Addressing Employment Gaps on a Resume

Have you been fortunate to leave your old job on Friday afternoon and begin your new one on Monday morning? Or do so within the same month? If so, then you're more fortunate than many of us who have gaps in our employment history. These can be attributed to a variety of reasons, including health-related issues, lack of an immediate offer of employment, and severance packages that allow for additional time in one's job search.

No matter what the reason is, having a gap in your employment history never looks good on a resume. Unfortunately, hiring decision-makers can be quick to judge that the gap shows a character flaw rather than a legitimate reason. In order to combat being a victim of this unfair approach, you can use a key strategy to eliminate the "gap" issue on your resume:

** Use the year-year format rather than the month/year-month-year format. This is perhaps the most effective strategy to use for covering a gap, as it provides an accurate date yet does not reveal a gap. In fact, you can ethically cover a gap of over 1 year using this format (e.g. If you leave former Job X in February of 2004 and begin current Job Y in March of 2005, you can use the format XXXX-2004 and 2005-XXXX- thus, the reader can only determine that you may have left Job X as late as 12/2004 and begun Job Y as soon as 01/2005).

EX.:
NAME OF COMPANY, Location. Job Title, 2006-Present.
NAME OF PREVIOUS COMPANY, Location. Job Title, 2003-2005.
NAME OF PREVIOUS COMPANY, Location. Job Title, 2000-2003.

Of course, it is important to note that you may need to provide the month/year-month/year format on an application once you are called in for an interview, and you can certainly be asked about your specific dates of employment (and reasons for any gaps) during an interview. Remember, though, that interviews allow more time and context in which to explain items that cannot and should not be addressed on a resume, including employment gaps.