Employment Gap on a Resume - 13 Simple Ways to Explain It

13 Best Ways to Explain Employment Gaps

During yourjob hunt, you’ll have three separate chances to explain an employment gap:

• On your resume
• On yourcover letter
• During your interview

To best convey the employment gap (and reasons behind it), you’ll need to touch on it in all 3. So below, we’ll explain the best way to explain an employment gap on your resume, cover letter, and during an interview:

6 Ways to Explain an Employment Gap on Your Resume

#1. Be Honest

Your resume is the first thing that recruiters check, so it’s crucial that you’re honest!

After all, you don’t want to omit a two-year-long employment gap from your resume, for example, only to have it be revealed during your interview.

As such, it’s super important that you’re honest about your employment history - or lack thereof - right there on your resume.

What’s important here is to understand that potential employers will find out about your employment gap - especially if it was a lengthy or recent one. As such, trying to hide it will only damage your application and give recruiters even more reason to believe you have something to hide.

And, if you’re feeling anxious about it, remember that recruiters are also humans and will probably be understanding if you are straightforward about your employment gap - and about what caused it!

#2. Remove the Employment Gap (If It’s Outdated)

Here’s some good news: if your employment gap is old, you can safely omit it from your resume entirely.

Say, for example, your employment gap is from 10 years ago. Chances are - especially if you’re a seasoned professional - that you won’t even be including jobs from 10 years ago on your resume. After all, you want your resume to be as relevant as possible (and stay within the recommended1-page resumelength).

As such, it’s totally OK to omit employment gaps that stretch long before your recent employment history (or that are quite short, like 6-month-old employment gaps while you were between jobs).

#3. Explain the Gap

When it comes to resumes, simply writing down the dates of your employment gap won’t cut it - it would only leave things open to recruiters’ interpretation.

Take the following example:

The only thing that this candidate makes clear to recruiters is that he was not working for a 3-year period. Apart from that, recruiters have no way of knowing whether the employment gap was due to a valid reason or because the candidate decided to be a couch potato for some years.

This is why it’s better to actually write out the exact reason for the employment gap in-between your work experience entries.

Here’s an example that does it right:

#4. Take Advantage of a Different Resume Layout

If your employment gap is longer than just a few short months, you could benefit from using a different resume layout altogether.

For example, thefunctional resume formatand thecombination formatput more emphasis on your skills and competencies rather than on your work experience, which is a great way to shift focus from your employment gap.

That said, taking advantage of a different resume layoutdoesnotmean you should omit the employment gap from your resume altogether. Lying is never the right way to go here, and will always end badly for you (even if you manage to get the job).

#5. Use Your Time Away Effectively

If you’re suddenly in between jobs and are worried about how this will reflect on your future job applications, get proactive!

Instead of simply explaining your future employment gap as a “career break” or “job searching,” start a personal project and create something more valuable to put on your resume.

For instance, you can join one or more online courses related to your profession while you’re on a break from work, or start that project you always wanted to work on but never had the chance to!

That way, you’ll have much more to talk about than simply stating you were looking for jobs or taking a self-discovery breakandyou’ll be effectively showing recruiters that you’re constantly growing - even outside the office!

#6.  Show That You Never Stopped Learning

Highlighting your skills and acquired knowledge is also a great way to cover past employment gaps. Sure, you might’ve not been working, but you could’ve still been working on developing yourself as a professional or individual.

You could, for example, mention something like this on your resume to address your employment gap:

3 Ways to Explain Employment Gaps in Cover Letters

Want to go more in-depth into your employment gap? Your cover letter is your chance to do so.

Unlike your resume, which barely leaves you 2-3 sentences worth of space to explain yourself, you can be way more comprehensive in yourcover letter.

Specifically, you can use thebody of your cover letterto give more details about your employment gap.

Here are the best ways to do it:

1. Give a valid explanation.The whole point of mentioning your employment gap on your cover letter is to justify it the best way you can. For example, if you had an accident, writing“took 1 year off work because of injury”won’t be as convincing as writing“took 1 year off work after a car accident that required me to do intense physiotherapy sessions to fully recover.”
2. Highlight new skills.Additionally, it’s super important to highlight any new skills acquired during your time off. The good thing about the cover letter is that you have a better chance of explaining the skills and what motivated you to acquire them (e.g.“due to organizational changes, I was laid off from my previous job. However, I used the time it took me to find a new job to catch up on industry-related trends and readings, get online certifications, and network with professionals in the field.”)
3. Don’t overshare.Last but not least, it’s important to know that just because you have more space on your cover letter it doesn’t mean you should overshare the details of your employment gap. If, for instance, you took a one-year break todeal with burnout, you don’t have to give too many details about how that went. So, instead of writing,“took a year off to recuperate from burnout, during which time I consulted 3 different therapists and several support groups,”you can just write“took one year off work to deal with work-related burnout and re-asses my professional goals.”If you think it’s important to share more information, talk about how you grew professionally not about what you went through personally.

4 Ways to Explain Employment Gaps in Interviews

If your resume and cover letter make a good impression, chances are you’ll be called for an interview. And, even if you have already explained your employment gap, there’s nothing keeping recruiters from asking you again about it.

Here’s what you can do to address an employment gap during your interview effectively:

1. Rehearse in advance.Your best bet is assuming that youwillbe asked about your employment gap. That way, you can take the time to prep your answer in advance and won’t be taken back if recruiters actually ask thequestions during the interview.
2. DON’T badmouth your former employer.If your employment gap is due to getting fired, bashing your former employer won’t help you get a new position - if anything, it might make you look immature. Instead, try to highlight all the steps you took to bounce back from getting fired and show recruiters why you’re the ideal candidate for this position.
3. Focus on what you did right.Now, if you lost your job unjustly (or due to reasons outside of your control), the way to make a great impression is to focus on how you were a stellar employee before the employment gap! That way, you can shift recruiters’ attention to your strengths, instead of simply telling them you lost your job and there wasn’t much you could do about it.
4. Be confident.Sometimes,howyou say things is just as important aswhatyou say. If recruiters ask that you elaborate on your employment gap and you suddenly get super nervous about it, you’ll probably raise some serious red flags. So, make sure to polish yourcommunication skillsin advance and start your interview with a show of confidence.

Here is an example of how you can address your employment gap during an interview:

7 Good Reasons For an Employment Gap

There can be countless reasons behind an employment gap and, as long as it’s not related to something like, say, jail time, it shouldn’t hinder your chances of getting employed.

That said, here are some great examples of good reasons for an employment gap:

1. Family reasons.Family is super important and most recruiters are guaranteed to be understanding if your employment gap is due to family-related issues. What’s important here is to show that whatever family reason you had for taking time off work, it’s over now (e.g. if you took time off to raise your kids, make a point explaining they’re all grown up and off to school now).
2. Self-discovery.Did you take some time off work to redefine your life path and career choices? That’s totally OK - as long as you can convince recruiters that you now have your answers and won’t be leaving this job again after a year or two.
3. Illness.Any illness you may have suffered that’s hindered you from working is a totally legitimate reason to explain your employment gap. Just make sure to mention you’re recovered and fully able to work.
4. Injury.Just like with illnesses, injuries that render you incapable of work are perfectly fine reasons to explain an employment gap, so mention them without hesitation.
5. Failed business or initiative.You may be hesitant to mention a failed startup or business initiative as the reason behind your employment gap, but there’s no reason to! If anything, it shows you have initiative and aren’t scared to act on it. So, as long as you show recruiters how you bounced back, you shouldn’t hide this valid reason.
6. Burnout.The World Health Organization definesburnout as an occupational phenomenonthat can take a serious toll on someone’s physical and mental health. As such, don’t hesitate to tell recruiters that you took some time off to improve your well-being after experiencingburnout in the workplace.
7. Education.No one minds an employee who’s always looking to expand their knowledge, so if you took a break from work to get another degree, go ahead and mention that on your resume.

7 Other Resume Resources

Building a strong resume is hard enough without having to explain an employment gap. Struggling with other aspects of building a resume? Check out some of our top resources:

1. How to Write a Resume. TheULTIMATEbeginner’s guide on how to make a resume in 2024. Includes tops of tips, resume examples, and more.
2. Free Resume Templates. Want to avoid the hassle of formatting your resume from scratch? Just pick one of our 8 free resume templates and get started with your resume within minutes.
3. Career Change Resume. Is your employment gap due to a career change? Learn how to write an awesome career change resume with these 9+ examples.
4. What to Put on a Resume. Here are the most important sections to put on your resume and win the job.
5. Resume Tips and Tricks. This article covers every single practical resume tip you’ll ever need to create a compelling CV.
6. Essential Resume Skills. Want to stand out from other applicants? You’ll need to include the right skills on your resume. This article covers the most in-demand skills in 2024.
7. Resume Examples. Struggling to write a resume for your field? This article covers resume examples for almost all popular roles in 2024, including jobs in IT, marketing, healthcare, and more.

Sample Resume with Employment Gap

FAQ on Employment Gaps

Do you still have some questions on everything employment gap-related? Find your answers below!

Key Takeaways

And that’s a wrap! By now, you should know everything about employment gaps and how to tackle them so they don’t hurt your job application.

Before you go, here are the main points covered in this article:

• There are three places where you can explain an employment gap: on your resume, cover letter, and during your job interview.
• To explain an employment gap on a resume, be honest, elaborate on the gap, show that you never stop learning, or use a different resume layout to remove the gap altogether.
• Explain an employment gap on your cover letter by highlighting new skills and offering a valid explanation as to why you took it.
• If you have to explain your employment gap during your interview, rehearse in advance, show confidence, and don’t badmouth your former employer.
• Some valid reasons for an employment gap are family reasons, illnesses, and injuries, taking time to discover yourself or pursue your education, and even a failed business.