How to Explain an Employment Gap

By Alison Doyle, About.com

Many of us take time off, for one reason or another, from working. Sometimes, it’s by choice. In other cases, it can take time to find a new job. What the best way to explain an employment gap on your resume? It depends on the situation and what you did while you weren’t employed.

Cover the Gaps
When listing dates on your resume you don’t need to list the month/year if you were in a position for over a year or if your position spans multiple years. For example, you could say 2004 – 2008 (rather than May, 2004 – April, 2008) which would give you some room to cover the gaps:

Store Manager, XYZ Store
2004 – 2008

Sales Associate, ABC Store
2002 – 2004

As you can see, the resume doesn’t specifically say when the candidate started and ended employment, which can cover an employment gap.

Check Your Format
You can format your resume to minimize the gaps in your employment history. For example, don’t bold the dates and/or use a smaller font than the one you use for the company name or job title. Start your resume with a Summary Statement and Career Highlights section so you are highlighting your skills and accomplishments, rather than when you did what.

Omit a Job (or Two)
You don’t need to include all your experience on your resume, especially if you have been in the workforce for years. It’s acceptable to limit the years of experience you include on your resume to fifteen years when seeking a managerial or professional position and ten years when looking for technical or high-tech job.

Other Experience
What did you do while you weren’t employed? Did you freelance or consult? How about volunteering? All those experiences count as work and can be included on your resume. List them as you would list your other jobs – with job title, company name, job description, and dates of employment. If you took a class, you can list that in the Education section of your resume.

Use Your Cover Letter
When you have employment gaps that don’t fit on your resume (you took time off to care for an aged parent or to raise a child) use your cover letter to explain the gap. That way, the employer will know that there’s an explanation for you being out of the workforce.

Tell the Truth
What’s most important, is to tell the truth. If you lie on your resume, it will probably come back to haunt you. Employers verify work history and if you put incorrect information on your resume, I can guarantee that they’ll find out. In fact, most of the job seekers who answer or comment on our survey Would you Lie on Your Resume? say that they’d never lie. That answer makes really good sense when job searching.

The Four Questions

The Four Questions
By: Southworth

Answering the following four questions in a fully persuasive way will greatly increase your odds of developing a winning resume. The questions are the crucial elements of the resume writing formula. Answering them will not only give you the material you need for building a strong resume but will also prepare you for networking and interviewing. Use the resume writing examples below as a point of reference.

What do you want?

What is your job target? The resume should be built around your job target (whether you include an objective or not) so that prospective employers can immediately see what position you are aiming for.

Why are you qualified to do it?

That’s the summary or “professional profile” section. This is where you outline the skills and credentials that qualify you for the job. You can break your skills into functional sections or use bullet points to highlight key points. If this section is done properly, it will convince prospective employers that the rest of your resume is worth reading, bringing them to the next question.

Where have you done it?

That’s the “experience” section. The reader needs to know whom you worked for, the city and state where they are located and what you did. Ideally, your job descriptions should include lots of active verbs and focus on keywords and functional skills that are most relevant to your job target. See our list of words below.

How well have you done it?

Listing accomplishments and special projects shows by example that you have contributed to previous employers’ bottom lines. The best accomplishments are those that demonstrate quantifiable results or your willingness to go “the extra mile.” Did you come up with an idea that saved the company money? Were you promoted because of your team building skills? Were you selected for a key program because of your positive attitude? Whenever possible, describe how you improved previous employers’ bottom lines – i.e., doubled sales, cut costs, reduced errors, streamlined processing or improved efficiency.

Anti Unemployment Organization Wants to Pay Utility Bills

Source:  http://news.aol.com/article/anti-unemployment-organization-wants-to/638403?icid=sphere_newsaol_inpage

GOODYEAR, Ariz., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Founder and President Joshua Turner of Help My Resume, ( HTTP:// www.helpmyresume.org ) today announced the ” Flippin Pay My Bill ” contest, a state of Arizona approved contest, with the grand prize being a years worth of utility bills paid valued at $3,600. “Paying an individuals or families utility bill is another weapon that we have created to combat unemployment,” said Josh Turner, Help My Resume’s president and CEO.

“This contest will do two things for Help My Resume. It will satisfy a need to take a ‘necessity’ bill off of one individual or family’s plate. Allowing the winning individual or family to focus on other issues and hopefully get ahead in this tough economy. The contest will also let individuals know about the different free services that Help My Resume offers to all Americans eighteen years or older,” said Manon Chadwick, Vice President.

The “Flippin Pay My Bill” contest is open to all US citizens who are eighteen years or older, with the grand prize being a years worth of utility bills paid up to $3,600, with a second place prize of a new 2nd generation 32GB iPod Touch, and a third place prize of a $150 dollar Macy’s gift card.

Details and registration information for the “Flippin Pay My Bill” contest are available at http://www.helpmyresume.org . We are limiting only ten thousand entries into the “Flippin Pay My Bill” contest. Help My Resume will be announcing the winners of this contest on October 1, 2009.

 

About Help My Resume

Help My Resume, a Flippin Creative Inc. organization, is a national organization motivated by a love of America, and for the wellbeing of our fellow citizens and the dreams and hopes of a bright future and endless opportunities, each of us as Americans hold dear to our hearts. We work together with our corporate sponsors, private donors, and foundations across the country in order to motivate, build confidence, financially support and equip with new or upgraded skill sets, unemployed Americans from coast to coast all across the United States.

 

Help My Resume is a registered trademark of Flippin Creative Inc. a IRS approved non-profit organization.

SOURCE Help My Resume

2009-08-25 10:00:00

Motivation When the Job Search Dries Up

Article Source:  http://www.sage4change.com/blog/?p=70

The Pipeline Dry…Now What?

You’re out!  You’ve told everyone you can bear to tell you’re on the market and what you would like to find.  You’re networking like the books say.  You’re doing everything right.  It’s just not falling into place as fast as you would like.   Now what?  Just like you wouldn’t allow your staff or the sales team or your kids to quit until they’ve finished the job, you can’t quit going after the right job until you’re placed in the position which satisfies your career goals.  You have consulted your financial advisor and you know your situation with the impact of losing income.
How do you stay motivated?   You were are so driven in your career that you don’t get why you might be slipping here.

Motivation is intrinsic.   What does that mean?  Yeah, I need a job…so this is brilliant?  Actually “they” have been studying motivating employees since the industrial revolution (20’s and 30’s) where changing the lighting, either making it brighter or darker increased productivity.  One study in the Harvard Business Review from the 70’s from Harry Levinson called the “Great Jackass Fallacy” where the leaders are genuinely stunned the employees don’t actually have the same motivation as they do.  They had no idea that employees should be involved in decision making.  But of course you’re well aware of all that.

McClelland, who widely speaks to the motivation need theory and groups managers three ways – whether they need to be likes (affiliative), ones who need to achieve (achievement) and get things done, and then there are the ones who are driven by power.  I am sure each one of these descriptors has a face when you read through these.
Frederick Herzberg makes more sense to me.  His study from the sixties Motivation-Hygiene Theory proposes that employees are motivated more by the job than the pay or benefits.  The environment, the pay, benefits, social aspects or how you get along with your co-workers won’t actually de-motivate you.  They won’t motivate you beyond a certain point either.  But he contends that the level of challenge in the job, how autonomous you are in your job, your intrinsic interest and how much opportunity for creativity you bring to your job.

Yeah, yeah, get to the part where I can be more motivated in my job search.  Well, glad you’re still reading.  I believe that once your job search is up and running the challenge diminishes. Really your resume looks good and even you’re comfortable with it.  Your contacts all (first tier and part of the second tier) know that you’re looking.  And quite frankly it doesn’t take you all day to do the search.  It’s quiet.  Going from being attached to a bberry 24/7 to managing the search details in a few hours a day is a cultural shift that’s odd.  New behavior is odd.  Silence is de-motivating.  Or is it?

Tactical tips on how to stay motivated using evidence based motivational theory:

• Challenge yourself to sit in the silence – great ideas fill a vacuum.
• Know that doing the same hours from the corporate drive is going to burn you out fast. Put in the effort in 3 to 8 hours a day and then do something replenishing.
• Find a job that you think would be fun but not directly related to your past – challenge yourself to find experience and transferable skills you would bring to the job.
• Go to the library – librarians are the least used resource as a brainstorming partner.
• Go hit balls at the driving range – not as expensive as a round and you never know who will be next to you or in line to get a beverage.  (do something of interest while networking)
• Paint your house.  By doing something outside your norm you are challenged and the head space leaves room for creativity.
• The job search is entirely autonomous as it is up to you to create the pathway to new employment.
• Ensure that your target job search is true to your intrinsic interests and values.
• If there is a to-do item that goes from day to day without?  Take a strong look at it.  Is it important?  What will it feel like to finish?  Either take one step towards it or take it off.
• Work doing something for a non-profit or someone in need, volunteering will at least help you know that you have something to contribute.

Your challenge when the immediate energy dwindles is to pull out the motivation to create a list that might be what you thought of second tier.  Maybe you’re on the third tier.  It’s still up to you to come up with new ideas and stay positive and more importantly stay engaged in the search. If you need help find a job search group of like-minded colleagues.  If you can’t find one – start one.   If you want help with ideas, motivation or support — call a coach.

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