How to explain gaps in employment

Mind the gap and switch the focus to your experience.

Resume gap. Even the phrase is scary, calling to mind yawning chasms void of all light and sound — and any hope for a new job. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Knowing how to explain gaps in employment during an interview isn’t as difficult as you may think.

There are dozens of reasons why you might have gaps in your resume. Good news: If you know how to explain it well, it won’t hinder your job search.

In fact, according to the Monster Future of Work: 2021 Outlook survey, 49% of U.S. employers said that resume gaps are becoming less of a red flag as a result of current market conditions. But that doesn’t mean you won’t have to talk about your spotty work history.

Whether you just graduated into a down jobs market, got laid off or furloughed, took time off to raise kids or take care of a family member, started a job you hated and quit without another job lined up, traveled the world, or something else entirely, it is all about how you explain your experience that’s going get the attention of a recruiter or hiring manager.

Even if you feel awkward about your resume gaps, trust us — shedding light on the situation will be better than simply leaving it to an employer’s imagination.

Here are three tips that will help you learn how to explain gaps in employment your resume

and come off as the great candidate that you are.

1. Be positive

You might have been hoping that the folks interviewing you would take a quick look at your resume and completely miss the fact that you didn’t work for two years — but, we’re sorry to report, that’s not going to happen. When figuring out how to explain gaps in your employment history, you can almost always find some value in it.

As you’re preparing for your job interview by practicing your

answers to the most common job interview questions and researching the company, try to identify a few things you gained from your time away.

Focus on how your experience contributed to your professional development. Shift the focus away from a gap in work to what you learned and accomplished and the transferable skills that will make you a great hire for this job.

2. Be proactive

If you worked at all or volunteered during the gap, include it on your resume. Demonstrate

how you stayed active and learned some new skills.

Did you pick up freelance work, take a part-time job, start your own business, or work on a passion project? Include it in your resume and cover letter. (If you freelanced and had multiple clients or projects, you can group it together under a catch-all like “freelance web developer.”)

Just like with the full-time jobs on your resume, don’t just list your responsibilities — show what you accomplished. If you went back to school, took one-off classes to learn new skills, or completed certification programs, add it to the education section on your resume along with the dates.

3. Be honest

This is a big one. Lying about your resume gap is a really, really bad idea. Don’t change the dates of employment so it looks like you’re still working at the company or shift them so it seems like you have a shorter gap. Employers can verify your career history, and you could get fired for lying on your resume. Honesty is always the best policy.

If someone asks why you left your job, be honest without talking badly about your previous employer or boss. If you were laid off, explain that the company had budget cuts or restructured and that you were let go. Keep it positive and say that you enjoyed your time at the company, learned skills, and that you are proud of what you accomplished.

Transition by tying what you learned and accomplished into why you would be great for the job at hand. If you quit your job without having another lined up, explain what you learned and achieved, what you are looking for in your next job and role, and why that led you to apply to this job.

If you left to be a stay-at-home parent, take care of a family member, were sick, or even quit to travel the world, you can simply say that without diving into details.

There are so many reasons that someone’s career trajectory might have a gap of a few months or a few years — a good employer should be focused on the here and now. After all, the most important thing should be the value you’ll bring to the company.

As a response to the confusing and upended job market, I’m devoting a year of “second Sundays” to job seeker questions. This month, I’m focusing on a reader who wants to become an employee at the firm where she is currently interning — see what you think.

The situation: As a taxseason intern with a CPA firm, a recent accounting graduate has already been implementing a plan to stand out to her employers. She’s taken on extra tasks, introduced herself to team members, and pushed herself to learn as much as possible on the job. Now, with only a few weeks left for this engagement, she’s looking for more strategies to turn the internship into a permanent job offer.

Advice: This reader has a good idea when it comes to finding work. In accounting, as in many professions, internships are a frequent pathway to full-time employment. Not only does the intern gain work experience that can appeal to any employer in the field, but he or she achieves something even more valuable: on-site, hands-on familiarity with a specific employer. Indeed, in many organizations, the intern pipeline represents the primary hiring mechanism each year.

Even so, post-internship employment offers can’t be taken for granted. Other interns might be competing for the same position, or the firm could be using the intern role as a temporary labor pool with no plans for making permanent hires. Or, the budget could be compromised by the pandemic, making this an “off ” year for completing the intern-to-employee cycle.

Without knowing for sure what her employer intends, this intern has been smart to jump in with both feet to make a good impression. As she’s already determined, internships can be like months-long interviews, replete with opportunities to create working relationships and demonstrate skills to one’s future boss.

In addition to the networking and hard work she has already initiated, here are some more things she can do, to make the best use of the time remaining before her internship ends.

1. Track and report what she’s learned / is learning. While some internships include a learning agreement, most do not. It’s common to be told, “You’ll be assisting Sam with the corporate tax accounts,” without hearing what that would specifically entail. Even when a learning agreement exists, it’s often fairly broad in scope.

This lack of detail creates an opportunity for the intern: By maintaining a log of what she has learned each day, she can gather the data needed for a brief weekly report for her manager. In turn, those reports can be condensed as part of a broader document (more on that in a moment).

Here’s how an item might appear in her daily log, and then in the weekly report:

Monday’s log: past tax credits – Johnson account

Weekly report: Learned to use federal guidelines in researching corporate issues with past tax credits, and how to apply the credits to the Johnson account

2. Create an internship summary. For this worker (whose internship is nearing an end), initiating weekly reports might feel out of step at this stage. But there’s still time to incorporate the content into a broader summary of the internship overall.

Imagine a two- or threepage document, with a generous number of sub-headings that make it easy to scan. It could begin with a brief statement of gratitude (“Thank you for this valuable opportunity…”) and then move into categories of key learnings from the internship.

The purpose of the summary is twofold. It reminds / informs the supervisor of how much this intern can now do, and it stands as part of her permanent record, for other supervisors in the firm to access when seeking someone to hire.

3. Schedule a pre-exit meeting. If the supervisor hasn’t initiated a process for staying by three weeks before the scheduled end of the internship, it’s time to take the reins. In this meeting, the intern can present the summary document she’s created while confirming her interest in staying with the firm and requesting details on the application process.

4. Prepare for an external job search. While an updated LinkedIn profile and resume are necessary for external job search, they also send the message internally, “If you don’t hire me, someone else will.” Asking for letters of reference adds to the messaging, as does an explicit request for contacts in other firms.

5. Maintain internal relationships. Even if the internship ends without an offer, all is not lost. By staying in contact with staff and supervisors she has worked with, the intern can provide an easy mechanism for someone to reach out if they re-initiate a hiring process.

Even if you feel awkward about your resume gaps, trust us—shedding light on the situation will be better than simply leaving it to an employer’s imagination.