How DARE Tolkien omit in the final draft the information that the traditional hobbit marriage custom is to have unspoken vibes for years and then disappear without explanation for an indeterminate length of time!?
[ID: a photo of a partial book page labeled across the top “First Version”, “A Long-Expected Party”, and “17”. The text starts midsentence and reads “curious habit in their weddings. They kept it (always officially and very often actually) a dead secret for years who they were going to marry, even when they knew. They they suddenly went and got married and went off without an address for a week or two (or even longer). When Bilbo disappeared this is what at first his neighbors thought. ‘He has gone and got married. Now who can it be? - no one else has disappeared, as far as we know.‘ Even after a year they would have been less surprised if he had come back with a wife.“ /end ID]
Okay but… Sam, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin all randomly deuces out the same night… can you imagine the Shire gossip???
Here is my opinion as a recruiter (of course recruiting is highly subjective and everyone has their own biases in hiring)
1. If its your first job after a gap, don’t say its a health reason. They will probably not ask more but they’ll probably mentally downgrade you because ‘Are they really okay to come back to work?’ If it’s further back, it’ll be less of an issue. This goes triple for any job that is physical.
2. Depending on hiring person, I find 'I was caring for a family member full time’ to be a good reason for a gap that I won’t question.
3. If you have the opportunity while in a gap, get a certification or degree. Then you can use that as a reason for your gap and it could potentially turn the view of that gap from negative to positive.
4. If you have a “good” reason, most people understand. I speak to people daily who were a Covid layoff and we don’t count this gap against them. I also sometimes talk to people who have to explain gaps around 2008 with “Well that was during the financial crisis” and I go say no more I understand.
4. If you don’t have a “good” reason, pretend you do. Don’t lie but make it sound like the gap was a thing you chose. “I had the opportunity after leaving my last job to take a few months before looking for work again.” “I was able to work on building my home business (Ebay, etsy, etc), but now I’m looking for something more stable.”
These are all really great and very helpful, thanks for sharing!!!
I am Silver Tongue, I am an artist. I have many characters and you can check out my art in the art tag. I occasionally practice witchcraft though I don't do anything too complicated. I am girl 2 and don't know what else to put here.
