Filling Employments Gaps in Your CV

Over the many years, we have provided CV writing services, I can tell you for a fact, having employment gaps is highly common among job seekers than you might think.

I know we have been told that employers will not hire people with gaps in their resumes. Be that as it may, it is not entirely true.

Not everyone can be lucky enough to have been employed throughout their lives, no?

Employers understand this, but when it is too obvious that you have been out of work for a while, they will definitely doubt your expertise.

So, how do you navigate this issue to show the employer that even though you have been out of work, your skills are still sharp?

Here is what you should do

1. Seek consulting and temporary assignments

During the period you are unemployed, you may work as a consultant; consulting and temporary assignments are offered in short-term projects.

You may indicate on your CV “Consultant” and specify the full length of time you were in the role. Underneath this section, highlight the companies and/or specific experiences and accomplishments in the role.

An employer will view all the individual experiences and temporary assignments – and its significance in furthering your career experiences – as a whole.

If that doesn’t fit your situation, just make sure to indicate that it was a contract position next to the dates so people will see right away that the short tenure was planned.

2. Indicate the years only instead of the whole dates

Reformat Dates of Employment: Rather than listing the specific month and year you were employed with an employer, indicate only the year. It can appear less obvious that you were only on the job for 16 months and appear more like two years. Therefore, if the gap is small, it will help cover it.

You are going to present the exact dates of employment in an application later on. The aim of your CV is to get an interview where you will be able to explain the reasons for the gap in employment and show why you are the right candidate for the job.

3. Minimize your work history to only relevant ones

If you have a lengthy work history, there is no need to include all of your experiences on the CV. It’s reasonable to put jobs that extend beyond 15 years in a previous experience section and point out the company name and title.

4. Create a cover letter

When compensating for a gap in your employment a cover letter is exactly what you need. You can explain the gap to the potential employer: if it is some life event you can simply tell about it (e.g. caring for your newborn baby). 

If not you should show that you weren’t just unemployed but did some job skills training courses, learned something work-related or contributed something positive to society, did any volunteer activities, show that your gap was a valuable and helpful time for you which developed your skills and made you an ideal candidate.

5. Use a Combination CV

A combination CV is much more effective than a chronological one because it lists your skills and accomplishments before the experience with actual dates.

When writing a CV objective or profile section, use memorable and effective words to help with the key-word search and hook the reader into your CV.

After that, include a “Highlights of Accomplishments” section which shows your outstanding accomplishments and results and quickly communicates why you are a good fit for the position.

You can write it as a list of five or six sentences in bold type to make it stand out.

Now that you have gone through these tips, are you confident you can close those employment gaps on your CV?

No?

Don’t worry; seek help from this professional CV writing service today so that you can have the perfect resume.

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