Explaining a Resume Gap

It happens -- a gap on your resume.

Resume gaps could be due to many reasons:

• Caring for a family member
• A relocation
• An involuntary termination
• A job that was a poor fit that you had to get away from
• A career detour you took to explore a new avenue
• A business slowdown or merger that led to a layoff

It can be confusing to know how to represent this on your resume. Should you be honest? Pretend it didn't happen? Use the resume to explain what happened and defend the big, scary gap in time?

To warm us up, here's a little resume gap humor:

As a person who has 3 glaring gaps in his resume, and as a hiring and HR professional, here are my tips for explaining resume gaps.

1. BE HONEST

Don't give in to the temptation to ignore the gap or pretend it didn't happen. You might think it's best to fudge dates or fill in the gap with a made-up job. DO NOT DO THIS.

Lying is not worth losing your integrity. And you could get caught.

2. INCLUDE WORK PERFORMED

If you took a break to help a family member, or explore your writing career, then you WERE working. Just indicate on your resume what you were doing, just as you would put a job on your resume -- with start and end dates, locations, etc.

Add a line or a bullet saying what you were doing but keep it brief. There's no need to go into flowery detail especially if the work wasn't related to your career path.

3. DEAL WITH A TERMINATION

If you were terminated from a job and it creates a gap on your resume, this is something you can address if and when it comes up in your job interviews. There is no benefit to adding this on your resume, but there is no benefit to dodging the topic when it comes up, either.

Just put the actual dates you left and started jobs and have an answer ready about why you left the job. Some tips:

• Say you were terminated if asked why you left
• Don't be overly specific unless asked
• Realize that some jobs just aren't a fit for everyone
• Acknowledge any mistakes you made and what you've learned
• What you learned from the experience

4. TIE IT BACK TO YOUR VALUES

Everything on your resume can tie back to your values and this is especially true for gaps:

• Maybe you left that one job because you wanted to grow.
• Maybe you were fired because your high energy was a poor match at a job where they needed high stability.
• Maybe you took a career detour because you had a passion to create that wasn't being met.
• Perhaps your value of duty and loyalty led you to take a break from working to care for a family member.
• If you left for health reasons, anyone can identify with the need to put your health first.

All of these examples speak volumes about your values. Changing jobs, quitting, pursuing something new -- all of these are hard choices which you do not make unless they are motivated by profound values.

These values are not "bugs" in the software -- they are a feature of you! Believe me, lots of employers would love someone growth oriented, energetic, creative, and loyal (referring to the examples above).

Your values are not "bugs" in the software -- they are a feature of you!

When you are explaining your work history, tie back all of your career path changes and major life choices to your values so the interviewer can see WHY you made the decisions. Then tie those values to the job you're interviewing for, if possible.

5. SAY WHAT YOU LEARNED

Every event in life has lessons for us. And resume gaps are major events with major lessons for us. Some possibilities:

• You learned what you DON'T want in a job
• You learned what really drives your career passion
• You learned a lesson about how to evaluate a job before accepting
• You learned how to relate better to your boss
• You learned gained some skills during your gap
• You have regrets about the gap that were enlightening

Conclusion

The fact is that you are amazing, the things that you do are amazing, and gaps that happen in your résumé are normal and happen to everyone. People without gaps on their résumés are the exception and I would also say that someone that judges you unfairly based on gaps in your résumé is probably not someone you want to work for.