Employers look for gaps for several reasons. They are looking for potential problems, like substance abuse, reoccuring illness, incarceration, and instability. Employers are looking to see if you are hiding something. Life happens, illness, mental illness and if you have gaps in your employment history, there are ways to minimize the gaps, and in some case work to your advantage. For example you are applying in a industry geared toward children. The fact that you took off work to care for children may work in your favor. If you work in the travel industry, if you took time off to travel, document that on your resume.
The type of resume you use will make a huge difference. Don’t use a straight chronological resume and don’t put the months, just the years. Write a more functional resume. Use the top of your resume to highlight your skills and qualifications. Use Summary of Qualifications or something similar. List all relevant skills, like those you may have learned while off work or at a volunteer position. It helps to be able to explain something constructive you did while you weren’t working. Some employers are suspicious of a functional resume, but this is still the best format. The next section will highlight professional experience, list the employers and dates, use years not months. This will help to minimize the time off. The last section will be Additional Experience, this section will highlight any additional skills you picked up, include any new hobbies learned that are relevant to the job you are applying for. If you have nothing, think about volunteering right away. Many of my clients have large gaps due to incarceration and long state hospital stays. I often start them off volunteering, it helps show you can still suit up and show up. Which is the first requirement of any job. It also provides an opportunity for a new, local reference. Volunteering is also a great avenue for social networking for good job contacts.
The goal is to cast the best light you can on the time off work. If you were recovering from a mental illness it is usually best not to disclose it, unless you are asking for reasonable accommodations. If you are going to disclose have some prepared information available to share. NAMI has some very good information. There is still a real stigma that exist around mental illness. If it is something like depression, chances are they know someone who has delt with it. Other diagnosis like Bi-polar and Schizophrenia still are very misunderstood. The media’s portrayal of people with Mental Illness promotes the fear and un-true facts the public holds. As a person with a Mental Illness, I have had to disclose to my employers. Most were understanding and accommodated me, a few others didn’t know how to handle the situation. I believe this is due to ignorance and not malice.
Many jails and hospitals have vocational programs. If you participated in one of these you can put that on your resume in a discrete way. You can also contact them for letters of reference. These become more important to a job seeker with a spotty employment history.
With employment gaps it is very important to have a great cover letter this can help you address the gaps. Again frame your time off in the most constructive light, if nothing else talk about the great books you read. Not the whole letter of course, just a few sentences that re-assures the potential employer that your not lazy. I wouldn’t talk about watching the first zillion seasons of American Idol!
