Exactly this. And a potential employer has an issue with the "gap" in the resume - RUN FOR THE HILLS (or if you need job immediately take it and continue interviewing and leave as soon as another opportunity present itself).
About a year ago we had an open position and hired SPECIFICALLY a person who took some time off after COVID. She was like "it was insanely stressful time and I need some time to regroup" and everyone who interviewed her was like "perfect, just perfect"!
I can vouch for this advice. I had an encounter with a bad employer and a 6 month period without a job. I ended up taking a position somewhere that treated me like a freak for it and tried to use it to weaken negotiation. Additionally, they took issue to me not having many multi-year roles. Normally, I'd not tolerate that, but sometimes you just need health insurance (thanks, USA).
That place ended up being a terrible place to work for a number of reasons. I eventually found a much better team who didn't question any of that. It was an entirely freeing experience. It truthfully would have been a liability to stay there any longer as the leadership and technical skills were not there. I left alongside many other people and haven't looked back.
Gaps should not be an issue. But it’s still good to have a ready talking point around a gap if asked about it in an interview. If you are perceived as being evasive about an employment gap, it’s not unreasonable for an interviewer to draw a negative inference about that. At that point it’s not your potential employer with the problem regarding the gap…it’s you.
Just about anything can be spun to a positive or at least neutral light.
About a year ago we had an open position and hired SPECIFICALLY a person who took some time off after COVID. She was like "it was insanely stressful time and I need some time to regroup" and everyone who interviewed her was like "perfect, just perfect"!