Some people choose a career at a young age and work until retirement with minimal job changes. Other people make changes throughout their lives, depending on their family life, personal goals, and sometimes emergencies. Any time you stay out of the workforce, you create an employment gap on your resume. Some of these may continue a few weeks while changing jobs, while others may last for several months. You can arrange your resume to take attention away from these gaps and highlight your positive attributes.
Check the Dates
If your resume has specific dates listed for each job, you can adjust them to hide a gap. Instead of listing the month and day, simply use the year. This can keep a recruiter from seeing small gaps. For example, if you worked at one job for several months out of 2017, don’t disclose the month this employment ended. If you left a job in October 2017 and started a new job in February 2018, you can hide the four-month gap by using only the year when listing these jobs.
Get Creative
If you decide to stay home and care for children or elderly family members, use the experience to your advantage. List this time away from the corporate world as an occupation with a complete job description. You may also take classes or do volunteer work during your time away from the office. List all of these accomplishments on your resume. If you care for children you can give yourself a creative title and list skills you use daily. Taking care of a home requires a lot of organization, multi-tasking, and budgeting. Many employers appreciate these attributes.
Focus on Other Attributes
Look over your job experience and see if you can elaborate on any of it. Make sure you have enough skills listed to show the full scope of your abilities. You can look through resume examples online to find the best format for your new resume. Look for a format that allows you to place your skills and achievements first, followed by your job history.
If you have a planned gap, such as family care or education, take on some volunteer work or personal projects during the gap. You can put volunteering projects on your resume to show interest, skill set, and humanity. If you start an online project, such as a blog or small business, list it as a job during the office gap. You can also list new skills acquired while working on these projects, as well.
Prepare for the Interview: Keep it Simple
You do not need to put a lengthy explanation of your employment gap on your resume.
Some people need to leave work for a while to deal with illness or family changes. A long explanation of these situations can bring more attention than you want. You can leave the gap on the resume, and prepare to answer questions during the interview if they arise. Prepare to answer questions honestly, yet simply and quickly. If you can, lead the conversation back to your qualifications for the job.
Some people plan to take a break from working, while others must take time off for personal reasons. With a planned gap, you can participate in some new experiences and complete projects during the time away from a traditional job. If you have an unplanned gap, keep your explanation simple during your interviews. Organize your resume to highlight your skills with minimal focus on the gap.
