I wouldn't worry about it at all. HR people, like all other, are unpredictable. Some will not care, some will think that it's great, some will hate it.

👆:skin-tone-2:

Just say you were "pursuing side projects", a foolproof answer

This is where I say honesty pays out, if they don't like it, you probably want to know that so you don't get hired somewhere where there is such a great possibility of friction.

I would put it in my CV as a distinct time period, explaining what it was I was doing. This way you’re upfront and as @U0VQ4N5EE says if people object to taking time off you dodge the bullet early :)

In my past, I've taken quite long extended breaks, i.e., months and months and months, to travel the world and see things. When asked I explained that. It hasn't prevented me from finding work after that. There's so much more to life than sitting in front of a computer until you die. I believe most HR/recruiters/companies understand that 🙂 The ones that don't aren't worth your time.

I have never been asked for gaps between jobs on my cv, in most case hr doesn't care

as long as we're not talking 10 years break

US centric data point: I’ve taken two 1-year breaks from work, and no one has ever asked about them when applying for jobs.

"Of course I take breaks - how else would I have made it into Clojure?"

When I review candidate’s resumes, I am not looking for gaps and I am likely to ignore them. However, people put in sabbatical in their resumes from time to time. I wouldn’t consider it an issue if it is only 3-4 mths.

No length of sabbatical should be an issue, unless it's digital taylorism. 😣

I haven't put dates on my CV for a long time now as I don't consider them relevant. So would put a break from work on the CV. If duration is important to someone, the information is on LinkedIn. I include a link to my LinkedIn profile on the CV. I am open about what I do with my time if asked, but unless I did something relevant to the job I am applying for it's not put on the CV. I only use 2 pages for my CV and can't fit everything I have done on there...

I would put it only if the goal of the sabbatical was somehow relevant to the job I am applying for.

But leaving off dates, that's a nice idea, thank you 🙂