Why do employer's care about gaps in employment?

Question

I mean seriously...school, baby, won a good amount of money and decided to take a year or 2 off, unemployment, etc.

Why don't employers realize that **** happens sometimes and people can't work and then they hold these "gaps" as an excuse not to hire you,etc

What is the big deal...THE PAST IS THE PAST. Only crime doesn't apply to this in my opinion.

Why do employer's care about gaps in employment?

Answer 1

Most people aren't financially able to just "chill" for 6-8 months (or however long), so a gap is often an indication of a job that isn't being declared for some reason. Usually because there was some problem on that job.

If a person was drawing unemployment during a gap, that may be of interest because having former employees collect unemployment pay causes the tax paid by the employer to be higher for the next three years. So a person w a history of collecting unemployment might be a concern relative to keeping company expenses down.

And often it's just an honesty check......the employer may not really care about the gap , they just want to see if the applicant is honest about it, or makes up some lie.