How to fill employment holes in your CV

We would all like to have a CV that just, well, sings. An amazing academic background as the base for a flawless progression from one increasingly challenging position to the next until the only possible, logical step is the one we are applying for. However then there is this thing called life which, has a funny way of throwing curveballs at our best laid plans.

One of the most common results of the various twists and turns life can take us on when it comes to our resumes is to leave gaps in our employment history. Now whether these gaps are small pocket marks in an otherwise unblemished playing surface or large gaping canyons we might fall into there are many ways of minimising the negative effect they can have on your employment prospects.

Your CV is you selling you

That might seem like a rather obvious statement so let me explain. What I am proposing is an important mental leap in what you perceive a CV to be. A CV is not a chronological record of what you have done in the past. Of course it includes that element but more importantly it is a calling card. A statement of intent. This type of thinking immediately encourages you to take a different, perhaps more adventurous, approach. So, for example, instead of beginning with your employment history why not begin with a small summary of your skills and positive characteristics. For example:

Jane Ellison – Personal Profile

I am an energetic, ambitious person whose varied career path has provided me with a wealth of experience and a maturity of approach to the most challenging of professional situations. Furthermore, my career path has also helped me to develop superior communication and interpersonal skills across the most nuanced of professional environments. I combine these aspects of my character with a relentless pursuit for learning, self improvement and personal challenges.

I have written this profile from the perspective of a candidate who does not have the most linear career history for the position she is applying for; however, the position in question requires a large degree of interpersonal skills and sensitivities. Therefore, the candidate is acknowledging the circuitous route their career has taken, but rephrasing it as a positive aspect of their suitability for the position.

This approach of viewing your CV as a positive branding experience as opposed to a chronological journey can be a powerful shift in how you approach your CV preparation and should be your first step on the way to producing a CV which accentuates the positive and eliminates the negative in your employment history.

Practical Steps

Okay so that’s the pep talk over now what practical steps can we take? The main negative image you wish to avoid when you have employment gaps is that you are a job hopper who leaves positions on a whim and can’t stick at anything. So any way in which you can present your decisions to move on or to change positions in a positive light will help you.

Formatting

This can be as simple as a formatting choice. For example, you can cover employment gaps of a few months by listing your employment history in terms of years rather than years and months. For example: Account Manager at Pribus Ltd. 2015-2018 if it happens that you left your previous job in February 2015 and only started at Pribus in September.

Now, while the above is a simple formatting trick there are more adventurous options available. For example, you may wish to choose the functional CV format which focuses on communicating your professional achievements and capabilities rather than your chronological career progression.

The functional resume has received criticism of late from recruitment managers for being overly self-aggrandising while ignoring relevant details (such as dates); however, there is another school of thought which sees it as, with reference to the opening of this article, a positive encapsulating of a potential employee’s background which projects self-confidence and gives a flavour of who they are. If you are interested in seeing how your CV would look in a functional format here is a link to a resume builder which will show you how to do just that.

As with all CV, cover letters, job applications whether or not to use a functional CV format comes down to personal choice and what you think will appeal to the recruiting company. While it’s true that Functional CVs have come in for criticism of late they can be an excellent choice for someone who has had a very unique career path or, it must be said, has employment gaps they wish to mask. Also if you feel that the hiring company might be open to this style of CV then it might be an excellent option for a candidate who feels they have the necessary skills but whose employment history would leave them open to a lot of awkward questioning in a traditional setting.

Own your employment gaps

Another very important perspective to adopt when applying for positions with employment gaps in your history is to acknowledge, own and not apologise for them. That may sound a little aggressive in tone but hear me out. As previously mentioned the most negative perception employment gaps can give of a candidate is that they are flighty, a job hopper and, possibly, a worker who bails out when the going gets tough. You could also add, if the employment gap is a recent one, that the employer might fear the candidate doesn’t have the most up to date knowledge or skills. Both of these are legitimate hiring concerns and the candidate must be honest with themselves regarding any personal or knowledge based shortcomings they might have, work on them and convince the hiring party that they will be a competent employee.

However, the vast majority of employment gaps are simply the result of life doing its thing. We are human beings and as much as some employers may be spoiled for choice if they are a company with a people based culture then they will want to look beyond perfect chronological histories and hire the best person for the job and the best person for the job will often have taken time off work to look after a sick relative, or to travel, or have been let go from a company due to a dip in the economy or a merger resulting in staff redundancies.

All of these are legitimate reasons for not having been in an office and if explained to a competent human resources professional should not affect your application.

It’s not what you do it’s the way that you say it

Having said that there is a way to present things and a way not to. If you did choose to go travelling, paint it in a positive light. Describe it as an experience which helped you grow and from which you learned. At this point in my career I decided to take some time off to go travelling as I realised that once I was further along in my career this would no longer be a possibility. I am really glad I took that opportunity as it was a wonderful experience to see [insert travel destination/part of the world] outside the confines of the typical tourists’ resorts.

You can see where I am going with this: positivity is a good look. In the case of redundancy be sure you emphasise and legitimise the reason for your having been let go and, if it is at all a possibility, provide evidence that you performed well during your tenure.

As regards the other example I gave of looking after a sick relative this is of course a personal matter and any competent hiring manager will handle it with the discretion it merits. Do prepare what you want to say about the matter beforehand as this will help prevent any awkwardness you or the interviewer might feel around the subject. When it comes to personal sickness be careful with how you phrase things as well. No matter how much empathy a potential employer may have for your position at the end of the day they want to hire fit and healthy employee.

“Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans” (John Lennon).

Yes, the above quote comes from John Lennon’s song Beautiful Boy from the last album he would ever have the chance to make and it remains, and will remain, as true today, and tomorrow, as the day he wrote it. No matter how much we would like to have a linear history of perfect experiences to show our potential employers life seldom works like that and, perhaps, it would be all the less interesting if it did. Employment gaps, like taxes, are a fact of life but how you approach them, phrase them and sell them is down to you and your determination to land that job.

 

Written for CareerJunction by Mark Dempsey.

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