Ask the Experts: Filling in Gaps in Resumes Caused by Lengthy and Repeated Layoffs

Question:

I am a senior IT professional with 35 years of experience, including 15+ years in management. I have been downsized three times in the last 10 years. During that period, I’ve been unemployed for a total of three years. Of that, about half was following 9/11. I am now teaching elementary school at 25 percent of my prior salary. My resume is four pages long but I have gaps in employment of one year, four months and 1.5 years since 1991. These gaps were due to being unemployed. What should I put onto my resume to explain these gaps and do employers see someone with three layoffs as being a bad risk?

First Answer:

Don’t worry about gaps in employment or your current job title. Use the year format to indicate beginning and ending employment dates rather than month/year, for example, 1999-2001 versus 12/99-1/01, which will make gaps less evident.

More worrisome than any gaps in employment is the length and lack of focus of your resume. Pare it down to two relevant pages depending on your career objective, and don’t open yourself up to the possibility of age discrimination by indicating dates greater than 20 years, if that.

— Tracy Laswell Williams, certified job and career transition coach, accredited resume writer and founder of CAREER-Magic.com

Second Answer:

With the economic tide we’ve endured since 2000, employers no longer see employment gaps during this time as an indication of a bad risk.

In the past, employment applications asked for gaps in time to be explained. The goal of that requirement is to have the applicant demonstrate how constructively they used their time.

There are many reasons for gaps in employment. Pregnancy and childrearing, caring for a relative or significant other, completion of studies to earn a degree or special certification, internship or travel abroad are just a few explanations for an employment gap. These all have a high significance and say a lot about the person who had these experiences that an then be translated into positive work skills and contribution. They say the applicant did not sit around all day, every day during the hiatus as they waited for life to happen to them. They were proactive and active.

Let me also remind you that volunteer work is still work. The volunteer is a non-remunerated employee who can be held responsible for getting to work on time, doing a workmanlike job, demonstrating professionalism, and being fired for not following through on good business and customer relations practices. If you were involved in any type of volunteer work during these breaks in traditional employment, start including it on your job applications.

As far as your resume, you may want to list a representative work history – work that is directly related to what you seek. Then in your cover letter talk about what happened during the breaks in employment in relation to the volunteer work and how profitable your contributions were, what you bring to the new employer because of that knowledge and experience.

May all of your Entrances be through the doors of success!

— Yvonne LaRose, career and professional development coach, Career and Executive Recruiting Advice

Originally posted by alwin