Hi all. Long story short I have a big tech company on my resume and I took 2 years off work because of severe mental health issues. I did do some work during these years (short stints) but am listing this gap as having opened up my own freelance business. Im healthy to work fully now but I don't mention my mental health issues because it was a very difficult time in my life and want to stay private about it. Will this come back to bite me in the BG check?

Nope. I did this too (burnt out severely, took a little over a year off, did some casual freelance during that time). Your portfolio and skills are all that matter, and it's not uncommon in tech for folks to take sabbaticals to travel, learn other skills, or just take a break from work. You don't have to say you were taking a mental health break, you can just say you took a sabbatical to work on personal projects. Best of luck, and happy you took the time to recover and rest!

Same here. I took three years off after a major burnout. During that time I freelanced. One of my freelance clients gave me a great LinkedIn review and he verifies my employment during that time for background checks. So it doesn’t look like I took the 3 years off total. I also have a portfolio of work (as suggested above). When anyone asks me about my time off, I tell them how I used that time to freelance, open up a since closed art studio in my hometown, and upskill in different areas. I tell them I took some “me time” to learn new things and reroute my career. It typically opens up a conversation about how we all need to do a better job of taking care of ourselves. Sr Managers and VPs really understand why I took that time off. Heck, everyone I talk to does. Much love to you.

Sabbaticals are extremely common right now. Lean into the fact you wanted to take a break and that you freelanced and learned a lot that way as well. I don’t think anything in particular would come up in your background check around this that would matter