How to explain Gaps in Employment: A Masterclass

so life isn't always smooth sailing stuff happens sometimes good sometimes not so good and that can cause interruptions in our work history sometimes for a few months maybe even years our past doesn't have to jeopardize a future if you are worried about how your gaps are going to look to prospective employers you are in the right place worry no more in this video we're going to look at the different types of gaps and what are the real reasons why recruiters hesitate and are wary of candidates with gaps in their history what are some of the common mistakes I've seen candidates making and finally we're gonna look at an actionable strategy that I've prepared for you that will not only help you answer questions with honesty and openness but also help you to re-enter the workforce with confidence coming up hi everyone welcome back to SuperCharge my name is Sonal your friendly neighborhood HR director and this channel is all about sharing practical tips related to your career the topic of gaps in employment is actually really close to my heart not just because I'm in human resources and I've done a lot of recruitment and interviewed with people who had sometimes gaps several years but also because I've been on the other side I've been a candidate more than once after a couple of years of not working and stay till the end where I will explain how I approached it so all the tips I'm going to be sharing with you are tried and tested so how do we define a gap a gap is a period of time during which you are not working and you are not gainfully employed so if you started a business or if you were freelancing that is not a gap there's six type of gap the first one is related to family which means you know you've had children or you were taking care of a sick relative the second type of gap is when there was a challenge with health and then a gap related to you know a job search which has taken a long time after a restructuring and then there could be a gap related to leave you took to study or do a full-time training program it could be a gap related to relocation where you have to follow your spouse and in that period of time you were not able to find work and the last type of gap is when people take time off to travel sometimes the world and reset and have a fresh new perspective and these are all good reasons to have a gap in your career I think it's understand so their job is to ensure that the hiring manager is getting a shortlist of water five candidates this is a original position it's always urgent and they want to show the the hydrent manager the best people so if there is someone who's currently got a gap it's going to take time for them to call up the person understand it and so that could be one reason where they feel if things are moving very quickly let me put this candidate to the side it's unfair but it happens the other reason is due to I would what I call the vicious circle of unemployment the more unemployed you are for a longer period of time the more unemployable you look you could be hard on your luck but it's not a good look for you know future employers who don't know you and who don't understand your context the other thing that is sitting at the back of the head of the recruiter is this candidate looks a little bit risky so it's kind of like thinking you know there is a candidate here who's got tattoos all over his body or there's a candidate here who's a job hopper who's been really switching jobs every six months or so or this candidate is really overqualified or very under qualified for the position if we hire these kinds of candidates there's a risk it may not work out and the same goes for someone with unemployment cap what if this person decides to take another cap there is no guarantee that they won't so it's what I call the fear of the unknown the other reason that recruiters can feel a little bit wary of candidates with gaps on their resume is they can feel maybe this candidate is out of touch with current events or developments in their particular industry so maybe their business acumen or skill set has diminished during this period of time so how can we address this gap and how can we address the hesitations of you know the interviewer I have an approach for you and the approach is called pause it pause career pause makes sense right so the P in pause stands for proactive my suggestion would be proactively get into your resume look at the period of gap that you have and explain it in one line why you have this gap and you can be a little bit creative about it I could do my own exam so when we were living in South America it took me a couple of months to land a job which was closer to my line of work and that period I called Latin America immersion and I explained it as a transition period to look for my next move another example I've seen semantics for a gap related to relocation career pause establishment of a home in several overseas destinations while maintaining a strong family foundation to raise two children and another example I can list for a long ish maternity break rot life into the world single-handedly oversaw into end care towards the health of a newborn anyone with a child knows how hard those early and yours are so by proactively going in there and explaining it you're removing any risk that may you know be perceived and you also look like you've got nothing to hide so that's a win-win in my book and one very practical approach I have in this point is if you have worked in also for two years and then you have a gap of maybe one year to 18 months skip the months so you know 2016 to 2018 and then your next job came up in 2019 and then say 2019 to whatever so you don't have to necessarily you know you know list down the months I don't think this is unethical in any way the a is for attitude mindset and Mel Robin says mindset reset and I can't tell you how important this is so there was a study conducted recently which said the words we speak have a direct impact on how we think and how we feel so a word like gap has a negative connotation whereas transition has a positive connotation of evolution change progress I know it doesn't sound like a lot it tomato tomahto it's the gap transition how does it matter it's the same thing I say it matters so if you approach it in a positive way with the right attitude with you know the confidence and the enthusiasm and the energy you're basically not giving the interviewer any reason to doubt your ability the you impose I call upgrade this is the period of time that you have hopefully upgraded your skills and I don't just mean technical skills although if you have I think that's really good so maybe you've done a master's program or you've done a diploma or an online course if you've done that that's great it could also be a time that you some networking so you've upgraded your social network it could also be you know during that period of time maybe you were a stay-at-home parent and you have worked on certain skills that you know you didn't have before maybe you're more organized more patient so the S stands for steering the conversation so steering it in the direction that you want I've made another video where I talk about being in the driver's seat when you are asked a question like tell me about yourself I'll link it in the description I think you will derive some value from it so it's kind of easy to kind of get lost into the details I've seen candidates do that where they go into details about what happened to their health or you know with their children or their sick relative it doesn't matter so much in that detail talk about it and immediately stare it in the direction why you're here and why you want this job basically it's really simple you've need you need to show them how you can help them to make money save money or save time usually those are the three reasons why there is a job vacancy and just any time you feel like you're going down a rabbit hole with an explanation and it's uncomfortable staring back in this direction so the e in Paul stands for H this is my favorite part showing the recruiter how you have an edge and even if you have a gap in your CV it sets you apart from your competition yes it does how can you show them that I wake up to that right now you know in business it's very common to have a SWOT analysis diagram so set strengths weaknesses opportunities threats obviously you've got your strengths just like everyone else however let's look at your weakness which is that you have a gap in your CV can we turn this weakness into a strength into an opportunity and can we address the threat let's see how we can do it in your case so your weakness is that you have a gap obviously now how can we turn this into a strength you can talk about the fact that you've been unemployed for a while after you got laid off maybe and you can see how you are being selective because you want to work for the right organization and for the right positions that is you know right at your level and so you've done your research and you think this particular organization is just perfect because there is a good match it shows that you're motivated but you're not kind of applying all over the place you're really focused and the fact that you focus on this organization is always a good thing another way you can show the gap as a strength is something I touched upon before talk about how this period of time has changed you for the better you know of courses etc we already talked about but talk about some of the skills the life skills the soft skills that you've learnt along the way maybe you pick up on mature maybe after having kids or you become more patient you become more organized or if you should give examples of that and those are you know great examples that you only you can give because you've been through a certain set of experiences that others have not so that kind of makes you unique and strong as a candidate now this weakness of a gap can be perceived as a threat we talked about the risk and the threat is maybe you'll do it again so if you can address that by saying that the reason for the gap is now in the past and will not be coming up again so if you've had you know a health scare but it's done and it's over with then you know use the right language to convey the message let me give you an example so I took three years off to take care of my my newborn son who had certain neonatal issues now he's well and he's old enough to attend preschool and he's thriving so I'm feel completely ready to re-enter the workforce and not so good answer to this would be I personal issues so I prefer not to talk about it it looks like you're you know really hiding something but the thing you've been through is not that rare you know life happens like I said so that deals with the threat part now my favorite part here is how can this weakness look like an opportunity for the company it can't because unlike other candidates who are currently employed and who look really good on you know on paper they need maybe a month two months three months six months notice period to start working there you however can start the next day not only are you willing not only are you competent you are also readily available and that is a very attractive quality in a candidate now let's look at some common mistakes at least I think they are mistakes that candidates make during this process oh they the first mistake is saying too much or too little and we talked about that so it's important to keep that in mind without you know the devil is in the details but at the same time if you say - let's say that it looks like you're hiding something I've seen this advice online where someone said you know in your most recent position keep the end date open so it you started working in February 2016 and show that till date so it looks like you're still working there that's misleading you're trying to show that you're still employed but you're not and that is pretty much for me the equivalent of lying and that's the next mistake lying covering up a gap with another sort of fictitious employment never a good idea to be dishonest there is a suggestion which I personally don't like it that's why I call it a mistake is having a functional resume so you know you've got two types of resumes a chronological resume with you know the right order of events and then the functional resume only looks at the skill set that you have at the companies that you worked in and how those skill sets are applicable to the vacancy in question so it is not a very popular choice for recruiters most recruiters do not like it because it sets them off and confuses them because recruiters can't really tell where you were working today are you working and it looks like you know there's a cover-up job happening there so I'm personally not a fan so if possible stay away from it the last mistake I've seen candidates make is when they overthink this part yes I've had cats more than once in my career both the tanks they was restructuring and it took me in the first case two and a half years to you know find another job I also you know had family reasons in that period of time and then the second time also there was a restructuring did this prevent me from getting the jobs I wanted it didn't why I didn't let I didn't think about this at all that when I was in this transition that it was a bad thing in what happy because I think I was only focusing on what is the value that I can bring to the company so for those who are returning parents particularly I know this is true for many returning moms that I know of there are companies out there in the world that are supporting you know returning parents who are joining back the workforce after an extended period of time and check that out in the country in the city you live there are companies that are you know even its centralized to do so so in conclusion what I'd like to say is there will be companies out there who reject you because you have a gap on your resume can I tell you I think they're doing your favor and I think you've dodged a bullet why is that that tells you something about the company culture if people are judging you because you have a cap on you're less you make you human we're all human if they haven't had a gap in the resume yet they will add some points and if they don't have kids they have maybe parents and young parents are getting older it's life it happens and that can also tell you two things I can tell you maybe they have a very stringent and tight you know vacation policy and also tells you something about the management style of you know the leaders there that every time somebody calls in sick they are checking up and questioning you know that employee need to understand what happened a quick recap the pause method works I am an example of it so if you are proactive about the gap and you are listing it very honestly injury attitude is right you're upgrading your skills in this period of time and you steering the conversation in the direction you want to and finally showing them how you have an edge over other candidates in spite of or maybe because of this gap I'm really sure that at the end of this process you'd be able to you know answer those questions only with confidence and honesty but also feel good about yourself and not you know let it you know take you down thank you so much for watching I hope this was useful and if you you know other friends who are going through the same share with them give it a thumbs up and I shall see you in the next video

Channel: Sonal Bahl - Career Strategist

Views: 39,431

Keywords: how to fill in emplyment gaps in resume, how to explain gaps in cv, how to explain gap in employment in interview, how to explain gaps in employment history, how to explain a career break, interview tips in english, how to handle gaps in employment, how to explain unemployment in my resume, employment gap explanation, gaps in cv due to unemployment, gaps in cv, linda raynier resume hacks, how to write a resume, deniz sasal, gap in employment, resume

Id: UEvzMQ2yAGc

Length: 17min 28sec (1048 seconds)

Published: Sat May 18 2019