Blog Post: Mind the Gap -- Dealing with an Employment Gap on Your Resume

It's no secret. A gap in employment does not look great on your resume. After all, the gap may not be your fault. You may have been part of a lay-off, you may have needed time from work for medical or personal reasons... These things happen in life. So how do you keep your resume attractive to employers?

Never lie. When dealing with the gap, never exaggerate dates of employment to minimize the gap. Checking employment dates is one of the easiest parts of checking a candidate's background.

What else were you doing at that time? Consider focusing your resume on some other activity that you were involved in during that time. Perhaps you have a consulting business on the side or you may have been helping a family member with their business. Focus your resume on those experiences during that time, treating the experience as an employment experience on your resume.

School is always a good bet. Students are an exception to this rule. If you are a full time student, it is acceptable for you to have gaps in employment. Just be prepared to discuss it. For experienced professionals that were not full time students, perhaps you were taking night classes or even teaching classes on the side.

Were you volunteering? Volunteer experience can also be highlighted to help cover a gap. Avoid mentioning items that are not related to your profession (or to business in general). However, if you were volunteering in the finance office of the local 501c3 organization, that's a great item to place on your resume.

These items will typically not eliminate the employment gap from your resume. However, they will minimize the impact of it. Further, rather than discuss the gap, the recruiter will be wanting to discuss the experience you have highlighted in place of the gap--that's always a good thing.

For more resume help, hit one of our seminars--always at the Tempe Chamber of Commerce Building. The next one is next Saturday. http://www.careerdevelopmentaz.com/seminar.html

Good luck in your search!