watching soap operas – is to use a functional resume. The skills are listed using business-appropriate language, but the source of those skills is de-emphasized. What you’re describing are probably very useful skills for the kinds of jobs you’re seeking. It’s just none of their business where you got them.
Other than the bit about the relationship with someone disabled, what do you suggest I am missing? I am open to learning, and I am glad you pointed that out, bit other than that, what?
I would suggest that you over-weight the opinion of those posters with hiring experience.
I would leave it off. It sounds desperate and you don’t need to be in this economy in order to explain an employment gap. Decide how you want to explain it when you get to the interview. The key thing is that no employer will be wowed by the skills you gained helping your wife. It adds nothing and potentially detracts from your resume.
Depends how he presents it and the job. That’s why resumes are best written to explain accomplishments, not list tasks. They are more easily related to new jobs that way.
He could say something like (assuming it is true) “Managed care providers; Devised system to reduce turnover and increase job satisfaction and morale.”.
As a hiring manager, I am going to be interested in that result…even if he is not going to be a supervisor in the new job, even if the issue of providing health care has nothing to do with the job at hand, it indicates an interest in the metrics of the organization in a positive way, and that could make for a good employee.
It could also show continued growth in job skills even though he was not strictly employed, and that shows initiative too. I’d be down with that.
Well, even without putting in this “job” I considered functional because the two types of work I’m looking for are career changes. However some employers don’t like functional resume’s since you’re not listing your jobs, so I chose a combination resume and am sticking with that. But thank you anyway.
I probably will leave it off, but from what I’m hearing, most employers aren’t taking into account this economy and still prefer people who are currently employed, or who haven’t been unemployed for very long.
YMMV as with everything. Good luck (honest!)