Hi chapo, How the fuck do you find work when you have major gaps in your resume?

Short story: I went through a long fucked up period dealing with addiction and mental health issues. I'm fairly okay now mentally/psychically. But I'm having a real hard time finding work. Last time I had a "real" job was over five years ago, also around the time I graduated college. But I have nothing to put on my resume since then. I have zero networking connects, no one to put as a reference.

I need a job real bad but I don't know what to do. With no experience and no connects I feel like no one wants to hire me, but I can't fulfill those requirements without finding work that I can't get. I fucking hate it.

I'm also dogshit at doing interviews and I don't know how to explain long work absences without freaking out employers. What can I do?

P.S. I don't wanna say where I live for privacy reasons but I do not live in America.

    • spinachupper [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Slightly paranoid question, but they never ask for any recent pay stubs to prove you're still working at the company you actually quit from years ago?

      • shitstorm [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Even better than that, you can say "My current employer doesn't know I am looking for other jobs and won't look kindly at it. Please do not contact them."

      • half_giraffe [comrade/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I only had to provide a pay stub after my company couldn't get into contact with my previous employer. But on the form for the background check it literally had an option for "do not contact this employer" so if I had any foresight that that would be a headache I would have just ticked that box.