Show and Tell: When it Comes to Gaps on Your Resume,
Honesty is the Best Policy
By Orrick Nepomuceno, CPC
To a prospective employer, a resume is like a road map; it
tells them where you’ve been, how you got there and where
you’re headed. In the best case scenario, your journey
should look like a straight line, not one of those zigzags
from a Family Circus cartoon. But what should you do when
your road map looks more like a cocktail napkin, full of
the gaps, wrinkles and cracks that point to you being an
incessant job-hopper?
Bottom line: don’t leave gaps in your resume. Explains
CareerJournal.com’s Marshall Loeb, “A resume full of short
stints is a turn-off to employers, who may suspect a
job-hopper of being unable to get along with co-workers or
finish an assignment.”
There should be a chronological sequence from one position
to another to current. When there are gaps in an employee’s
resume, there are questions in the employer’s interview.
Says Peri Hansen, a senior client partner for Korn/Ferry
International in Los Angeles, “Employers will want to know
why you left and what you didn’t like to understand your
reasoning and whether a future job is the right one.”
If there are gaps, you better have a great reason. Be
prepared to share reason; don’t make the mistake of
assuming that a savvy interviewer is going to overlook the
fact that you have nothing listed from 2001 through 2003.
That’s a big red flag to most employers, but if you have a
valid reason don’t be afraid to share it. By being honest
and showing integrity, you can often turn the negative of
that big gap into the positive of a big raise!
Finally, focus on the positive. “Employers are really
looking at only three things – how you can make me money,
how you can save me money, and how you can increase my
efficiency. Beyond that, nothing matters,” says David Perry
of the executive search firm Perry and Martel. The more you
make out of the gap, the more they’ll make. If the subject
does come up, answer the question honestly and move on.
Chances are, they’ll do the same.
