How to Handle Employment Gaps on Your Resume

This video Patricia Frame explains how to handle employment gaps on your resume.

Can I Call a Career Break a "Sabbatical" on My Resume?

A job seeker asked me if he could write "Sabbatical" on his resume to explain a career break. His employment gap had nothing to do with an academic or professional pursuit, it was simply time off between jobs. My answer -- No, don't do it! Continue reading...

Victim of Bernie Madoff Needs Resume Help

A victim of the Bernie Madoff scandal needs to return to the workforce, and he wants to know how to handle his failed retirement on his resume. Can anyone with experience in the world of Wall St. and financial services add to this advice for him?

Should I Mention Bernie Madoff on My Resume?

Eight years ago I retired early. I am re-entering the workforce because a major portion of my assets were invested with Bernie Madoff. Before I retired I was a CFO of a mid-size company. Should I include an introductory paragraph in my resume, or use the objective statement to explain why I am returning to the workforce? I fear that without such information, someone reading my resume will see the eight-year gap of real work and chuck my resume.

During the period 2002 to the present I did some minor consulting work and participated in some entrepreneurial activities. Nothing of real significance but certainly enough to state that I've been working as an Independent Accounting Professional and Consultant. Prior to retiring I worked as CFO/COO for mid-sized corporations in the managed care industry. My goal is to attain a similar position.

How do I let the reader know that my recent eight-year span was an intentional sabbatical from the corporate world -- not a period of unemployment because no one would hire me?

From the Desk of Susan Ireland
I see two parts to this situation:

1. How to present this unemployed period on your resume in such a way that it gets your foot in the door for an interview.

Don't mention Bernie Madoff at all on your resume. Your personal finances are your business, nobody else's. Simply refer to your Independent Professional Accountant experience for that time of retirement, perhaps citing a few specific projects or clients if they are noteworthy. Write confidently and unapologetically about your consulting so the prospective employer with view it as a valuable addition to your corporate experience.

2. How to talk about that time once you're in the interview.

If pressed for an explanation, say that you retired in 2002, and then became an Independent Professional Accountant as a way to supplement your income. As we all know, the economy has forced many people who were in full or partial retirement back into the workforce. Emphasize that you have valuable expertise and many good years ahead of you, which you'd like to offer to an employer.

More Advice from Maureen Nelson, Resume Writer
I agree with Susan completely. Don't mention Bernie Madoff. If they know about your involvement with Madoff, people might think you have poor judgment. On your resume, you could include quotes from your clients.

Are you doing any volunteer work? If so, add that. If not, start right away with SCORE or Taproot. No reason to sit around. Also, float your resume to headhunters who specialize in your area. (Check out Kennedy Information's Red Book for names and contact info.)

Readers, how do you advise this job seeker who needs to transition from retirement back into corporate leadership?

Unemployed? 4 Things to Do Right Away

If you're unemployed, you may be wondering how to spend your time effectively and how to fill the current employment gap on your resume and online profile.

In this video, Patra Frame explains four things to do right away to address those two unemployment issues:

1. Brush up on your skills by attending classes, workshops, and seminars. List those classes on your resume.

2. Remain active in your professional groups. Networking among colleagues may help you find a great job lead, as well as give you a relevant current activity to put on your resume.

3. Volunteer at organizations that are meaningful to you and, if possible, relevant to your career. Your volunteerism can be presented in your Experience section as your current "job title."

4. Take temp or interim jobs that provide income during your job search. Include these temporary assignments as current employment in the Experience section of your resume and online profile.

To see how some of these ideas look in "print," check out these sample resumes with current unemployment in their Experience sections.


Between Job? Now What?
video by Patra Frame

List LinkedIn Groups on Resume

Your resume probably has a special section called "Professional Affiliations" or "Memberships" where you list trade organizations and professional societies you belong to. Now that professionals congregate online in social media forums such as LinkedIn Groups, how do you get "credit" for your online participation? Is it possible to use your online activity to fill a current unemployment gap? Here are suggestions for how to get the most of your online memberships on your resume: Continue reading...

Six-Year Anxiety Disorder on Resume

Question
I had to resign in 2003 because of an anxiety disorder. Now, after six years of struggling with this disease, I feel much better and would like to join the workforce again.

Can you recommend a good strategy to discuss this health issue in my resume, cover letter, and the interview?
Continue reading...

Entrepreneurial Mom Returns to Workforce

Question
I've been a stay at home for approximately 2-1/2 years. I went back to work for a short time (3 months) about 1-1/2 years ago. During that time, I started a cake baking business. Re-entering the workforce is now a must for me.

Having worked for 3 months in 2007, how do I explain the gap from 2006-2007 and then from 2007-2009? Other gaps in my work history are present as well, however, this is the longest gap. How do I put my best foot forward in explaining the 3-year gap?

Answer
by Garla Smith, Smart Moms®, LLC, smart-moms.net and smart-moms-online.com

Dear Cake Business Entrepreneur,
Congratulations on your decision to return to the workforce. In actuality you have already done the best thing for your resume by launching your cake baking business along with the other tasks I am sure you have been doing while at home. These tasks might include volunteer work, PTA support, tutoring in the classroom, or coordinating activities for the school band.

I see two options. One would be to show your “Entrepreneur – Owner of Cake Baking Business” for the longest period (if you indeed kept it running for that period). Then have another line entry for your work as a Mom such as “Volunteer, PTA Vice-President, and Full-Time Parent” for the shorter period.

The other option would be to consider lumping the 2006 – 2009 under one job heading but have several job titles such as Entrepreneur, Volunteer, Full-Time Parent.

I would use years to show time frame but no months. When you make it to the interview you can explain in further detail if asked.

You were not idle while you were at home. The key now is to communicate that in your resume. What skills did you acquire in all of the positions (paid on unpaid) that are valuable to employers? Perhaps bookkeeping, marketing, management, or administration.

Employers are changing their perceptions that moms are simply at home doing nothing. Many women are mastering organizational skills and communication techniques. They're applying financial strategies and cost savings that are valuable in the work place. They are able to multi-task, be extremely efficient in completing tasks, and bring a level of professionalism to a business that a person just entering the job market may not yet possess. It's important to communicate that in your cover letter and resume; and be ready to provide examples in the interview. Your examples should demonstrate real benefits that resulted from the use of your skills.

Best of luck to you in your job search!

Long-Term Illness on Resume

How do you list long-term illness on a resume? Let's say you were hospitalized for clinical depression for two years, and unable to do anything but recover during that time.

This question came up in a train-the-trainer resume workshop I gave last week for resume counselors at a government-funded employment agency. Here's a solution the group came up with:

1. Use years (no months) in the work history.
2. For the gap in employment, list "Caregiver for household member" as the job title.

As one job counselor in my workshop pointed out, it's none of the employer's business that the job seeker was ill, what kind of illness he had, or how he was treated for his illness. He was, in fact, a caregiver during that time -- he was caring for himself (a member of his household).

I thought this was a very creative approach to handling a lengthy illness on a resume. It's honest, doesn't go into unnecessary details, and hopefully keeps the job applicant in the running for a job.

Unpaid Contract Work on Resume

Question
I have been a certified technician since 2001 and have provided technical services to family, friends, and many other individuals here and there. I don’t have a business license and tax ID, however, that is going to change soon. Can I add this work experience to my resume? If yes, how and where on the resume should this information be expressed?

Answer
By all means, Yes! Whether or not you have a business license and tax ID number, your experience can be listed on your resume.

If your unpaid experience is something you were doing while unemployed, insert it into your Experience section without mention of it being unpaid. You can refer to yourself as "Independent Technician." When doing this, be sure the heading of the section does not imply that everything listed in the section is paid experience. For example, instead of Employment History, say Experience.

If you have no gaps in employment, your unpaid experience can be listed in a separate section called Additional Experience.

In either case, if your unpaid experience is highly relevant to your job objective, and you don't have similar experience listed under your paid experience, highlight it as one of the qualifications you list in your Summary of Qualifications section.

Wall Street to Nonprofit Resume

Question
I am a former Wall Street investment banker with an MBA from Northwestern who has been out of the traditional work force for 15 years. I left investment banking when my family relocated and I was pregnant with a third child. Since that point, I have volunteered extensively and have been president and vice president of several local not-for-profit boards. I truly utilized and broadened my skills during this period.

I am interested in pursuing positions in the not-for-profit/education area. The real meat of my experience is in investment banking, but that was a number of years ago. How should I organize my resume?

Answer
Definitely use a chronological resume format to highlight your work history. Like most chronological resumes, yours should list your work history in reverse chronology (most recent first) so that your experience with not-for-profits will be listed near the top of your Experience section. If you have spans of time when you were not volunteering, use "Full-time parent" as a job title to fill that gap.

Consider placing your Education section just under your Summary of Qualifications section. This will show off your MBA, which is relevant to nonprofit management.

Lapse in Employment Due to Tragedy

Question
I left my job in January 2002 due to the murder of my children's father. I worked for an insurance company for 11 years.I went back to college a couple of years ago until they told me my financial aid had run out.

I have applied for quite a few jobs and haven't even gotten an interview. Is the lapse in work history the reason? If so, how should I handle this?

Answer
The gap in your work history may very well be the reason you're not getting calls for interviews. Here are some ideas for making that look a little better on your resume.

1. Be sure to have a job objective statement near the top of your resume so the recruiter or hiring manager will know what kind of work you seek.

2. Place your Education section near the top of the resume, just under your Summary of Qualifications. State the starting and ending dates you attended school, using years but no months.

3. In your work history, do something like this:

2006-2008, Student, Such-and-Such College, City, State
- Refer to one or two courses you took that are relevant to your job objective, if possible.

2002-2006, Full-time parent
- Talk a little about any activities (paid or unpaid) that you did in addition to parenting. If these activities are significant, include that "job title" next to Full-time parent (For example: Full-time parent and Red Cross volunteer).

1991-2002, Job Title, Such-and-Such insurance company, City, State
- Write three or more bullet statements that are relevant to your job objective.

Hopefully these suggestions will lead to some job interviews. Best of luck!

Three-Year Gap on Resume

Question
I was employed last in August of 2005. At that time, with no warning, I was given my walking papers. I was completely stunned. No warning, nothing. I asked why and the supervisor said I wasn't doing my job, which was completely untrue. I was a good employee for their company. They refused unemployment and so I filed an appeal and won, getting six months of unemployment insurance.

Shortly after this happened, my mother-in-law got sick and we took her in to stay with us. She has now left, and I am actively pursuing work in an administrative capacity. What about the gap on my resume and what about the job application that asks, "Have you ever been discharged and why?"
--Carol

Answer
Here's how to handle the three-year gap in employment on your resume. If you did any volunteer work that involved paperwork while taking care of your mother-in-law, list that as your most current "job title." (There's no need to say that if you were not paid for your work). It might look like this:

2005-present, Fundraiser, ABC Organization, City, State
- Managed administrative records as part of an active fundraising team. Typed and mailed donor solicitation and acknowledgement letters, and updated donor database.

If you didn't do any volunteer work but provided financial management for your mother-in-law as part of your care giving, you could put that on your resume. It might look something like this:

2005-present, Full-time Caregiver to Parent
- Handled financial matters, including insurance claims, trust administration, and accounts payable, in addition to providing home nursing.

If you did both, then list it like this:

2005-present, Fundraiser, ABC Organization, City, State
while serving as Full-time Caregiver to Parent
- Managed administrative records as part of an active fundraising team. Typed and mailed donor solicitation and acknowledgement letters, and updated donor database.
- Handled financial matters for parent, including insurance claims, trust administration, and accounts payable.

On your job application you will have to say "yes" to the question about having been discharged. Your explanation should be something brief, such as, "Misunderstanding." Then be prepared to talk about it in your job interview.

Best of luck with your job search!

Mom With Dated Experience

Question
I have been a full-time mother for the past nine years and wasn't even thinking much about going back to work but I just heard about a job (Arts Program Administrator at a museum) that sounds perfect for me. I am dusting off my resume and I have a question:

I have three types of experiences that I have grouped together as "Creative Experience," "Arts Administration Experience," and "Board and Committee Experience." All are relevant, but probably the Arts Administration most so. The most recent grouping is unpaid, volunteer, charity board, community service. It is definitely relevant as it is fund-raising and arts-oriented. The creative experience is about 10 years old, but still relevant as it is art direction and design. The most relevant and most distant in time are several jobs in arts administration, which go back about 18 years.

How should I order these? Most relevant first regardless of chronology, which would put my most current experience last? Or in reverse chronology (which would put the most recent but most relevant last)?
-- Jessica

Answer
by Garla Smith, Smart Moms®, LLC, smart-moms.net and smart-moms-online.com

Dear Jessica,
Because of the gap in your history and the fact that you are going back into a field where your relevant experience is dated but still very relevant, the functional resume might be the best bet. The functional resume highlights two or three skills in which the job seeker is very strong. Here's the twist: you could insert subtitles under each skill heading, which tie the skill to the organizations where the experience was gained. Under each organization subheading, you could have two or three result statements to show that you have experience relevant for the job. Perhaps these statements could speak to your creative and art administration skills.

Your main question was about the order in which you should list your experience. In the body of your functional resume, prioritize your skill headings according to how relevant they are to your job objective. Within each skill heading, prioritize your organization subheadings so the most relevant is first, regardless of chronology.

Notice, this resume has the feel of a chronological resume but does not highlight dates until the end of the resume in the Work History, where you provide a timeline of what you have been doing. It is meant to be brief but should have no gaps. For spans of time when you were not employed, list Stay At Home Parent/Title. (By “Title” I mean a descriptor for what you were doing in addition to being at home.) List dates in terms of years (for example, 2000 - 2007), starting with your most current date.

Many thanks to Susan for pointing out this unique functional style resume. I believe it will serve moms very well.

P.O. Box vs. Street Address on Resume

In the heading of your resume, list a street address rather than a P.O. box, if possible. An employer won't hold it against you for using your P.O. box on your resume, but he may give you extra points for using a street address because it presents a more stable image. This is especially true if your work history shows job hopping, current unemployment, or gaps in your employment history.

If, however, you have any hesitation about giving out your home address, do one of the following:
- List a P.O. box.
- Rent a P.O. box at a location where you can list the street address of that P.O. box.

Quit Over Boss's Verbal Abuse

Question
I quit my last job because the boss/partner was making inappropriate remarks to me (along with remarks and looks about a certain feature of mine). I was enduring these remarks because I needed the job. I was an excellent employee (during my seven months there I had three raises) and was well liked by my co-workers. Continue reading...

Five-Month Gap in Employment

Question
I worked at a company for 5 years, left for 5 months, and then returned to the same company. On my resume I have listed just years, thus leaving out the 5-month gap (because the gap happened within the same year). Continue reading...

Medical Work Gap on Resume

Question
My daughter recently stopped working for 3 months to recover from surgery. She now needs to find a new job. How does she acknowledge the employment gap and the fact that she is currently working temporary jobs while searching for a full time position?
-- Debra

Answer



Dear Debra,
Because the gap in employment is only three months long, and those three month are all within the same year your daughter left her last full-time job, there's no need to even mention the time off. Just be sure to list only years -- no months -- in the work history on the resume, like this:

20xx-2008, Job Title, ABC Company

Don't refer to the temporary jobs she's held most recently. She'll have to list those jobs on her job application form, but she doesn't need to list them on her resume.

Best of luck with the job search!

Short-Term Job on Resume?

Question
I am an Executive Assistant presently looking for my next job opportunity. I have extensive experience in this field. Since my last experience was short-lived (6 months), I would like to hear your comments whether or not I should keep it in my resume (even though it is relevant experience)?

So far I went through several interviews, and I haven’t had any offers yet. Do you feel that one of the “red flags” is the fact that I worked at my last employment only 6 months? The reason for leaving the company was the fact that my manager was working out of different location (long-distance boss), and it was very difficult to build a really good working relationship.

One of the other reasons I think is my age even though I don’t look or feel my age (I am 51 years old).
--Asya

Answer
Hello Asya,
Don't put the recent six-month job on your resume for the following reasons:

Because the job before your six-monther ended in 2008 and you wisely used only years (not months), there is no red flag in your work history. It looks as if you might have recently left that job (even though you left it at the beginning of the year), and are just embarking on your new job search.

On the job application, you'll have to list the recent six-month job, but for your resume, leave it off, as you have been.

Your resume is doing its job of winning you interviews; perhaps you need help with your interviewing skills. Try to get some coaching to see how you can tackle the age issue (if that's the problem), how to explain why your last job was short-lived, and polish your interview style.

Good luck in landing your new job!

Job Hopper's Resume

Question
I recently quit a job after 3 months of employment because I felt it was unprofessional. I do not want to put this on my resume as it adds to the many short-term jobs already listed. None of the jobs pertinent to my job field (administrative assistant) lasted longer than 8 months. I have a few about 6 months long, one 8-month position, and the aforementioned 3-month stint. With the exception of the last job, it was not my fault that I was let go. I quit a part-time job, was laid off due to a slow market, fired after a car accident and again, quit the most recent job. I want my resume to stand out, Continue reading...

Banker with Two-Year Gap on Resume

Question
I worked in the Banking industry for nearly 30 years, and for the last 15 years, worked at fairly senior level positions with a title of VP or higher - almost exclusively in commercial or consumer lending. I'm still too young to retire, and have many good years left in me.

In Sept 2005, I was with an employer where the position I held had lost all interest to me. My employer had made an evident (but unannounced to all but a select few of us) decision to significantly change our division's focus and charter in a direction I had absolutely no interest in. As a result, I made a decision to leave the job and pursue outside personal interests. These included learning to trade securities and foreign currency on my own, as well as rehab and sell some personal real estate holdings that I held from my parent's estate.

Over the ensuing months, I took several classes, or attended seminars, on how to trade. Additionally, I commenced the real estate rehab projects, actually doing much of the required work on my own - taking one property at a time, finishing the work, and then selling the property while I went to work on the next project. I finished selling the last property (thankfully) just before the mortgage implosion last summer.

Meanwhile, my trading activities have been OK, but after several months of consistently crazy hours (the FOREX market is open 24 hours daily), I decided I didn't want to do this for the remainder of my working life. I like being around and interacting with people, and there just aren't many people around at 10PM to 2AM overnight - including my family.

I have decided I want to return to the Banking industry. But, I'm now left with this employment gap of 2 plus years, and I'm struggling a bit on how best to portray my activities in a positive light that will gain some attention from prospective employers. I thouhgt about detailing the time as "Self Employed" with a brief description of what I've been doing, but when I review my resume, this description just isn't "eye-popping". I've thought about leaving dates off the resume, & thus leaving the last 2 years off (the resume then almost, but not quite, becomes a functional resume), but I'm afraid this approach is full of landmines as well. Any thoughts and/or advise?

Answer


In this video I suggest how to handle this two-year gap, using a chronological format.