How to explain the gap in your résumé – 2

What can you do about it?

Resume gaps are fine. It’s how you treat it that counts. Let’s look at a few things you can do.

Never stop learning.

We keep learning things every moment of our lives. It depends, however, on how conscious we are of this aspect of ourselves.

Say, we took time off work to tend to our sick parents. Then, we would have learnt to care, love, think on our feet, be patient, learn organisational protocols. I mean, when you go to a hospital, you go through a procedure before you get the treatment – that’s the hospital protocol. You learn that, and learn something from that.

You learn how to deal with medical professionals. For instance, you see how they react under stress and learn what to do and what not to do when you are tensed up.

Learn some new skill while you are off work.

Spend some time and effort to learn maybe a new language, some technical skills, maybe public speaking on platforms like TED talk, for instance. You have those things in your neighbourhood. Go for small-scale gigs.

You could develop a website where you could offer some services or products. If you succeed money-wise, that’s a positive thing. Note what you learnt and how you can apply that in your next job. If you failed in it – again money-wise – note what you learnt from that too and how you can apply that in your next job. There’s no dearth of lessons to be learnt and applied.

Just remember one thing – how these lessons helped make you a better, more productive or useful person.

Accept your employment gap.

Don’t deny it or be scared. Like I said earlier, it is natural to have a gap.

At the interview

1. 1. 1. Don’t get nervous about the gap. Stay cool. You know it’s okay to have gaps.
      2. Be honest about the reason why you got that gap. Nobody will ever judge you. They know they can benefit from these gaps. They need to know if you know that and how you can transfer that advantage to the company.
      3. Tell them what you learnt.
      4. Then move on to the future. Don’t dwell on the gap. Tell them how you think that gap can help him perform better at the specific job you are interviewing for.
      5. Don’t go on and on. Be as short and crisp as possible. Don’t let the interview dwell too long on this topic – you will start losing your confidence.
      6. Prepare your answer beforehand. Practise it several times. But don’t learn it by heart!

Sample response

I took time off to go on a vacation with my family. I realised that I was missing the valuable warmth and proximity of my family. During that time I learnt a thing or two about interpersonal relations. How you develop them by giving more and taking less. And in the process, you get more than you bargained for – in fact, more than what you gave. And I think these skills and revelations will help me perform my job better by having a more amicable and constructive relationship with my colleagues.

A word of caution

If the gap is because you didn’t get the kind of job you want, that would be destructive. In that case, stay in the job market, take the first job you get, and try looking for your kind of job. Never stay away from the job market for too long just because you are too snooty to do a job that’s “not up to your mark”.

Read here to know

• • Why did you have a gap?
  • What does a gap say about you?