The Myth of the Resume Gap

[Unabridged]

i finished my masters in mathematics last spring and spent the last year not doing [censored] but playing cards. if for some reason i have to get a real job this fall, do you think the gap will be harmful? do you think i could get away with saying i was researching math problems(which i did spend a decent amount of time doing, but nowhere near full time) for the last year?

sort of related, do you think i could get a job in finance even though i've had no finance classes and my degree is in pure mathematics, but i have knowledge about stocks, options, etc

[dustyn]

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i finished my masters in mathematics last spring and spent the last year not doing [censored] but playing cards. if for some reason i have to get a real job this fall, do you think the gap will be harmful? do you think i could get away with saying i was researching math problems(which i did spend a decent amount of time doing, but nowhere near full time) for the last year?

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The gap will be semi-harmful, and I think most employers would be suspicious if you told them you were researching math problems for a year and not making any money doing it.

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sort of related, do you think i could get a job in finance even though i've had no finance classes and my degree is in pure mathematics, but i have knowledge about stocks, options, etc

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Absolutely! Your poker experience would be an asset in this area too. Employers love math degrees.

[Fishy McDonk]

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i finished my masters in mathematics last spring and spent the last year travelling

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You earned it after completing a masters degree! No stigma against travelling.

FYP

[maxtower]

What are you going to do when you realize that working for 40+ hours a week is worse than playing poker for less than 24. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Work sucks, play poker.
Max

[kiwi]

Sorry - been away

What I meant was more like "poor recruiters will generalise, and take a vanilla approach to screening, good recruiters will explore the interesting or unusual, looking for matches that may not be so obvious".

Regarding the job thing, it's not unlike Poker - yes a Donk who plays crap all night will win a pot ocaasionally, and poor recruiters will have some jobs you want. But as a rule, good recruiters, good jobs. You will see a lot of bad jobs along with the occasional good one, if you align with a Donk recruiter

[kiwi]

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i finished my masters in mathematics last spring and spent the last year travelling

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You earned it after completing a masters degree! No stigma against travelling.

FYP

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Couldn't agree more with the concept - suggest (again) that you stop short of lying, (or invest some hours making up travel stories and getting hotties to pose in your backyard pretending it is Europe, for your snapshots). "I took a year off and messed around" should work. Then you won't have the small issue of continuing to lie for the rest of your employment.

[2ndGoat]

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(or invest some hours making up travel stories and getting hotties to pose in your backyard pretending it is Europe, for your snapshots).

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This sounds like a worthy endeavor regardless of whether it's attached to a job search or not.

2nd

[goodgrief]

Wow. What a long post and what a long thread. I can't quite get past the part where you couldn't play more than 24 hours a week. I would be embarrassed to confess that I had such a complete and total lack of discipline such that I couldn't be pothered to work more than 24 hours a week when there were opportunities available around the clock without even the bother of putting my clothes on. Forgive me for being harsh, but do you know what a blackjack player has to go through to get a game? Your post angers me a little because in many ways poker players do have it easy. If you can't make yourself work, you are not right for any self-employment venture, and you need a manager to structure your time. But I sure wouldn't put the poker experience front and center when, bottom line, the problem seems to be that you didn't want to work the hours to make your expected value. Eh, I hate to sound grumpy but...what the hell?

[mayday4379]

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The fact is, most people put gamblers in the same category as prostitutes and drug dealers.

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This might have been true before the poker boom of 2002-2003, but since then, it is much more accepted, especially with the widespread popularity of poker pro's who appear frequently on television.

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I'm not sure I want to be associated with Helmuth, Fossilman, the load Euro trash player, TJ etc.... i'm actually having a hard time thinking of a pro player that I'd want to be associated with...Definitely Lederer, maybe Negranue (sp)

[thirteen]

The subject of background checks game up earlier in this thread. I once worked for a company that processed background checks for various employers including some big name corporations.

The average company runs very basic background checks. So long as you have no significant criminal record or an incredibly bad credit history you'll be fine. I highly doubt poker would show up unless you were arrested for some sort of illegal gambling, had gambling debt or were audited by the IRS.

However, some gov't agencies and some high level positions at certain companies will go beyond basic background checks and hire private investigators to dig further, usually this is reserved for executive positions and such.