Understandably, there are a number of people who worry about how to deal with gaps on their resume. The advice most often given is to change from listing your jobs in chronological order to a resume based on your skills and achievements which is a functional resume style. Then there’s the second most often suggestion of using a hybrid
of both styles. The thing is, savvy employers, Hiring Managers and Recruiters
can spot gaps easily so this doesn’t really alleviate the issue.
I have a couple of options to suggest, and I’ve shared these with enough people over the years that I know they actually work, which is comforting if you’re in the this position and want to try proven methods. Hey, what’s worked for others might work for you. The
thing is, you should use a strategy that you feel confident in and that you can
defend well if questioned. So perhaps one of these might work for you.
Firstly, rethink your apprehension about the gap on your resume. This just doesn’t have the same stigma as it did in years past, although I do acknowledge that when it’s
personal, it’s hard not to feel the issue is a huge one. However, there are
many people who have found themselves out of work for reasons beyond their
control, and the large number of people that this affects means that your situation
in the bigger picture might be less of an issue for an employer than you
perceive it to be.
Consider, companies relocate, they downsize, they move in different directions, shift their resources to other departments, divisions and locations. Not every employee can move with the company and many find themselves out of work. Recently in the news, a large
financial organization cut their global workforce and the CBC reported a lost
of some 2,000+ jobs. You can bet those affected now have gaps beginning on
their collective work histories and yet, they have credible explanations to
offer – in other words, situations beyond their individual control.
Consider too the many other reasons for being out of work such as caring for a family member in an end-of-life circumstance, a spouse job relocation requiring the affected person to resign, move and start looking for skill-based employment.
Yes the reasons for being out of work are many and yet so many job seekers fear an employer is really only thinking one thing; “You’re out of work so you must be problematic; I should therefore be cautious about hiring you, especially when there’s so many other
applicants.”
Here’s another strategy that I’ve shared with some job seekers, and again, it will work best if it indeed fits with your specific circumstance. Acknowledge the gap with confidence and share with the company in both an interview and your cover letter that you could have
quickly filled that gap by taking a meaningless job outside your area of
expertise, but your strong integrity wouldn’t exploit a company who hired you
that way. In other words, you refused to go out and get a job you had no
commitment to and would quit when you did find a job in your field, and while
it would have filled the gap, it would have left an employer going through the
hiring process in short order; an employer who showed confidence in hiring you
which you then betrayed by hiring on with no intention of giving them what you
considered their fair value.
So what did you do? You took the time to; stepped back and evaluated your situation at that point, you assessed your existing skills, decided which ones you most wanted to use moving forward. Then perhaps you took a course, completed some training, upgraded your
education, improved your physical fitness, devoted time and focus to repairing
an estranged relationship with a family member, (which is now resolved and
allows you to focus 100% on employment), Perhaps you even enlisted professional
help from an Employment Coach / Counsellor in order to ensure your career path
was truly on tract and now you’re re-energized, you’re focused, you’re authentically
ready to go.
And all the previous paragraph is really about another strategy in dealing with the employment gap. You see, it’s not so much the gap itself but rather, WERE YOU PRODUCTIVE DURING THAT TIME?
So, imagine the scenario where two employees are laid off simultaneously and one putters around the apartment and stagnates. The other takes a few courses – and courses online often can be found at no charge by the way. They also get their First Aid/CPR completed and complete a few projects that have been weighing on their mind and distracting them from focusing 100% on their job. Both are before the employer in the interview stage and while both
are blameless for being unemployed unexpectedly, one has little to say about
how they spent their time and the other has better positioned themselves to
compete. All things being equal…
So my job advice is that IF you find yourself unemployed
now, evaluate what you’re doing to add value to your marketability with respect
to your field and those you’ll compete with. Look at job postings that you can
realistically compete for and see what employers want that you lack.
Investigate the cost of money and time to obtain the courses, training etc.
that they want and take the steps to sign up. You’ll feel better because you’re
accomplishing something and this will aid your mental health too.
The other benefit of being unemployed which may not have occurred
to you is that many people with jobs are unhappy and unfulfilled, and what they
feel envious of are the people who have the TIME to revaluate what they want to
do and sort things out. If you’re the one between jobs now, take advantage of
this time by doing some self-assessment of your interests, skills, abilities
and you may just find that a change of career direction appeals to you for your
next role. If so, you’ll find yourself pursuing something that really interests
you and therefore your level of enthusiasm will improve, you’ll be in a better
state of mind and you might find that smile back that’s been missing.
Employment Counselling with Kelly Mitchell 