Category: Resume

A resume is a one- to two-page document summarizing your career objectives, professional experiences and achievements, as well as your educational background. A job search may require the searcher to prepare and send several copies of his/her resume before obtaining the desired job.

Work History Gaps Must be Dealt with Smartly


Fill in all resume gaps

Listing your professional experiences on a resume can be a difficult task, especially when considering the many elements a resume preparer must incorporate into the document, if it is to adequately serve the purpose it is meant to serve. Items like job titles, time frames, key responsibilities, transferable skills, and other such descriptions and attributes must be included and properly listed where and when appropriate. The process becomes even more difficult when these elements are in an individual’s work history.

Potential employers will not have a way of knowing why there is a three and a half year gap in an applicant’s professional experience just by reviewing his/her resume. Moreover, the employer might wonder if you – in the case where you are the applicant – skipped over one of your past jobs because it does not meet the career objective you listed.

It is also not unreasonable for a prospective employer to assume that you did not work at all during the omitted time frame; so it is not in your best interest to intentionally skip any information in your jobs history. Simply (honestly) explain any gaps. There are a few general rules about resume gaps that could help to guide you through:

Rules of the ‘resume gaps’ road

  1. Any unaccounted-for time that is shorter than three months does not need to be explained. Having a 60-90 day period between jobs is not very unusual, and often goes unnoticed within the structure of a resume anyway. However, any gaps extending beyond three months should be addressed in your cover letter or an e-mail. Whether you had personal or professional reasons for not working, the gaps in your employment history need to be explained as you don’t want to leave the employer to make their own assumptions.
  2. Be honest! We can’t stress this recommendation enough. If you are honest with your potential employers, you might not have to worry about them checking your references, doing a background check, or surprising you with questions in an interview.
  3. Don’t exclude months of your employment from the job listing. You are better off explaining the gaps in your resume than trying to cover them up, and you’ll likely discover that honesty is really the best policy when it comes to your resume.
  4. If you have held jobs that are not applicable to your career objective, list them on your resume anyway. Rather than create gaps in your resume, explain why you held jobs outside of your chosen field in your cover letter, or in an email to your potential employer. Again, whether the reasons are personal or professional, explain yourself honestly and don’t leave room for assumptions on the part of your potential employer.
  5. Regardless of the reasons for the gaps in your professional history, it is important that the tone of your cover letter and your resume remain positive. Do not sound apologetic!– Life happens and you don’t need to be sorry for taking time off from work for good and/or justifiable reason(s). Be positive! And show your potential employer that you never lost focus on your career.

Diligence, honesty and education pays off

While we all agree that life often takes unexpected turns and understand that there will be circumstances which result in resume, we can always consider the following actions in order to stay competitive in our field:

  • Apply our time and experience to volunteer positions, community projects, consulting and/or freelance work.
  • Take a class at a community college or at the community center that improves your work-related skills and allows you to interact with people of similar professional backgrounds.
  • Read about new developments in your field, get a subscription to a professional publication/magazine, or get the newly published books that discuss changes or improvements in your profession.

Most of all, be honest and stay positive, because you can’t change your work history, so do your best to show your employer that you are a perfect/best candidate for the job by focusing on your experience and your education, as well as highlighting your achievements and your qualifications.

About Chronological and Functional Resumes

Use of a chronological resume

The typical resume is a one-to-two page document summarizing an individual’s career objectives, professional experiences and achievements, as well as his/her educational background; and while there are numerous ways to format a resume, there are two basic resume styles. The chronological resume and the functional resume.

As its name implies, a chronological resume is one that lists your experience and education in order, beginning with the most recent jobs or achievements. This type of resume is sometimes also referred to as reverse chronological resume, because the order of which items are listed begins with the individuals’ last or current employment details and continues in reverse order to the first or oldest employment details.

 

A chronological resume is generally preferred by –employers, since they will want to know what job an applicant currently holds so that they can better asses his/her qualifications for the job in which s/he has interest. The same is true for an applicant’s education since a potential employer would rather know that applicant’s most recent scholastic achievement. By listing experiences and education in reverse chronological order, a job applicant shows his/her potential employer the overall career progress s/he’s made.

Emphasis on employment history

Such reverse listing also helps in determining the length of employment at each organization, and indicates any gaps in the individual’s career (in case of gaps, make sure to address them in the cover letter as to not lead a potential employer to believe that s/he is omitting information on purpose). If you are the job applicant, a chronological resume should list your current job, as well as two to four previously held positions.

However, you should not skip any employment information intentionally; and if your employment history is long, or if you have held jobs further in the past that align well with your current career objective, you can address these qualifications in your professional profile or in your cover letter. Chronological resumes are the most commonly used style, and work best for anyone who has had some professional experience.

When a functional resume is useful

Functional resumes focus on the individual’s qualifications, not his/her career timeline, because this style of the resume highlights what skills that person has, rather than where and when s/he acquired or utilized them. In other words, if you are an applicant writing a functional resume, you would forego listing your experiences by job titles and, instead, your resume will contain sections titled by your skills such as verbal and written communication, customer satisfaction and project management, among others.

This resume style is recommended for college students seeking internships or their first jobs out of school; for those with no professional experience; those who have not worked for some time; or for career changers. While potential employers will appreciate the overview of your skills, you should consider using a chronological resume if you have any professional experience; or you can even use a combination resume over the functional format.

Combination resume: A hybrid of resume styles

A combination resume, although not often discussed, has become a popular format in recent years; and as its name implies, it is a combination of chronological resume style and functional resume style. This hybrid style allows professionals to highlight the qualification they have that are critical for the job of their interest, while at the same time listing employment and educational history in reverse chronological order.

A word of caution, however: Don’t try to do too much when using a combination resume, by going over board with the type and number of sections you include in your resume. It is best to keep the information listed – even in the combination format – to what is relevant for the job. The same rules apply for each style. Don’t exceed two pages; simply tailor your resume to your career objective and put your best foot forward in order to get the interview, and eventually the job you desire.