Question: I took time off after the Navy to travel and then care for my mother who’d just had surgery. How do I explain that on my resume?
Answer: Today, the thinking around resume gaps is evolving. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems employers are becoming more tolerant and understanding of how frequently life can get in the way of our careers. The pandemic led to financially driven reductions in workforce by companies, career shifts by employees toward more meaningful work and staggering unemployment.
Authors of a Harvard Business Review research article cite various trends about changing sentiment around resume gaps. They point out the aftereffects of the pandemic, skills-based hiring demands and the growth of the Generation Z workforce, who often prioritize life-work balance, which can lead to periodic gaps in their professional lives.
“To understand how much attitudes have changed in recent years, we polled more than 400 managers on LinkedIn in the fall of 2023. Their responses provide some additional reasons to be skeptical of a major sea change: 61% of respondents still considered resume gaps to be a negative sign. Break down the rationale for this, reliability was the top concern (29%), followed by motivation (27%), retention risk (25%), and skill atrophy (19%).”
Employers are not completely forgiving of a resume gap, but with some clear, solid and confident explanation, they seem to be more understanding.
Here are some tips to explain a gap in your resume:
1. Always be prepared (in advance) to explain a gap in your resume.
It is completely reasonable to expect an interviewer will want to know what led to the gap, what you did during the time off and what you learned.
If you took time off to travel, grow your skills, advance your education or otherwise build your competency for your career, list some of the ways you did so. Even a three-month backpacking trip through Europe can be explained as learning about other cultures, exploring the food and history of cities, and bringing a finer appreciation for diversity back to your career. If you used the time to complete your degree, achieve credentials or take an unpaid internship, list them and explain how they’ll help you better understand your new career field.
2. If your gap has to do with a personal or sensitive matter, be prepared to address that.
You only need to share these sensitivities at your level of comfort and what’s appropriate for the interviewer to ask. For example, if you participated in a rehabilitation program for 12 months for substance abuse, you can decide whether to share the details or to simply state that you took the time to prioritize your physical and mental health after multiple deployments. Doing so required a full commitment to your healing, empowering you to reenter your career.
As you navigate this question, consider what other things you also did. Did you volunteer somewhere? Read books or take online courses? Did you network to keep your connections viable?
3. If your gap was because of family responsibilities, such as being a stay-at-home parent while your children were young, say that.
Be upfront and express that you were fortunate to be able to prioritize the needs of your growing family at the time and then list off any other things you did. Did you belong to any local or civic groups? Did you read any professional books or take online courses? Even if you only had time to watch TED Talks, and did so regularly, state that. It’s helpful for an employer to know you continued to stay aware of what was happening in your chosen field.
4. If your gap was because you struggled to find work, this is the trickiest.
Employers want to feel you are excited about the potential of working for them, not desperate. Refrain from communicating anger, frustration, desperation or despondency as you explain your resume gap.
Instead, explain any conditions that may have led to your struggle. Did an employer close, leaving many workers stranded? Did the needs for your job become scarcer, leading to less opportunity? Explain what you’ve done to upskill your abilities, increase your relevancy and viability in the area or industry and keep sharp on your knowledge.
Today, it is not unusual for someone to have a gap in a resume because of life, health or work challenges. Instead of being caught off guard with the question about a resume gap, plan ahead for how you’ll address it and do so as needed.
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