How to deal with work gaps in your Resume
Getting a job with proper resume has become very crucial these days and in that situation filling gaps in your resume about your work is a very difficult task since the resume discloses your skills and accurate summary of your qualifications, education and work experience. And in that one cannot ignore work gaps as they have to be addressed directly otherwise employers may make negative assumptions about such gaps.
One may need to take time from long time workforce may be for any reason like you may want to pursue any dream passion which you want to fulfill or may be you need to take care of your baby or any reason but the potential employers will only hire you when you regardless of how you spend your time should be presented very effectively to deal with your work gap on your resume.
If you have gaps in your work and are now looking to get back to work an updated resume should be prepared by filling those gaps with honest explanation so that employers get impressed with your updated resume and ignore your work gaps. If there are shorter gaps then you need not give any explanation or mention in your resume as they are not noticed by employers.
But if you take longer gaps must be addressed in your resume whether those long gaps are personal or professional reasons without giving chance to any negative assumptions to the employer. Mention anything that you have learnt to develop your skills and increase your market value. Explain the employer the benefits of your work gap in your career personally since this would be a definite question asked by employer during an interview. But if you attend an interview without filling work gap on your resume, hoping that no one will notice then you will lose.
Since you have to fill the work gaps in your resume don?t include your short-term job which is out of your profession. Mention only those work experiences that will help you to get the job your are waiting for. Highlight something which you have accomplished during that time of break if you don?t have done nothing to fill the gap in your resume when seeking for new job.
Never ever mention both month and year in your updated resume because there is a greater chance that your work gaps in employment will be revealed as there is a clear mention of date and year of your work. Only if you have long work history then employers many not question about your gaps in your work. But it is good to prepare resume without mentioning dates and include only year.
And if your resume format has to be mentioned date followed by your job title, make the job title bold or increase the font size by leaving the date in regular font to draw the attention of employers away from the work gap that is revealed on your resume.
There are two categories of resume preparation functional resume andchronological resume where functional resume describes only skills but recruiters prefer chronological resumes because they are easier to read and list skills and job functions as they apply to each position.
Don’t apologize for your decision for taking work gaps as it points out your weakness rather than your strengths. But be proud of your accomplishments because if you have taken gap from your work should be positive. It may even be that your time away from work may actually benefited your career.