Explain a gap in your CV

There maybe various reasons why someone may have gaps in their work history. The key issue is knowing how to address these breaks on your CV, which can be a challenge, failing to do so could even mean losing out on the perfect role for you.

We’ve already put together a CV template, to help you explain a career break, here’s everything you need to know about explaining a gap in your CV:

What is a career gap?

A period of time spent between roles or not in employment.

Various situations can cause these breaks in employment; such as wanting to travel, starting a family or deciding to voluntarily take a career break. Also things out of your control can impact on your work history; such as the result of redundancy or a change in personal circumstances.

The important thing to remember is to communicate to your prospective employer the reasoning behind the break and that no career gap is too big to overcome or explain.

Five tips to explain gaps in your CV

Be Creative

Firstly, don’t include all of your experience on your CV, there’s no need.

For instance if you have had a long career history, with a number of different positions, you can scale back the detail – this could potentially help to fill in a few gaps.

Furthermore, when filling in start and end dates of employment, omitting the month and only showing the year is perfectly reasonable. Make sure you keep your CV to the point, as this helps keep gaps to a minimum, even when explaining why you left, try to keep it short.

However, if you do have a notable gap in your employment history, it would be useful to include a cover letter to help explain in more detail about the break and even to communicate why you feel you would be eligible for the role. 

Show Integrity

The most important thing to be aware of when dealing with a gap in your CV is that, honesty is the best policy, whatever your reason for taking a break from employment.

Obviously, some situations may require a certain amount of confidentiality, so don’t feel you have to explain things in great detail, but omitting the truth fully can cause more problems than giving your employer at least an outline of the reasons and damage the trust levels needed between employer/employee. 

Additionally, never be tempted to cover up the gaps in your employment history, as most interviewers will contact previous employers to verify your CV. 

Remember: Lying about a gap will harm your chances of employment, however, acknowledging and explaining a gap is the best option.

Be Motivated

If you’re struggling to find the right job, and are worried that gaps in your employment history are the reason, being proactive.

Use the spare time that you have off to and look at taking a course, there are online platforms like LinkedIn Learning, speak to a career councillor or professional mentor, or take up a voluntary position. This helps demonstrate to an employer that you’re utilising your time effectively and trying to further your goals.

If you can’t find the right course to suit you or your chosen career, there are other ways of demonstrating your skill set.

Perhaps starting a blog post targeted at you career sector, this can help with networking and showcases your IT and writing skills as well as the knowledge you have of your chosen sector.

Be positive about gaps in history

Instead of apologising or making excuses for gaps in working history, try to think of positives that may have come from them.

Rephrasing ‘I couldn’t find the right job’ to ‘I took time out to focus on what I wanted from my career and build skills that could help me enter my desired industry’

If you have been travelling for an extended period, highlight the positives aspects of your experiences, meeting new people and how travel has broaden your horizons, along with the skills acquired from living in different cultural settings, maybe you have learnt another language.

Travel or Gap Year

• Say – ‘I took a year out immerse myself in a different country and culture and feel I’ve gained perspective, I’ve learned some valuable life lessons and grown from the experience. I feel confident and ready to start focussing on my career’
• Don’t say – ‘I spent a year travelling as I did not want to settle down yet, had a great time on the party boats in Ibiza!’

The same applies for other reasons too, there are always positives to look at, highlight those, 

Family Life

• Say – ‘I’ve spent the past couple of years as full-time parent. They are now at nursery and I’m ready to start pursing my goals and career’
• Don’t say – ‘I’ve been a full-time parent as I like being at home.’

Sickness

• Say – ‘I’ve unwell, and as hard as it was to leave I felt unable to carry on in my previous position. I’m now well and ready to carry on pursing my career’
• Don’t say – ‘Im ill a lot of the time, it’s made it difficult for me to hold down regular employment’

Redundancy

• Say – ‘My most recent employer had to make budget cuts to the business. Unfortunately their policy was ‘last in, first-out’  and unfortunately, I was new to the company and they made me redundant. I understood the position they were in and left on good terms and the  previous manager will be happy to provided references’
• Don’t say – ‘My previous company was not that good and I was happy that they made me redundant to be honest’

Remember: Optimism is always a good look.

Prepare for interview or call

One of the key things to remember if your CV proves to be successful, you will most likely be offered an interview and it’s almost inevitable that you will be asked about the gaps in your work history.

Take time to prepare what you’re going to say about them in a short and positive response.

Use the pre-interview preparation in order to research the company and the industry sector as a whole. This will help you prove to your interviewer that the gap has not affected your desire for the industry or your ability to keep up-to-date with the latest trends and news.

Remember: If you’ve already thought about and practised your response to questions that are likely to be asked, you won’t feel as nervous in the interview and caught off guard a question comes up that you may not be able to answer clearly.

It’s a good idea if possible to have a mock interview with a family member or friend, practise make perfect…

Ways to explain gaps in your CV during an interview

A career break is not something to be embarrassed about, whether it’s your choice or not, we all have varied lives and reasons for the things that we choose to do.

It’s not uncommon to have a gap in your employment history, as long as you can explain the possible reasons behind it in a professional manner. Employers want you to demonstrate your enthusiasm and readiness to work for them.

Honesty and confidence are desirable qualities that employers look for in any candidate and will speak volumes about your personality and the things you can bring to the company.

Attempt to address possible concerns that the employer may have early, allowing them to concentrate on the rest of your CV.

Need more CV advice?

It only takes the average employer seven seconds to reject or save a job applicant’s CV. Therefore creating a succinct CV is vital if you want to succeed in getting that all-important interview.

We recommend: The 7 Second CV: ‘How to Land the Interview’ but there are other good books out there that will help.