Careers centre

CV gaps

Time to get back in the game

Covering a gap in your CV is never easy, although as Gen Y and Z bring with them different priorities and more flexible working models they are more common than you might think. You might incur a gap in your CV for any of the following reasons:

Raising a family

CV gaps
  • Interviewers cannot ask you directly how many children you have. Bear in mind, however, that leaving a gap on your CV might trigger overly-imaginative recruiters to conjure up terrifying visions of what you were doing at that time.
  • If you have done any freelance or voluntary work or enrolled in any kind of course, make the most of it here.
  • If you cannot fill the gap with this, include a short sentence like “Career break to raise family. I have enjoyed the responsibilities this time has involved, but now feel ready to return to the workplace.” If true, you might add “During this time I researched industry developments and attended networking events”.

Critical illness of family member

  • Generally, employers are very sympathetic to this. Put a short sentence on your CV – you don’t need to go into detail.

Travel

  • If you’re applying for a position where you’ll be working with other cultures, travel can be a bonus. It can also be a good opportunity to mention improvement of any relevant language skills.
  • Be honest with yourself, however – if the most lasting souvenir you have retained from your travels is notches on bedposts in all continents, you’re best off taking the focus off your time out by putting something like “Organised independent worldwide trip in 2011” in your “other” section.

Unemployment

  • Stress any other projects you have taken on during this time.
  • If it’s still blindingly obvious that there is a gap in your CV, be positive – something like “Self-study of industry developments and attendance of networking events while seeking out top employment opportunities” will do.

Irrelevant experience

  • If you have any gaps due to the fact that you’ve left out unrelated positions to keep your CV succinct, make sure to explain this clearly in your cover letter.

Illness (yours)

  • Bear in mind that prospective employers cannot ask specific health or disability-related questions before they’ve made an offer.
  • As always, stress the positives – other projects you have taken on during this time and your (hopefully successful) recovery.
  • If you can’t fill the gap with these, you do not have to go into details if you’re not comfortable – it’s enough to say that you were ill for a short while, but have fully recovered and are excited to return to the workplace.
  • If you’d prefer, you can leave a gap on your CV, but be prepared to be asked about it.

  • One last tip – leave off the months and days when writing dates on your CV, and just put the years. This way, you erase short employment gaps and make your CV look neater.

And more than anything, explain your career breaks (for whatever reasons they might have occurred) with confidence. As careers coach DeAnne Pearson of Deliberate Careers puts it, “Successful people own their victories and consider failures just a temporary bit of bad luck. Unsuccessful people consider victories just a bit of luck and failures they take full ownership of and hang on to way past the expiration date... it is your choice".

for JobisJob