The Table: interview coaching
For the conversation you are actually dreading: the record, the gap, the accommodation you need, the first job with no history. Build your answer in your own words, then practice it from your chair and from theirs, because fear sits on both sides of the table.
Built from 21 branching scenarios across five situations, each choice graded against the disclosure and desistance research (Maruna 2001; Pager 2003; Ali, Lyons & Ryan 2017; SHRM 2021; EEOC 2012), and a story builder built on the three-part answer from Invest Hamilton County's re-entry research
Deterministic and device-only: nothing writes your answer for you and nothing you type is sent anywhere. Alex Plus members can choose to send a draft to the coach for one reply, which is not stored. Written at a sixth-grade reading level on purpose.
I'm in recovery
You rebuilt your life. An interview is smaller than that.
Name the fear Steady
The fear says the word recovery will erase everything after it. Here is the ground you actually stand on: if you are in recovery and not currently using, the law protects you, your treatment history is nobody's interview question, and whether you ever say the word is entirely your choice. Both the private answer and the plain answer are strong. The only weak version is the unpracticed one.
- Recovery is protected. Your medical story belongs to you.
- A health matter, handled, is a complete and honest sentence.
- Boring is the goal for your gap answer. Boring means settled.
Build your answer Your answer, your altitude
- The gap sentence: one breath, true, finished
- Disclosure is a choice, not a duty: when the plain version helps and when privacy serves you better (Corrigan et al., 2009)
- Drug screens and prescribed treatment medication: the medical review officer, not the interviewer, is the audience
- Why did you leave: ownership without autopsy
Build your answer, at your altitude
Whether you ever say the word recovery is your choice. This builds an answer for the gap or the change in your history that works either way, private or plain.
Before you start
- Everything you write stays in this browser. Nobody at Invest Hamilton County can see it.
- Every question is optional. Skip anything. Short answers work best.
- Do not write details about an open court case. A lawyer should hear those first.
- On a shared or library computer, use the shared-computer setting just below, and delete your drafts before you leave.
If you, a child or a vulnerable adult is in danger right now, stop here and get help: call or text 988, call 911, or call the Indiana Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-800-5556.
Your drafts on this device
The Table's story builder runs in your browser. What you type here is not sent to Alex's servers. Your work is saved in this browser so you can come back to it.
Your drafts are saved in this browser on this device. They stay here after you close the tab or the browser, until you delete them.
On a shared or library computer: turn on shared-computer mode before you start, and delete your drafts before you leave. Download or print anything you want to keep first.
Name the gap
Why we askA gap in your history makes people curious. A short, true, finished sentence answers the curiosity and ends it.
See an example
“I took about a year away from work to take care of my health, and that is behind me.”
Why we askSome people find that naming recovery helps, especially with an employer who has said they are recovery friendly. Others keep it private. Both are strong (Corrigan et al., 2009). Leave this blank if you want privacy.
See an example
“I am in recovery, and the habits that keep me well are the same ones that make me reliable.”
Show what you did with it
Why we askThis shows what is true now. Routines, classes, volunteering and part-time work all count.
See an example
“For the last eight months I have volunteered three days a week at a food pantry and run the morning sort.”
Turn to what you bring now
Why we askA number makes a strength easy to remember and hard to doubt.
See an example
“I kept a forty-item inventory count accurate every week.”
Why we askThis brings the conversation back to the work, which is where you want it.
See an example
“I am ready for steady full-time work, and this job fits what I do well.”
Your two-sentence version
These are your words in the order that usually works. Edit it until it sounds like you, then say it out loud.
When to use which part
- When they ask about the gap. Give your gap sentence and move straight to what you have been doing. Do not fill the silence with medical detail.
- If you choose to say it plainly. Pick the moment yourself. Many people wait until after an offer, or until they know the employer is recovery friendly.
- About a drug screen or prescribed medication. Treatment medication is a matter for the medical review officer who reads the screen, not for the interviewer. You do not need to bring it up in the interview.
Timing and your rights, as of October 2026
- If you are in recovery and not currently using illegal drugs, the Americans with Disabilities Act protects you. Your treatment history is not an interview question.
- Medication for opioid use disorder that is prescribed to you is treatment. Federal guidance treats it that way, and a drug screen is reviewed by a medical review officer, not by the hiring manager.
- You never owe anyone your medical story. Saying less is a complete answer.
Ways to turn the conversation forward
- “I took time to take care of something important, and I am ready now. What I bring is...”
- “That chapter is finished. Here is what I have been doing since...”
- “I would rather talk about what I can do for you. For example...”
- “The short answer is that I am ready. The longer answer is what I did this year...”
People who can help, free
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, any hour
- Wellness Council of Indiana: Recovery Friendly Workplace employers
- WorkOne: free, judgment-free coaching
Want help shaping it?
Members of Alex Plus ($15 a month) can ask a private AI coach to help smooth this draft, using only what they wrote. Everything above is free and works without it. Sign in or see what Alex Plus includes.
Run the room Practice
Each one is a real moment from the interview. Pick a choice and see how it usually lands, and why. The other person's fear is on every card too, because fear sits on both sides of the table.
Handle the day The room
- Schedule interviews at your strong time of day. You know when that is.
- If a meeting or appointment anchors your week, protect it. Jobs worth having survive a scheduling conversation.
- Bring your last year with you: attendance, certificates, a supervisor who will vouch. Receipts beat reassurance.
- If today is a hard day, the interview can move. Call or text 988 first. You matter more than any meeting.
Land it well The offer, and after
- Recovery-friendly employers exist and are certified in Indiana. The designation is a real signal, look for it.
- Disclosure at work, later, on your terms, to people who earned it, is a different decision than interview disclosure. Take your time.
- Know your number before the money question. Gratitude is not a wage rate.
- Your first 90 days deserve the same structure that got you here: routine, one person you can be honest with, and margin.
Find the humans Your people
This tool points to people. It never replaces them. These are yours, free:
Practicing for a particular job rather than a particular conversation? Get interview-ready drills the questions that role actually gets.
The Table gives general information and coaching support. It is not legal advice and creates no attorney-client relationship. It never screens, assesses or treats anything. For your own situation, including expungement, licensing or what you must disclose in a regulated field, talk to a licensed attorney. Free and low-cost help: Indiana Legal Services, the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, and your local public defender's reentry program. In danger now: 988, 911, or the Indiana Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-800-5556. Facts current as of October 2026.
Talk it through with your Alex coach
A conversation, not a form. Your coach knows Hamilton County's numbers and programs, and it will point you to the right tool for anything it can't answer. It's an AI coach, your chats are private, and they are never used to train anything.
In crisis? Call or text 988, free, 24/7.