2. With the nation’s unemployment rate
as high as it is, it’s not unusual for job
seekers to have employment gaps on
their resumes. The best job search
advice on how to best handle these
gaps? Be honest.
3. Don’t be tempted to lie about your
past work experience as a way to cover
up gaps in your resume. The odds are
good that potential employers will
uncover your attempts to hide
employment gaps. And when they do,
you can bet that you won’t top their
list of potential hires.
5. Instead, be prepared to honestly
explain your employment gaps should
you land an interview. You may have
legitimate reasons for taking time off.
Maybe you left the career world for
three years to spend time with your
young children.
6. Maybe you returned to college full-
time to earn a new degree. Don’t try
to hide these breaks in your resume.
Maybe the rough job market meant
that you simply weren’t able to land a
position during your employment gap.
7. Trying to sneak these employment
gaps past hiring managers will not
work. Hiring managers have seen
plenty of resumes during these tough
economic times so they know an
employment gap when they see one.
9. Instead, be sure to tell potential
employers exactly what you were
doing during these breaks to boost
your work skills. For instance, maybe
you worked as a freelance consultant
during the years in which you left a 9-
to-5 job to raise your children.
Mention this to potential employers
and explain to them exactly what
projects you took on for consulting
clients.
10. Maybe during your long search for a
new job you volunteered with an
organization in your field. Explain this
to employers. Maybe you used your
time off to attend adult education
classes and pick up new technology
skills. Again, this is a fact that you
should share during your job
interview.
12. Just because you can’t hide
employment gaps on your resumes
doesn’t mean you can’t make them
less noticeable. For instance, if you
worked at a company until January of
2010 and then didn’t find a new
13. job until December of that same year,
it’s not wrong to state on your resume
that you worked at job A until 2010
and landed work at company B in the
same year. Just eliminate the specific
months on your resume.
14. But the best job search advice of all?
Don’t let an employment gap on your
resume scare you away from applying
for those jobs with which you know
you are qualified. You’re far from alone
in having holes on your resume. With
the economy still staggering,
employment gaps are something to
which hiring managers are steadily
becoming immune.
15. Interested in Finding Out More about
Job Search Strategies and Job Search
Advice? Please come and visit us at
http://www.GetHiredFast.com