In today’s tough job market, it is important to carefully present your professional work experience to avoid being perceived as unreliable or unstable. Even though we’re in a global recession, recruitment managers will still view unexplained gaps on your résumé as a red flag, particularly if you’re male. 

No matter what the job market conditions are, first impressions on paper still count.

If the gap is short – a couple of months – or occurred several years ago, you probably won’t need to bring it up unless they do. Generally, a gap is considered to be a period of time longer than three to six months. If you are dealing with substantial gaps extending for several months or even years, you’ll need to tactfully and accurately address the gaps in employment on your resume.

If you have a lengthy gap in your employment history, here are some strategies for dealing with it:

The Chrono-functional Résumé: A functional résumé provides the platform for you to focus on your achievements, skills and competencies, and de-emphasize your dates of employment. E.g. if you are a software tester and have worked with several software test tools, you can tactfully divide up the résumé by the technologies worked with instead of time periods. This allows you to focus on what makes you the best candidate.

Send a Detailed Cover Letter: If you can legitimately explain the time away from employment, reintroduce yourself with a strong, well-crafted cover letter. E.g. if you have taken time off work for higher education or technical training, enrollment in the military, recovering from a traumatic accident or illness, caring for an elderly parent or sick child for an extended period of time, address the gaps in a succinct, appealing format. Be brief, honest, and positive. Never include negative information in your cover letter such as sarcastic remarks about low pay or personality conflicts with previous employers. State that you were out of the workforce for “x reason” and are eager to return.

Your cover letter should sound confident and upbeat, leaving out any negative information. Indicate that you have been actively searching for a suitable new role and see this as a position in which you will thrive. You’ll also need to demonstrate how you’ve kept your skills sharp and up-to-date with changes in your industry. For example, you could say:

“I have kept my skills sharp by following industry trade journals, volunteering with non-profit organizations in my community and networking with former colleagues.”

If the gap in your employment occurred a long time ago and your more recent work history has been steady, don’t bother mentioning it in your cover letter. Employers are often more interested in what you’ve been doing recently.

End the letter on a positive note: That you’re ready – and excited to get back to work.

Address it Directly on the Resume:

Although cover letters are extremely helpful in providing more relevant information about what is on the résumé, they can get lost in the online résumé submission process. Sometimes, hiring managers don’t even bother reading them. For this reason, it is sometimes a good idea to address the gap directly. So, on your resume, place an asterisk (*) next to the year or month in which the gap occurred and explain it at the bottom. E.g. if you took time off to care for an elderly parent, you can state:

“From 2000 – 2001, I took time off to care for my elderly mother.”

If you believe more explanation is necessary and want to ensure that your cover letter is read, attach it to the résumé so that it becomes page 1, and then PDF it so that it’s all in one document. Doing that increases the chances that a recruitment manager will read it.

Use “year to year” versus “month to month” dates: If you have been in your current position for over a year, you don’t need to list the month/year when listing dates on your resume. For example, if you’ve had a nine month gap from 1/2003 to 10/2003, you could say 2003 – Present. As you can see, the “year to year” format can be used to effectively conceal significant employment gaps.

Month to Month Year to Year

Oct 2003 – Present, System Tester, Nationwide, London                                2003 – Present, System Tester, Nationwide, London

Jan 2002 – Jan 2003, Integration Tester, Oxford                                              2002 – 2003, Integration Tester, Oxford

Mar 1999 – Jan 2002, Manual Tester, London                                                1999 – 2002, Manual Tester, London

As you can see, using the “month to month” format in the above example reveals the gap in employment between January 03 and Oct 03. However, without the months, there is no apparent gap as the “year to year” format takes care of this problem. This technique is widely used by experts in resume writing. Remember, the aim of your resume is to win as many interviews as possible and to use whatever legitimate marketing techniques that help you get them.

Other Experience: List everything you did while you weren’t employed. Volunteer activities, travel, community involvement, special projects, consulting engagements and continuing education all count 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. If you did something really interesting such as travel, add that. A recruiting manager can use that information as an “ice breaker” in an interview.

Tell the Truth:

It is always important is to tell the truth on your resume. If you lie, it will probably come back to haunt you because employers verify work history no matter how long it takes. If you’ve included incorrect information on your resume, chances are they’ll find out. It’s perfectly OK to fine-tune an individual resume for a specific company or job. But a lie is a lie, and there are NO excuses for that. It is much better to learn how to talk about that gap in your employment, rather than lie about it.