How do I reenter the job market after dealing with bipolar?

I also have a mental illness (a panic disorder) which affects my ability to work a "normal" schedule. I asked a couple therapists and a job counselor about what to say to my work. They gave me this advice: 1) Do not bring it up in an interview (the interviewer wants to know about your best qualities and how you can bring them to your job and not your mental illness). Even though you have rights as a person with a mental disability (key word: disability), there is a lot of stigma towards mental illness and the interviewer's bias may prevent you from getting a job. 2) Once hired, you can meet with your boss and explain to them your special needs. They will often file it in Human Resources, which can be referenced to in the future if you are having problems with attending work. I was advised by my counselors to wait until a time in which my disability interfered with my ability to work. So, if you have to miss work due to your mental illness, explain to your boss the reason why you are leaving is due to your mental disability. If you tell them your absence is due to your mental illness it is unlikely they will attribute your absences to irresponsibility, which may help with them giving you a good reference if needs be in the future. Also, don't just stop going to work without telling them why. If you explain that you have to leave due to your inability to cope with your work life and your health, they are less likely to give you a poor reference. 3) it is illegal to be fired from a job due to a disability, being fired would be discrimination, and you have legal recourse to fight it. Although it can be awkward or embarrassing to talk to your employer about your mental disability you must remember not to be afraid to stand up for yourself. You have rights as a person with a disability. From my own personal experience, I have never been stigmatized by co-workers or bosses that I have told about my mental illness. And I have worked in two different offices. People have actually been very caring and supportive of me. That's not to say that I haven't been discriminated against before by other people. I do know that people with mental illness are treated poorly (often disability groups do not even include mental illness as a disability), but I see slow changes to this with more mentally disabled people being transparent about their disorders and standing up for ourselves. I think Marty Marx's advice is great. I have done a lot of volunteer work, which makes my resume look outstanding, and volunteer organizations have been very understanding/lenient with my absences. They are often very happy just that you are helping them out with their workloads for free. So, if you need to vamp up your resume with awesome references, I think you should definitely follow MM's advice.

I would not tell any potential employer that you are bipolar. I know you want to work, but you might not be able to work steadily. That's what happened to me. I was in my early 20s and kept getting jobs and losing them (quitting or being fired) due to severe bipolar depression. I could have kept with the cycle, but instead I applied for SSDI. I don't know where you're located, but if you're in the US then you can apply for SSDI if the disability is expected to last more than a year (and bipolar will). Once on SSDI, it will be easier to qualify for state vocational rehabilitation personnel who are trained to help disabled people get back to work. One of the most common challenges they work with is spotty work history. Social Security also offers the Ticket to Work, which will pay for education or hook you up with employers who receive tax breaks to hire disabled people. Now, if your doctors think you can work, you could try a http://www.employmentspot.com/employment-articles/how-to-address-gaps-in-your-employment-history/. You could highlight what you can do and make sure you have a stellar cover letter for each company, showing that you would be a good fit. I hired someone to help me write a resume in spite of my work history and that worked...until I had to quit due to depression and anxiety. That's why I would recommend being sure you can work with a doctor and therapist on your side. I know you need income. It was very stressful on my family too, all those months with no income. 7 months while I waited on Social Security (but then I got a huge check for that).

Leave it out. Mentioning it will send your resume straight to the circular file. For what it's worth, I'm not bi-polar, and have managed to crater quite a few jobs over the years. Probably related to anxiety, but everyone's got issues. If it wasn't that, it would be something else. I've dealt with it by becoming a professional temp. When people ask me why I tell them, "I like the variety." When you can't talk about your resume convincingly, having an agent to represent you can be a Godsend. Some temp companies are even starting to offer health insurance. But you do need to maintain a basic level of responsibility to keep even a career as a short-term temp (ie try to finish the assignment before going AWOL; give heads up to your agent before prematurely terminating an assignment; impress the Hell out of them when you're able, and finish things in a way that don't leave them with a bad report on you).

Time off for treatment and recovery, also a modified schedule, can be a reasonable accommodation to a disability such as bipolar disorder. In the future, if you need time off due to your disability, it is important to communicate with your employer rather than to go MIA. Sometimes the employer's knowledge of the employee's need for an accommodation for a disability will be implied, but to guarantee the legal right to an accommodation such as time the employee should communicate explicitly with the employer about the disability and need for time off or other accommodation.

For what it's worth, I'm not bi-polar, and have managed to crater quite a few jobs over the years. Me too, due to a combination of depression/anxiety and, I'm now finding out, undiagnosed ADD. I didn't start to get my shit together until after I'd turned 30 and had a 10 + year history of job-hopping and squandered opportunities. I dropped out of college twice. I'm 36 now and I have an associate's degree and a decent, professional job with health insurance and a pension. I am not super successful by most standards but for me it is the best I've ever been. I am stable and able to take care of myself independently. The point is that it's never too late. Just accentuate the positive about your experience when you can, and remember that you never have to volunteer any information. Do not mention your mental health issues at all, both before and after getting a job, because you never know how someone may take it and also because you don't want to fall into the trap of over-identifying with your illness. You may also, like I had to, need to learn to re-define your definition of success. Don't get discouraged if you struggle to find a job, and beat yourself up about your history. The job you are able to get, at first, may not be such a great job, but even baby steps are steps forward. Take it one day at a time, stay on your medication and follow-up with therapy if possible, and you will be fine.

You need to submit yourself with psychologist or psychiatrist to ask for advice. It is nice that you are having a thought to be financially stable through acquiring a job. However, you need to have and organize mindset and be prepared to face the real world. If you were able to correct that mentality that you have right now, you will definitely a lasting work already. All you need to do is to be open minded and be optimistic in approaching experts' assistance. That would be for your bright future as well.

Wait, I'm guessing "starting anew" just means not mentioning part of your job history, but I'm not sure... I mean, you're not talking about creating a new identity for yourself? Just want to get this straight.

First of all I think you are far too young have really wrecked anything. In other words, you're still young enough that a little deviation from a clear career (academic or otherwise) path is not seen as a problem at all (indeed, it's the norm), and so I would recommend strongly that you not share the news with the world (i.e. with potential employers, academic advisors, etc) that you have been diagnosed as bipolar. Employers tend not to "do" mental illness well, and since it's quite easy for you, when asked, to chalk up your current situation to youthful indiscretion, etc., I would take the path of least resistance here: there's no reason to alarm potential employers, etc., with this kind of thing.

To paraphrase Richard Feynman(and he was quoting someone else): You're not responsible for what people expect from you; they're the ones that came up with the expectations. In other words, if a company hires you over a bunch of other people who presumably(probably!) omitted their own bad stuff from their resumes, then why question whether you deserved to be hired? The company chose the best it could. Though I do see what you're asking: "is it too Machiavellian to leave it out?" Ehh, I don't think so.