Why you can be honest about the gap in your resume

So Salemi, now a career expert for Monster, added a line to her resume to show that the one-month gap was there for good reason. She didn’t want anyone to wonder what she’d done—or to question and risk derailing her momentum in an interview she’d otherwise crush.

“I didn’t want to be asked about it because I was knee-deep in pain,” she said.

Salemi isn’t the only one with a resume where the end of one job doesn’t line up perfectly with the start of another. Between layoffs, furloughs, and the economic and social quagmire of the pandemic, many workers have gaps in their official work history. But that doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker when it comes to finding another role.

The pandemic has created holes in work

The trick to dealing with resume gaps is to have an explanation, career experts told BI. Sometimes it’s best to put the reason on the resume itself, Salemi said. A bright spot for her after her father died was that she finally got the job.

“I remember when I had that phone interview with my future boss, she said, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,'” Salemi said. “She just addressed it, acknowledged it and then moved on.”

Julia Toothacre, chief career strategist at ResumeTemplates.com, told BI that her advice on resume gaps is much different than what she would have given a decade ago. Breaks in work experience are often just a thing now and don’t necessarily need to be glossed over.

That’s because the pandemic has put so many people out of work and disrupted the workforce so much that it’s gotten a little messy. In her experience, Toothacre said, most recruiters are more understanding of the vagaries of the job market now.

“Any recruiter or hiring manager worth their salt understands what’s going on in the world of work. It doesn’t matter what sector you’re in,” she said.

It’s okay to say you were fired

Toothacre said that unlike in the past, it’s generally not as damaging to be direct about a job drought on a resume. That’s not to say that some people in charge of hiring won’t be looking for applicants for it. But she said that in itself can be a helpful red flag for job seekers.

“If it’s a situation you’re in, you don’t want to work for that person anyway,” Toothacre said.

She recommends that if you’ve been laid off, you should note that on your resume. Or, she said, you could add a section that talks about being away from work for personal reasons, such as having to take care of someone.

Depending on the reasons for the break, it may be wise to be somewhat circumspect, she said. If you’ve been away with a prolonged illness, it might be smart not to get too deep into it. Even though employers shouldn’t discriminate against people for, say, having young children who need attention, it can happen.

Still, Toothacre said LinkedIn’s decision to allow users to add a career break to their profile helped normalize the idea that not all formal work is uninterrupted.

Monster’s Salemi said that in her experience, more job applicants have gaps than not. And many people tend to overthink how to approach them, she said. Her advice is to be prepared to talk about pauses and use this explanation to move the conversation forward.

Even for the workers who were laid off, they could say something like, ‘I was the last one in, the first one out,'” Salemi said. Then comes the pivot. An example she gave: “But the last three months have really given me clarity about this job I’m after because my strengths are in sales,” she said.

Don’t stand on the gap

Salemi said the key is to bridge the gap so an interviewer doesn’t get stuck. For those who could have done something like get more education, develop their skills or work in a side hustle, it can be OK or even beneficial to talk about it, she said.

There are other ways that job seekers can minimize the unwanted points in their official work history. One is to probably not list start and end dates using months. Instead, Salemi said, consider using just years.

Another technique is to rank skills upward, instead of listing work history first in reverse chronological order. This can help a busy recruiter focus on what’s most important, Lee Woodrow, owner and principal consultant at Bigger Fish Executive Branding, previously said.

Salemi said it’s no surprise that having too many loopholes can be a problem. But for most breaks, explain it and move on. If possible, do it in one two-part sentence. The first part is why the gap exists, and the second is why you’re the best person for the job, she said.

“Especially if you’re a top candidate, it’s not necessarily a liability for you,” Salemi said.