How to Address an Employment Gap - Your Career Intel

How to Address an Employment Gap - Your Career IntelLeaving a job under less than ideal circumstances is tough. Whether you were laid off, fired, or had to quit for personal reasons, explaining this employment gap during an interview can be tricky. Given the well-documented bias against hiring the unemployed, its natural to worry about breaking back into your industry.Heres the good nachrichtensendung Ive coached many candidates through this type of situation, and theyve all gone on to land exciting new roles. My secret? It all comes down to how you talk about this career break. The right words, details and attitude will put you in control of your professional narrative and can make landing your next position an easier process.As you prepare to address an employment gap, keep unterstellung four pointers in mindLeave the drama behind.Ive worked with professionals who have left positions for a wide variety of reasons. Some needed to care for an ill parent or child. Others left companie s that were filing for bankruptcy. A few even had co-worker conflicts that were worthy of a reality TV show. While the drama may be fresh in your mind, your future employer doesnt want or need to hear about it. When youre ready to start interviewing again, write out a concise explanation that explains why you left. Dont get bogged down in the details your explanation should be no mora than three to four sentences. Practice repeating these lines until you can speak about your departure calmly, professionally and without emotion.Focus on your future.Theres a line from Macbeth that I love Things without all remedy / Should be without regard whats done, is done. Whatever happened in your past role, leave it there. Perhaps you felt you were treated unfairly or are still upset that you were passed over for a promotion. While you may feel like a victim, this negative attitude will only hurt you during an interview. Take what lessons you can from the situation and then focus on your futur e.Choose your words carefully.During an interview, you have limited time to make a positive impression. When your resume has gaps in employment or you have to disclose that you were made redundant, you have to work even harder to make a good impression. Focus on your skills and emphasize that youre ready to work. If youre interviewing for a senior role at the C-level, be careful not to say anything to indicate that youre close to retirement or are looking for one last opportunity.Project a positive attitude.I work with senior level hires, and for professionals at this level, it may take six months or longer to find their next role. These professionals are usually driven, Type A personalities who dont like being out of work, and they can become frustrated and discouraged by a lengthy search process. When they do land an interview, this frustration can sometimes spill over. They can come off as anxious, tense or even a bit desperate, which will only make addressing the employment gap mora difficult. Even if youre frustrated with the search process, always project a positive attitude during each interview. It will be easier to build a strong rapport with the hiring manager and youll keep the focus on your potential contributions to this company, not your previous employment history.In todays candidate-driven market, the odds of landing a new position are in your favor, even if youre out of the workforce a bit longer than expected. Leave the drama at the door, craft a straightforward explanation for the employment gap and stay focused on your future. The process may feel long now, but once youre busy with your next position youll wish youd enjoyed the time off a bit moreHave you had to leave a job under less than ideal circumstances? I invite you to share more about how this experience impacted your job search in the comments below.

What Not to Include in a Resume 15 Things to Remove Right Away

What Not to Include in a Resume 15 Things to Remove Right Away 15 Things You Should Not Include in a ResumeRemove behauptung unnecessary things from your resume right away.In todays competitive job market, employers receive approximately 250 job applications for every open position. Ninety-five percent of large organizations use software known as an applicant tracking system (ATS) to screen applications and eliminate the least qualified applicants.If your resume is among the lucky 25 percent of applications that make it past the dreaded bots, it totenstill must pass muster with the recruiter or hiring manager. With so many applications flooding their inboxes, its no wonder that the average recruiter skims a resume for only six seconds before deciding if the applicant belongs in the no pile.When your job application is facing the six-second resume test, its important to elend include information that will distract the hiring manager from seeing your true qualifications. But how do you decide what to include in a resume and what to delete? Below is a list of what you should not include in a resume. Use this checklist to review your resume and ensure your job application avoids the trash heap.1. Resume objective stellungnahmeWeve all seen those generic resume objective statements talk about a professional who is looking for opportunities that will allow me to leverage my skills. This vague statement is a waste of space on your resume because it doesnt help the reader quickly understand what type of position youre seeking and why youre qualified for such a role. Remove your run-of-the-mill objective statement and replace it with a professional summary also known as a career statement or career summary that delivers your elevator pitch. In approximately 35 lines, explain why youre a good fit for the position youre pursuing by summarizing your relevant qualifications and career achievements.RelatedHow Are a Resume Objective and a Resume Summary Different?2. Unprofe ssional emailThe email address keg.k1ng17domain.com may have been funny in college, but its inappropriate to use on your job applications and geschftliches miteinander cards. The same goes for shared family email accounts such as smith-family-est-2010domain.com and email addresses that are offensive or sexual in nature. Create a free email address with a provider like Gmail thats reserved exclusively for your job-search activities. Whenever possible, create an email address that incorporates your name as it appears on your resume and LinkedIn profile, as well as your credentials. For example jack.lyons.cpadomain.com.3. Full mailing addressGone are the days when it was required to include your entire mailing address on your resume. In fact, if youre trying to relocate for work, I recommend removing all location information unless you can provide a local address. If youre searching for work near your home, include your city, state, and zip code to show the hiring manager youre a local candidate. Do not include your street address, as its not necessary at this stage of the recruitment process, takes up extra space, and can be considered a security risk (think of all the places you upload or post your resume hello, identity theft).4. Multiple phone numbersThe more contact options you provide on your resume, the easier it is to miss an important message from a prospective employer. Avoid any confusion by streamlining your contact information. Include one and only one phone number on your resume. I suggest listing the number for your mobile phone so you can control the voice message, who answers each call, and when.5. Outdated or irrelevant social media profilesDo not include on your resume social media accounts that host unprofessional content, do not hilfe your current job goals, and are not regularly updated. If youre going to include the URL to a social media account on your resume, make sure it reflects your personal brand and serves to demonstrate why youre qualified for the job.In addition, create at least one professional online profile on sites like LinkedIn or GitHub (depending on your line of work) and include the link at the top of your resume. If you work in a creative field, consider creating an online portfolio or blog that has a mobile-responsive design so employers can access your site from any device.RelatedHow to Write a Powerful LinkedIn Profile Summary6. Personal detailsTheres no need to include personal information on a resume such as your social security number, marital status, nationality, sexual orientation, or spiritual beliefs. In fact, it is illegal for employers to ask for these personal details. If youre unsure whether to include a detail about yourself on your resume, consider if the information is relevant to the job youre targeting. If it doesnt demonstrate your qualifications for the role, it doesnt belong on your resume.7. HeadshotUnless youre a TV celebrity or your career requires a professional headshot, there is no reason why your resume should include a picture of you. Your photo will likely reveal your nationality, gender, or age among other factors that could inadvertently lead to discrimination. Theres no need to provide an employer with those details until theyve considered your application based solely on your qualifications. In fact, some recruiters have been known to automatically dismiss a candidate whose application includes a headshot because they dont want to be accused of discrimination.Also, some recruiters see candidates who include headshots as egocentric at best and lacking sound judgment skills at worst. 8. BuzzwordsWhile its important to include in your resume relevant keywords from the job descriptions that interest you, its not a good idea to stuff your resume full of fluffy buzzwords. Make sure you incorporate keywords in a way that sounds natural when you read your resume out loud. If you deliberately stuff keywords into your resume or use a bunch of annoy ing buzzwords, it will be painfully obvious to the recruiter not to mention a big turnoff.RelatedWords and Phrases to Remove From Your Resume Right Away9. PronounsWhile there is some debate within the resume-writing community, the generally accepted practice is to refrain from referring to yourself by your name or personal pronouns such as I, me, she, or he. Save the first-person point of view for your LinkedIn profile summary. Instead, write your resume in what is known as the absent first person, where all pronouns are dropped from the sentences.10. Elaborate formats and designsWhen it comes to selecting a design for your resume, less is more. Not only do elaborate designs and unconventional formats confuse most applicant tracking systems, but they also annoy recruiters who are accustomed to quickly scanning a resume for specific information they expect to find in particular spots within the document. Dont make recruiters hunt for the information they care about. Play it safe and stick to a clean resume design with a clear hierarchy. Not sure what works? Check out TopResumes library of free resume samples.11. Embedded charts and imagesWhile these design elements may look nice to the human eye, resumes with embedded images become a garbled mess, or get completely omitted from your application, after they pass through ATS. In addition, recruiters dont want to see a pictorial and rather subjective representation of your skills like the second resume I review in this video. Save your creativity for your online portfolio and dont include images in your resume.12. Spelling and grammatical errorsA recruiter survey by TopResume found spelling and/or grammatical errors to be the No. 1 resume mistake that could cost you the job. However, with a little effort, you can easily avoid this resume deal-breaker. Print your resume out in a different font, read it aloud, and ask someone with impeccable writing skills to edit your resume for grammar.Related5 Ways to Proofrea d Your Resume13. Too much of the pastIf youre new to the workforce, its time to remove all references of high school from your resume. Once youve been working for a few years in your desired field, you can pare down the details from your college experience. If youre further along in your career, limit the details of your work history to the past 15 years. Anything further back in time can be briefly mentioned in a career note or an abbreviated Earlier Work History section. Not only if this information considered less relevant because it took place so long ago, but listing it makes it challenging to stick to an appropriate resume length and can open your application up to age discrimination.14. Salary historySupplying your current or previous salary in your resume is not a great job-search strategy. If you include accurate information, then you might get low-balled when it comes to your starting salary. If you fudge your past earnings, then you risk getting caught in a lie and termin ated. In fact, as of April 2018, there are nine places in the U.S. where employers are no longer allowed to ask for your current or previous salary. Do yourself a favor and do not include this type of information in your resume.15. ReferencesDo not include a list of references or the line References available upon request on your resume. This information is not necessary at this stage of the application process and it wastes precious resume space. In addition, employers know that if you want the job, youll provide them with a list of references when they ask for them theres no need to state the obvious.What to include in your resumeNow that you know what not to include in your resume, take a second look at your resume to make sure it includes all the right elements to effectively tell your story and market your qualifications. Click on the following link to learn what 11 pieces of information every professional should include in a resume.Not sure if your resume includes any of thes e mistakes? Let us help Take advantage ofTopResumes free critique todayRecommended ReadingHow to Customize Your Resume for Each Job ApplicationThe Right (and Wrong) Ways to Show Personality in Your Cover Letter5 Signs Its Time to Hire a Professional Resume WriterRelated Articles