How to Handle an Employment Gap

May 17, 2012 RSS Feed Print

Lindsay Olson

Many of us have had periods in our work history when we were not employed. That might be due to going back to school, raising children, illness or job loss. While it might not seem like an issue from the job-seeker's perspective, it can send up red flags to employers. Gaps in your employment history without explanation make potential employers question those periods before having the chance to meet you.

Here's how to handle an employment lapse:

Avoid Gaps Altogether. If you aren't in a paid position, you can certainly find creative ways to fill that time and make it more appealing to future employers. For example, an internship or volunteer work can both help boost your resume; learning new skills can as well.

"Show how you put your time to good use," says Patrick Sweeney, president of the management consulting firm Caliper. "Examples could be learning more about your industry, networking with others, taking a course, a volunteer role, working closely with your friends or family on a project together or any number of things—no one is absolutely static when they are unemployed. Show that you filled that time with purpose."

If adding skills acquired during an employment gap doesn't fit into your resume, give a brief explanation of the period and what you did in your cover letter. Only discuss recent employment gaps (those in the last three to five years); nothing older. You can always go into detail in your interview if you're asked about it.

And once you explain the gap in your cover letter, let it be. Many job-seekers obsess about how the gap might appear to hiring managers, but you shouldn't bring it up unless they do. "Think of it like this, if you received a bad haircut, you may be self-conscious of it," Sweeney says. "But you don't want to walk into the interview and start talking about it...Communicate with enthusiasm and show that you've done your homework. That you know about their company and their business."

Keep Up to Speed. If you've been out of the market for awhile, a potential employer might be concerned that you lack technical skills and an understanding of current industry trends. You can remedy this with a little do-it-yourself work: Read industry blogs and publications so you can intelligently have a conversation about what's going on in your profession. Take continuing education classes or seminars that bring you up to speed on things like social media and new industry applications so you can compete with the current workforce.

By showing that you are proactive in learning skills, you demonstrate to potential employers that you're dedicated to your professional development. That can put you in a more favorable light than a job candidate who has done only the bare minimum, even if he has a more consistent job history.

Don't let an employment gap become an excuse for why you didn't get the job you really wanted. Proactively work to continue your career development while you're unemployed, so you stay sharp for potential employers. "A gap is like a missing chapter in a book," Sweeney says. "Left unaddressed it becomes a concern. Your resume is your brand, your advertisement to be hired. And it is an opportunity to differentiate yourself from other similarly experienced candidates."

Lindsay Olson is a founding partner and public relations recruiter with Paradigm Staffing and Hoojobs.com, a niche job board for public relations, communications, and social media jobs. She blogs at LindsayOlson.com, where she discusses recruiting and job search issues.

Tags:: careers,; unemployment,; resumes

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There should be no 'RED FLAGS" IF YOU WERE A DISPLACED HOMELESS VET LIKE MYSELF, I HAVE PLENTY OF SKILLS FOR ANY EMPLOYER TO HIRE ME, THAT'S JUST AN EXCUSE TO HIRE SOMEONE YOUNGER, BUT I can run circles around these younger kids. The other day, I went in to Subway to apply, and noticed that all the employees were good looking females. Now talk about discrimination here in Douglas County. I know I could do their job, but just because they are attractive females, that is supposed to "attract more sandwiches being sold. That is just bull.

Kevin Snodgrass of OR 6:27PM June 04, 2012

Interesting.
I recently had cause to start work on my portfolio (in Finland, this is what many academic hirers are wanting to see). I've spent ages being totally disregarded by the state and town statutory offices, whose responsibility it is to support me (as a foreigner with a disability) getting into work. This they seem either unwilling to do or totally unable to do. I am thinking that the first is true. Why?
In the time that has passed since I graduated with a M. Ed. degree that specialises in my area of disability, I have done internships that did not pay - totalling 26 months - purely because I'd rather work for practically nothing than to sit on my backside and stagnate. Eventually, after just over a couple of years, I got into a serious depression. Why was that? Answer: all that work with no appreciable improvement in income.
How does this work?
Depression is, in part, mediated by the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is thought to be linked to pleasure or reward but this is wrong: it is associated with the _anticipation_ of reward. So, once the association is set up, the anticipation of reward goes up and the dopamine level goes up. If, however, it becomes clear that there is no reward coming, the dopamine levels do not spike as they do if there's a chance of reward. This works on a Yerkes-Dodson law, an inverted-U shaped curve. The extremes of this curve above the x-axis represent the probability of a reward for one's work, and the local maximum in the y-axis represents the related levels of dopamine in the nerve synapses (as measured by the metabolite levels in cerebrospinal fluid). 50% probability of reward leads to the local maximum dopamine level, and both 100% and 0% probability lead to a zero-level surge in dopamine.
This should go some way to explaining why chronic unemployment leads to depression (at least in those who wish to work and to earn a decent salary). It also demonstrates why any government scheme that is used to excess (like this internships I was one) will also lead to the same in people who still would rather work and be paid for that work.
With this portfolio, it turns out that I am in a position to point the finger at the statutory authorities now, and tell them that - whilst I have been working hard to get myself into work - they have been sitting on their backsides doing nothing. In fact ... the local job centre managed to actually prevent me from getting a job. But that is another story.
Part of the reason why I mention this lot is that it is very useful indeed to look at what you have been doing whilst not officially employed. Another part of the reason for posting this is this:
You may have read that Finland is almost perfect.
It is not.
Attitudes amongst employers to foreign and/or disabled applicants are terrible.
If you are disabled, and thinking that Finland would be a good place to move to, don't do it! 14 yrs experience here tells me that you have no chance.

Nick 12:12AM May 23, 2012