29/03/2022
What is the best way to explain an employment gap on your resume and during a job interview? While it depends on your specific situation, here are some ways that can highlight your skills and make your employment gap less obvious on your resume.
- **Dont’ Lie:** Acknowledging and explaining a gap won’t harm your chances of employment. Lying about a gap will. So avoid lying about your career gap at all costs.
- **Use Years. Not Months:** Stating the years of your employment as opposed to years is perfectly acceptable. If you do have significant gap years in your career, it would make sense for you to opt other places to explain this gap and not in the middle of your resume.
- **Opt for a functional format:** Highlight your skills set in your resume, followed by the date of the year wise experience. This will allow recruiting manager to appreciate the skills you have to offer for the role.
- **Don’t forget to mention skills picked during the gap:** Mention any volunteer work, classes, or even conferences you attended during your employment gap. If you did not do any of the above, you probably picked up a new soft skill like communication or problem solving. Remember to *show* and not *tell* by showing concrete examples in your resume.
- **Bonus Point Focus on the positive of your gaps:** Rephrase ****‘I couldn’t find a job’ to ‘I decided to take a few months out to refocus my career and pursue a position within my desired industry’ this will position your gap as deliberate and not desperate.