Managing Employment Gaps In Your Resume

For many job seekers, the question of what to do about gaps in employment history weighs heavy when creating an effective resume. It is not good practice to ignore or hide such gaps, but neither is it good practice to allow gaps to take on a greater importance than they may deserve. To deal with situations such as this, the best strategy is to use a resume format that allows you to highlight your skills and attributes without emphasizing employment gaps.

The functional or combination resume

Most resume writing professionals recommend using a functional or combination resume format if you have gaps in your work history. The benefit of these two formats is that they allow you to emphasize your accomplishments as well as the skills and attributes that made those accomplishments happen. This is done through the use of accomplishment statements.

The only difference between a functional resume and a combination resume is that a combination format uses both accomplishment statements as well as some chronological information about previous jobs, while a functional format uses just the accomplishment statements. Regardless of which format you choose, the first step is to formulate your accomplishment statements

Make a list

Make a list of your accomplishments and achievements. These things do not have to be exceptionally important or monumental, but they do need to illustrate a relevant skill or attribute and be truthful. For each accomplishment on your list, make a note of the action you took and the result that was generated. The result is particularly important because it demonstrates to the reader that there is depth to your abilities and that you can demonstrate the effects of your actions in measurable and quantifiable terms.

Once you have written your accomplishment statements, group them into categories based on the skills they demonstrate. For example, you might have categories such as the following:

• Leadership
• Communication
• Management and supervision
• Project management
• Product development
• Sales and marketing

These are just a few of the possible categories you might use. Tailor your categories to fit your career field and your specific qualifications.

During the interview

A well-written resume in a functional or combination format is very likely to get you into the interview phase for jobs that match your skills and attributes. This is the point at which you must be prepared to address and explain any gaps in your work history.

The best strategy is to be honest. When a potential employer asks about an employment gap (and they will indeed ask) offer an explanation that is clear, concise, and forthright. If the gap is due to circumstances such as going back to school, raising a family, relocation, downsizing, or a similar situation you can simply state the reason and move on to emphasize the skills and attributes you possess that are not dependent on a continuous work history.

If, however, the reason for the gap is potentially more troubling to an employer (you were fired, you quit due to a personality conflict, etc.) you should still be honest but pay close attention to how you describe the situation. Do not allow yourself to use language or tone of voice that is blaming, negative, bitter, or sounds like a victim. Any skilled interviewer will try to draw you into such an exchange just to test and probe for information, but if you stick to factual information and non-judgemental conversation, you are likely to move quickly past this potential trouble spot.

 

 

 

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