How to Handle a Gap in Your Job History

A gap in employment doesn't have to pose a problem when applying for a new job. Neither does the issue of whether that time off was by choice. What is important is how you present your time without a traditional job to prospective employers and the impression you impart on them. These three tips offer sound advice to help you explain a gap in your job history.

1. Be honest. Lying on your resume is taboo for obvious reasons: employers usually find out. There may be major repercussions besides just being fired, so don't attempt to hide a period of time in which you lacked employment. Instead, own up to the timeline discrepancy without calling attention to it. For example, a chronological resume does not have to cover every day of your adult life, so you have leniency in reporting starting and ending dates. Use the months and years of employment, such as April 2000 to May 2003, and your 30-day gap may just disappear, honestly.

2. Be positive. There's no reason an employment gap has to be a negative thing. Unfortunately, job seekers and employers alike tend to assume the worst when there is missing information or time unaccounted for in an application. Instead of letting a prospective employer's imagination run wild, fill in those gaps with any experiences that furthered your education or experience. If you took a class while you were unemployed, list it in the same format as you've listed previous jobs. Explain what the class taught, when you took it and what you gained from it. If your time away from work was for more personal reasons, such as a family illness, use your cover letter as a forum to quickly touch on your absence. The cover letter is less formal and more conversational, but it is still important to keep the statement brief and professional.

3. Be brief. As mentioned above, it is wise to limit your acknowledgement of employment gaps to a few positive statements. Dwelling on the discrepancy too long only calls attention to its existence. It also may appear that you are justifying unproductive time or covering up a less legitimate reason for being unemployed. A simple explanation will usually suffice.

You may be surprised to find that your job history gaps don't look as much like gaping holes in your resume as you thought when you examine your situation. Time spent volunteering or going to school is not only personally rewarding, but viewed favorably by most employers as well. Months here and there may be reduced to nothing when you reformat your resume. Best of all, acknowledging a little time off might be a topic you have in common with a prospective employer short sabbaticals are becoming more popular in the professional arena. In any case, employment gaps are common; playing that time to your strengths is what will set you apart.