Explaining Your Employment Gaps

Employment gaps can make looking for a job more difficult. Traditionally, hiring managers have looked down on employment gaps of more than a few months. However, you can still capture the interest of potential employers by presenting employment gaps in a positive light.

Honesty is the best approach to presenting employment gaps on a resume. Rather than skipping over periods of unemployment and hoping that the hiring manager won't notice, explain what you did during the time when you weren't formally employed. For example, rather than stating that you left one job in January, listing your start date of the next job in October, and saying nothing about the intervening period, ask yourself whether you could honestly label this period of time as "freelancing," "volunteering," "caring for a family member" or "retraining."

By showing the employer that you are able to spend your time productively even when you are not employed full time, you demonstrate self-motivation and an eagerness to learn new skills — both of which are characteristics that most employers seek.

It's important to present information on a resume as concisely as possible, so don't devote too much space to explaining your employment gaps. You can give more detail about the skills you developed during those periods on your cover letter.

If you have a lengthy employment gap on your resume, you can expect to face questions about it during a face-to-face interview. Therefore, it's a good idea to think of something to say about your time off from work in advance. Rather than launching into a rant about the poor state of the job market when the interviewer asks why you spent so long out of work, turn the question around by talking about how you made the most of the opportunity to attend a training course or gain experience through voluntary placements. There's no need to pretend that you wanted to remain out of work for so long, but make it clear to the employer that you weren't prepared to let unemployment hold you back in your professional development.

Whenever you find yourself facing an employment gap, take it as an opportunity to learn something new. For example, if you have always wanted to learn to code but have never had the time, set aside some time from your job hunt each day to work through one of the many online courses that are available. By making the effort to continue your professional development, you can ensure that your resume contains no awkward gaps that could hurt your search for a new position.

Employment gaps are a fact of life in the current economic climate. By presenting them as positively as you can in your resume and cover letter, you can make employment gaps work in your favor when you apply for a new job.

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