Proving that you are not working.
 

Not sure where to put this, but thought I would share the experience anyway.

My wife and I have on 2 occassions quite our jobs and traveled for more than 12 months. One thing we found hard when we got back and looking for work was to have proof to show we were actually travelling. We both work in financial industry in London and the screening processes for most big firms is very strict. We had to have proof for every 6 week gaps in our Cv that we were travelling. Luckily we could do most of this with passport stamps, but we had times where we were in a place for longer than that. For those, we had proof via credit card statements.

So, this is really just bit of info to keep in mind if you intend to work again after a long period of travelling. Try and have some sort of record somewhere to have proof where you were and what you were doing.

why do you need to do this in the financial industry?

I used to work in insurance in IT and am intrigued!

what if you take a career break for children and work part time!

We accept bank account records to show there were no job-related deposits. Tax returns are acceptable, as well.

Per our HR, those applicants who provide a 2nd or savings account to avoid showing their true financial status are not considered for hiring.

Hope this helps.

Not entirely sure exactly what they're checking for. I suppose they want to see you weren't locked up maybe, or maybe you got fired from a job and try to hide it by not including it on your cv.

If you were working part time, then you will most likely have if on your cv, right?
They also do extensive criminal checks. We've worked in the UK, Australia and South Africa, and they've check to see if we have criminal records in any of those countries too.

I came home with a large sum from the sale of a house overseas and the finance industry didn't want to let me bank it, in case I laundered it.

Turns out I'm not the crook and that bank almost went bust - more checks needed I say, especially at the top !

No problem with this if you work in engineering in the UK, they are just glad that somebody has applied for their vacancy. I have a couple of longer periods of travel on my cv but stretch the two ends together to hide shorter ones, nobody checks or cares.

I have been in the same situation, twice.

First time, back from one year round south America, in 2008, I had to show bank statements and all pages of my passport. Thats was enough...

Second time, back from Brazil in 2012, (not working for 15 months) it was much harder, as I had to prove I was either working, studying or on maternity leave. I did none of that! The company in charge of the background checks was a nightmare to deal with.

In the end I sent them :

All passport pages;
All bank statements in the UK and Brazil for over 1 year;
all utility bills in Brazil;
My husband's offshore Brazil contract and T&Cs ....

They were still making my life a nigfhtmare and not clearing me off as I started to work... considering I came back to the same financial company I was with, when I left 15 months before.....

Anyhow, with complaints to that company from my boss (who recruited me back !) I managed to get clearance, but it was an absolute 2 months nightmare....

What are they scared of? that you were homeless or in rehab for a full year?

I dont get it.