Explaining Career Gaps on Your Resume

Your resume is meant to give a potential employer a quick glimpse of your life. You have spent the time perfecting your resume in hopes you will get chosen out of the sea of resumes being reviewed. But, you forgot one key element – a gap in your work history.

A career gap on your resume can cause a potential employer to pass you over for someone with less skills, therefore, it is important that you explain any gaps on your resume. You can explain gaps on your resume in two ways – mentioning in your cover letter and removing the gaps from your resume.

Your best course of action is to include a narrative on your resume explaining the gap. For example, if you took two years off between jobs to raise your family, list household manager as your job title during that time and then list your duties. Here are some tips to keep in mind about filling in the gaps:

Do not leave any gaps on your resume which are more than 30 days. Most hiring managers will overlook a month between jobs.
Keep your fill-in information brief, but be sure you show how you kept your skills up-to-date and active. For example, list any classes taken, freelance work done, reading completed, or additional skills attained during the time off.
Mention any volunteer work done during your gap. This shows that you stayed active, as well as, helped the community.
Be honest about what you did during the gap. If you had the gap due to medical reasons, state that. If you took three months off to travel, share where you went. The key is to be honest about the time away, so the hiring manager does not jump to conclusions about what you did during that time.

The hiring manager or recruiter will have less concerns about your career gap if you show it was productive, added to your skills, or was meaningful in some other way. Then, they are able to concentrate on your skills and talents.

Review your resume today. If you have any career gaps, fill them in with information about what you did during that time, then explain in more detail about your gap during the interview process. Leaving the gap may cost you the job of your dreams.